State of the Nation Address 1954-1961

By admin | July 21, 2012

Part 1: SONA 1946 – 1953

This was the time when the number of carabaos and labor unions in the country were still being reported in the president’s state of the nation address. Magsaysay announced in 1956 the malaria will be eradicated in three years. He proposed the creation of a Department of Interior in 1957. Oil was discovered in Cebu in 1959. The Philippines acquired an atomic reactor in 1960. Garcia declared in 1961 that the age of cement roads has come to the Philippines.

1954 Ramon Magsaysay

“Communist imperialism still threatens us from without and from within”

We must, therefore, move to strengthen our defenses. It is clearly in the national interest that we meet with the representatives of the United States Government to settle pending legal questions so that the bases we have granted to that country can be immediately developed and fully activated.”

“We will continue our policy of “all-out friendship and all-out force.” (directed to rebels)

“I propose the manufacture of prefabricated buildings in plants located in strategic places, from which buildings can be transported to the remotest barrios, where they will be installed with the help of the people themselves.”

January 24, 1955

“We note that during the past year, the number of our carabaos rose to 2.7 million…Because of this increase and the ban on their slaughter, the price of carabaos has gone down considerably, making it easier for the poor farmers to acquire them.”

“The number of workers organized into labor unions nearly doubled during the past year. This means that labor has improved its collective bargaining position for better wages and working conditions.”

January 23, 1956

“The complete eradication of malaria within the next three years is now within sight.”

“Instead of English, the local dialects are now being used in the first two years of the elementary grades.”

“As a beginning, mathematics and physics should again be taught as compulsory subjects in the high schools.”

January 28, 1957

“Such items as wearing apparel, footwear, cigarettes, school and office supplies, building and electrical materials, tires, and certain food products – all of which we used to import, are now being supplied from Philippine manufactures.”

“In order to enable us to pay closer attention to the needs of local governments, I recommend the restoration of the Department of Interior.”

January 27, 1958 Carlos P Garcia

“With American assistance, and within the limits of our resources, we are beginning to streamline our military equipment and organization in conformity with the expected new requirements of warfare in this atomic-missile age.”

“…the maximum size of classes has been reduced from 60 to 40 pupils. The vernacular is now being used as a medium of instruction in the first two years of the primary grades.”

“The law requiring the reforesting of areas subjected to lumber operation has not worked in practice, resulting in denuded forests and consequent disastrous floods and droughts.”

“I would like to restate solemnly my stand in favor of world disarmament. We shall support in every possible and reasonable way all sincere efforts towards world disarmament.”

January 26, 1959

“Whereas there were no rural banks in 1949, there are now 120 of them distributed throughout the country”

“Character education and optional religious instruction have been intensified as a way of counteracting juvenile delinquency.”

“Graft and corruption, I say, is not a political question but a national problem.”

“I recommend that senator be elected on the basis of specific senatorial districts…extending 8-year terms to its members, one-half of whom will be chosen by the electorate every quadrinnial election”

January 25, 1960

“The nation was thrilled by the discovery of oil in Cebu which, together with steel, will give revolutionary impetus to our agro-industrial economy.”

“We launched the first ship built by Filipino naval architects and engineers which established once and for all our capacity in this field.”

“We have just laid the cornerstone of a Nuclear Center made possible by the US granting us an atomic reactor.”

“Politically we became independent since 1946, but economically we are still semi-colonial.”

“During the past year, I have consistently advocated the dispersal of industries to the provinces to halt the dangerous tendency of overcrowded population in cities and to stop inflation of monetary circulation in Manila and suburbs while there is scarcity of money in the provinces.”

“Some Virginia tobacco lands in the Ilocos provinces, in the face of a soaring tobacco surplus, may be shifted to cotton production needed by our expanding textile mills”

I announced my plan to proclaim 1961 a “See the Philippines – Visit the Orient Year.” (tourism program)

“The expansion of our railway lines to Cagayan and Sorsogon has been started by the conduct of preparatory bidding by the Manila Railroad Company. Last June the Baliuag-Gapan section of the Cabanatuan Line was completed.”

“The port of Manila must have the modern port facilities to make it the biggest in the Far East.”

January 23, 1961

“…has made it possible for us as a nation to attain new summits in our unending Odyssey in the highway of progress and development.”

“I recommend the establishment of a Deep-Sea Fishing administration for the purpose of encouraging, coordinating, and assisting the development by the private sector of deep-sea fishing.”

“For a better implementation of our program of planting trees on denuded watersheds, grasslands, and marginal lands, the Reforestation Administration has been established.”

“The age of cement roads has come to the Philippines.”

“Private schools continue to play an important role in education. They accommodate 60 percent of the secondary students and 90 percent of those on the college and graduate levels.”

