STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR JOURNALIST CHE-CHE LAZARO

Reference:
Bejamin Valbuena

ACT Nat'l Vice-Chairperson

0918-2399222

May 13, 2009

We, teachers and workers in the education sector belonging to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the largest teachers organization nationwide, condemn in the highest possible term the malicious filing of a wiretapping case by Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Vice President for Public Relations and Communications Ella E. Valencerina against esteemed journalist and journalism professor Cecilia “Cheche” Lazaro.

The wiretapping case filed by Valencerina is meant to intimidate and harass into silence those who expose the GSIS’ failure to swiftly provide retirement benefits and services for many public school teachers and other government employees. It is a vicious attack against press freedom and the people’s right to seek redress of grievances.

The case is a mere trumped-up charge, devoid of facts and bloated with malice. It reeks of a regime that specializes in cover-up and rejects the internationally-accepted democratic principle of transparency in government affairs.

The Alliance, its member individuals, and allied teachers’ federations and organizations, is consistent in criticizing the unjust policies introduced by the GSIS under Winston Garcia, such as the Premium-Based Policy and the Claims and Loans Interdependency Program.

We, hundreds of thousands of public school teachers and other GSIS members, have been unfairly deprived of the full enjoyment of the benefits granted to us by law. Since 2003, these and other policies and related practices have burdened us, teachers, faculty and employees with unwarranted deductions, onerous interest charges and other penalties. We have also consistently criticized GSIS for its lack of transparency regarding the placement of GSIS funds in certain local and foreign investments. As a result of ACT’s continued vigilance and championing of the teachers’ cause, GSIS President Winston Garcia filed four (4) libel cases against our president, Antonio Tinio.

Che-che Lazaro and Probe Team, just like ACT President Tinio, merely publicized the teachers’ valid complaints against the GSIS, and now they are suffering at the hands of a government that seems to be going berserk in its penchant to silence those who continue to objectively report what’s happening in our beleaguered land.

We’re living in an upside-down world! Journalists and teachers who serve the interest of public are harassed with absurd wiretapping and libel cases while politicians accused of corruption and abusive law enforcers remain scot-free.

We stand united for Che-Che Lazaro and other victims of this vindictive and tyrannical regime. We stand united for press freedom and the people’s right to petition the government for redress of grievances. We stand united for transparency and good governance.

We support Che-Che Lazaro’s continuous service to public interest through investigative journalism and urge other like-minded journalists to carry on with their excellent advocacy for truth.

We oppose the GSIS wiretapping case against her and urge Valencerina to come to her senses so that she may promote transparency and good governance through listening to the teachers’ grievances instead of filing absurd cases against those who champion or at least publicize the teachers’ demands.

Finally, we stand united against a new dictatorship now upon us, bent in using state power to silence its critics and castrate press freedom, and urge every freedom-loving citizen to stand-up and be counted in the continuous fight for freedom of the press and freedom of expression. If we do not speak out against injustice, it should not surprise us that the next tongue that will be clipped is ours.