The Department of Education (DepEd) is exerting all efforts to free the three remaining Zamboanga Sibugay teachers who are still being held captive by rebels. The three teachers were abducted last March in the southwestern part of Mindanao.

Last May, three teachers who were earlier kidnapped, also in the same area last January were freed after more than four months in captivity.

The remaining captive teachers were identified as Jocelyn Enriquez, 43; Jocelyn Inion, 39; and Noemi Mandi, 38, all teachers at Bangkaw-Bangkaw Elementary School in Zamboanga, Sibugay.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus is set to attend a Multi-sectoral Convention organized by the DepEd Division Office of Zamboanga Sibugay on July 17-18. The convention aims to press and initiate the agency and educators’ effort to free the kidnapped teachers and tackle various concerns on teachers’ safety.

Zamboanga Sibugay division office expressed hope that the convention as well as the scheduled multisectoral rally will yield productive results that may lead to the safe and immediate release of the remaining abducted teachers.

Different teacher organizations have also been continuously pushing for the safety of teachers especially in conflict areas. Teachers’ Organization of the Philippine Public Sector (TOPPS) worked hard with the DepEd in forming the TOPPS’ Sagip-guro campaign that helped released the kidnapped teachers last May.

“In these high risk areas, eight hours are required to teachers, we hope that this would change and spend lesser time, at least six hours inside the school and two hours outside. These are just precautionary measures because it’s really delikado,” TOPPS general secretary Tarcela Farolan pleaded after the first batch of teachers were freed.

In an effort to answer the teachers’ call to improve the teaching environment, Lapus announced in a Teachers Form held in Agusan del Sur last week that teachers can now spend only six hours in classroom instruction.

“Dahil dito mas tutok ang pagtuturo, mas maraming oras para maghanda ng mga leksyon, mas maraming oras sa tahanan, mas may quality time para sa pamilya (Because of this, more focus on teaching, more time to prepare for lessons, more time at home, more quality time with the family),” Lapus said.

Source: Angelo G. Garcia, Manila Bulletin