“We cannot act on the basis of generalities or on gossips peddled by ‘ugly wagging tongues’

“It is unfortunate that society only condemns the bribe taker and even idolizes the wealthy temper.”

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Miseducation in the 21st Century

By admin | July 18, 2012

Part 1: K-12: Education reform for whom?

Through K-12, the Noynoy Aquino government plans to equip Filipino students with ‘21st century skills’. This seems a lofty goal considering that majority of public schools are stuck in the 20th century twilight zone. Even the commendable plan to integrate ICT starting Grade 1 seems unrealistic given the poor state of learning infrastructure in most schools. According to the Department of Education, the K-12 model adopted in the 1950s and 1960s known as 2-2 Plan failed because of ‘insufficient preparation before the plan was implemented.’ Scary but it seems the DepEd hierarchy is poised to repeat the blunders of the past.

Why the obsession to launch the K-12 experiment sans pilot testing? Believing that ‘the sad state of basic education can be partly attributed to the congested basic education curriculum’, our top education bureaucrats are confident that education outcomes will improve if we add two more years into the school cycle. But the last time the DepEd decongested the curriculum was only a decade ago when it trimmed the learning areas from ten to five (remember the Makabayan subject?). And what is the official assessment of the agency with regard to the 2002 curriculum? Surprisingly, it concluded that ‘the clamor for quality basic education cannot be responded to by mere curriculum decongestion.’

Apparently, even the ‘forerunner of the K-12 curriculum’ failed to reverse the deterioration of Philippine education.

But let’s assume for the moment that this particular evaluation didn’t take place and let’s briefly agree for the sake of argument that K-12 curricular reforms are necessary today to upgrade the standards of Philippine education. Will the K-12 curriculum deliver the promised results?

Science advocates will probably complain and point out the unusual non-teaching of Science as a separate subject in the early grade levels. Linguists have welcomed the use of Mother Tongue as medium of instruction from Grades 1 to 3 but some still have many questions about the introduction of oral English and Filipino in Grade 1. Curiously, English is the designated medium of instruction in the subject areas of Technology and Livelihood Education or TLE and Music, Arts, Physical Education, and Health or MAPEH. But isn’t it more effective, appropriate, and convenient for both students and teachers to use the local languages in academic subjects that are supposed to enhance youth awareness about our cultural heritage, human body, home economics and local industries?

There are numerous teaching innovations in the Araling Panlipunan (AP) subject. Community history will be taught in Grade 2, local history in Grade 3, and Philippine history in Grades 5 and 6. Primary sources will be used in Grade 7. Interesting that students are expected to be like amateur historians by teaching them how to decipher ancient codes, interpret government records, and classify historical sources. Hopefully, the reconceptualized AP subject will not confuse our teachers who were given a crash course for only a few days last summer. Furthermore, is it really necessary to copy the themes of the United States National Council for Social Studies and apply them to the Philippine education setting? Obviously, K-12 was cleverly conceived to further Americanize Philippine education even under the AP program.

DepEd has to explain why it distributed teaching modules which teachers can only use for two grading periods. The release of unfinished teaching guides reflects the hasty and haphazard implementation of K-12. Worse, the prefabricated learning materials were designed by ‘experts’ in such a way that the only creative task required of teachers is to unpack them, follow the specific instructions in the kit, and then grade the students. Even the learning guides already contained exact examples and details of course content, teaching methods, and test sheets which teachers are required to use inside the classroom. Under K-12, teachers are subjected to a ruthlessly efficient reskilling and deskilling process.

To boost the overall performance of the education processing and sorting machine, national standardized examinations will be administered several times. Tests will be given to students of Grade 3 (to assess mother tongue-based education), 6, 10, and 12 (college entrance). There is also going to be an Occupational Interest Inventory for Secondary Students in Grade 7 and the National Career Assessment Examination given in Grade 8. It seems students will be continually ‘tested’ not educated under K-12. Test scores will arbitrarily determine the promotion of teachers and schools. Manila-based technocrats who devised the exams, and clueless bureaucrats who administered the tests, will exert greater control in educational institutions instead of classroom teachers who are more knowledgeable about the real learning potential of their students.

The crazy competition for numeric excellence will drive schools to abandon the humanistic pedagogic goals and replace them with modern methods (of madness) on how to generate significantly higher test scores every year. K-12 will usher in a new era of scholastic inequality in the country.

