ACT partylist official says he received death threat

January 11, 2019

ACT (Alliance of Concerned Teachers) Partylist secretary general Raymond Basilio on Friday said he received a call threatening to hunt and kill him. A report from the ACT Partylist  said Basilio received a call around 2pm from a certain Gary who claimed to know his personal details. "(Gary) says he has sent people to hunt him down and kill him," it  said. The threat came after a memorandum was leaked about Philippine National Police (PNP) intelligence officers conducting profiling on partylist members. Basilio said it is an "unfortunate" yet "unexpected" development. "We will document this and work with the CHR (Commission on Human Rights), the DepEd (Department of Education), the courts and other concerned agencies," he told The Daily Manila Shimbun. He said the Duterte administration should not expect them to cower amidst their continuous harassment. "With the unity of our membership nationwide, we march on with an even stringer call for salary increase, better working conditions and higher education budget," he said. PNP chief Oscar Albayalde last Tuesday said they are only gathering information on members who may have connection with the communist rebels. "We are not saying this ACT (Teachers) is the enemy of the state. We are pointing here of individual not organization that's why there are intelligence gathering and we have been doing intelligence gathering since time immemorial," Albyalde said. He maintained there is nothing wrong since it's part of their job to protect the Filipino people and the country. Albayalde added no less than Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leader Jose Maria Sison who named ACT as part of their fronts. Ella Dionisio/DMS