To be continued……discussion of Technology and Livelihood Education

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More Pork, Doleouts, Bonuses in 2013 Budget

By admin | July 10, 2012

Initial review of the 2013 budget based on the DBM presentation

The Noynoy Aquino government is calling the P2.006 trillion proposed budget an ‘empowerment budget’ that will benefit the people, especially the poor. But since the budget (based on the Department of Budget and Management presentation) is loaded with more pork, doleouts, and fat bonuses, it’s more appropriate to call it an ‘election budget’ that will benefit Aquino’s politician friends, especially candidates of the Liberal Party.

The Department of Education, as expected, received the biggest share in the budget among all government agencies. The agency’s P292.7 billion allocation, however, is way below the P334 billion proposed budget that is required for the successful implementation of the K-12 program in the next schoolyear. The budget timetable was presented by DepEd to the House of Representatives during a public hearing last month. Where will DepEd source the funding gap in meeting the basic requirements for the next phase of the K-12 program?

The presentation also mentioned that DepEd will continue to hire ‘volunteer teachers’ for the Kindergarten program. Not teachers, but volunteer teachers. DepEd, it seems, will remain the nation’s biggest employer of contractuals.

The Department of Public Works and Highways received the second biggest allocation in the government budget after DepEd. Curiously, the DPWH was listed as the government’s Principal Infrastructure Agency. On the surface, there’s nothing sinister in this categorization. The immediate implication is that departments with infrastructure projects will have to transfer these items to DPWH. But the timing of the move is suspect since election campaigning is just a few months away. Did the government centralize the infrastructure projects to make it more convenient for dirty politicians to receive kickbacks from overpriced and anomalous infrastructure projects? Instead of talking to various line agencies, politicians will now only deal with DPWH. One agency for the spoils. One stop shop for corruption deals.

Anyway, after two years of underspending on infrastructure, the Aquino government has finally decided to pour more funds for hard projects. This is understandable since the ruling LP is desperate to dominate the polls next year and an effective vote-getter is to improve the government’s ‘concrete’ achievements. Expect more visible and highly publicized tourism roads, bridges, and flood control projects in the next few months. Interestingly, the funding for DPWH ‘road upgrading project’ was raised from P15 billion to P26 billion in the 2013 budget. Not new roads, but simply upgrading of roads. Indeed, elections always bring out the innovatiness of our leaders.

If the poor are unimpressed with pork projects, the government will try to win their support (read: votes) with more Conditional Cash Transfer funds. Instead of directly investing in social service programs, the government has decided to expand the CCT doleout by increasing its allocation in the 2013 budget from P39 billion to P44 billion.

Meanwhile, the Pamana peace and development program, which is the other less controversial CCT of the government in remote villages, was given a budget of P5 billion compared to this year’s P1.7 billion budget. That’s almost 300 percent increase in allocation.

If you think ‘empowerment ‘is just a slogan to sugar-coat the budget, think again. There’s actually a P250 million ‘empowerment fund’ embedded in the local development program. The purpose of the program, however, is not clearly explained in the DBM presentation.

The government will reward efficient agencies by allocating P10 billion pesos for performance-based bonuses. Not wrong to give incentives to outstanding civil servants but the funding seems too big which may only benefit top bureaucrats and technocrats instead of ordinary government employees.

The government claims it introduced ‘bottom-up budgeting’ by expanding the role of civil society in drafting the budget. This has been a recurrent self-praise of the DBM yet every year the civil society groups which the DBM had supposedly consulted have been complaining during budget hearings that their inputs have not been thoroughly integrated in the national budget. Sadly, the government is using the presence of some well-meaning civil society groups in the budget consultation and drafting process to hide the essentially anti-poor and anti-development features of the national budget. A democratized budget process is not yet a reality today.

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Burma’s Surprising Protests

By admin | July 7, 2012

News about the protests that spread through several Burma towns last week over power shortages should be welcomed as a positive development in the country’s bid to achieve a full democratic transition.

The series of peaceful protests started in Mandalay, where hundreds of residents gathered in front of a government electricity agency to condemn the power blackouts in the city. There, locals lighted candles in the evening and displayed posters even without being pre-approved by the censors. It was a rare spontaneous gathering of consumers who are all furious over the failure of authorities to adequately explain why electricity is available for only six hours in a day.

After Mandalay, residents of Monywa, Pyi, Bago, and the Thonse townships who are also suffering from the blackouts conducted street protests and candle lighting activities over the past week. Even Facebook users changed their profile pictures to an image of candles against a dark background to show support for the protests.

The government blamed a bomb blast that destroyed a transmission tower connected to a hydropower plant for the electricity shortage, which crippled several cities in the country. But citizens aren’t satisfied with this excuse. Indeed, many people have questioned instead the continued sale of Burma’s natural gas supply and other energy resources to neighboring China despite the power crisis in the country. The fact that some of the protests have also been organized in front of the Chinese embassy reflects the disapproval of many citizens over the sales to China. It didn’t help that the minister for the Ministry of Electric Power publicly defended the energy trade with China, which only inflamed opinion. The minister’s resignation is now being demanded by protesters for his remarks.

Unsurprisingly, the initial response of the police was to harass and arrest some protesters. But surprisingly, the detained civilians were immediately released. Maybe the junta-backed government had already sensed the popular indignation at the grassroots level and is worried that a violent crackdown on the peaceful assemblies could trigger bigger protests in the future which it wouldn’t be able to handle. The ruling coalition, which experienced a humiliating landslide defeat in the recent local elections, stands to lose even more political clout if the opposition or the pro-democracy movement is able to harness the emerging community-based people power in the blackout-hit towns of Burma.

It’s not to the junta’s credit that protests are allowed to prosper in Burma. The police initially tried to suppress and limit the protests in a single town, but they failed. Perhaps inspired by the recent electoral victory of the opposition, it seems Burmese citizens are more aggressive and bolder in expressing their views today. Young people are no longer afraid to call for the dismissal of a government minister.

Much has been said of the so-called reforms implemented by the Burmese government, which included the release of political prisoners and the holding of open elections. These reforms were quickly accepted by several global leaders, which could pave the way for the entry of more aid and investment into Burma. But these suspect junta-driven reforms can be easily reversed, making it even more necessary to look for sustainable democracy initiatives from below. The string of community protests that erupted last week is a fine example of a people-driven reform movement that has the potential to guide Burma’s transition to democracy.

Written for The Diplomat

Is China a Bad Investor?

Last month, thousands of Burmese residents took to the streets to complain about the daily blackouts that have plagued the country’s big urban centers. But aside from criticizing the ineptitude of their officials, the protesters also linked the power supply shortage to China’s massive purchase of the country’s energy resources. A spontaneous protest took place in front of the Chinese embassy, where residents expressed outrage over the government’s decision to sell energy reserves to China’s manufacturing hubs while many Burmese are living in the dark.

The protest is quite similar to the rise of a citizen movement that opposed the construction of a China-backed mega dam along the Irrawaddy River last year. Thousands of villagers resisted the project because their homes will be demolished. Because of the popular appeal of the movement, the government was forced to suspend the project. It was perhaps the first time that the junta-anointed government responded positively to a civil society petition. China, of course, frowned upon the decision

The protests in Burma reflect the rising economic ties between China and its neighbors in Southeast Asia on the one hand, and the uneven consequences of China’s investments on the other. After years of spectacular economic growth, China has more than enough resources at its disposal to massively invest in many countries. Chinese capital is behind many of the region’s several large scale investments in hydropower, mining, timber, agriculture, and infrastructure.

China has been Southeast Asia’s key trading partner for several centuries. This isn’t surprising as China shares land borders with Indochina. In recent years, it has become a leading investor in the region. It is, in some senses, the new Japan.

These investments are generally welcomed because of the jobs they create and their positive impact on local economies. But opposition to China’s aggressive economic expansion in the region has also emerged. The negative reaction is partly fueled by nationalist motives as local tycoons reject foreign competition. But it’s also an issue of survival and human rights for the thousands of ordinary residents who have been displaced by Chinese-funded development projects.

For example, Cambodian farmers have been complaining over a de facto Chinese “invasion” of their lands. According to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, the Cambodian government granted 4,615,745 hectares in concessions to 107 Chinese-owned firms since 1994. Of that total, 3,374,328 hectares were forest concessions, 973,101 hectares were economic land concessions and 268,316 hectares were mining concessions.

Chinese firms are also accused of violating local laws, in particular the bribing of top officials in many countries. In the Philippines, Chinese investments on IT and railways have been cancelled by the government after it was revealed that bribes were paid by Chinese firms to secure political approval.

The emergence of China as a global economic powerhouse brings tremendous benefits to its cash-strapped neighbors in Southeast Asia. But as China expands its economic clout, it must be ready to account for the varying consequences of its actions. Many Southeast Asians feel that their countries are being treated as just another market to dominate and exploit by China, even though the region has been a reliable trading partner and neighbor for many centuries.

Indeed, while China’s economic resources can transform poor villages into prosperous communities, it can also be used to destroy the environment, violate rights, and worsen corruption in the region. China shouldn’t only wisely choose its investments – it must also respect the different customs, traditions, and political systems of its neighbors. Otherwise, Southeast Asians might decide to close their doors to their rich neighbor and seek other, more responsible, investors

Written for The Diplomat

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Dead End and Deadened

By admin | July 5, 2012

The obligatory canned applause to celebrate President Noynoy Aquino’s second year in office will be delivered by the crazed Yellow Gang. They are expected to highlight the visible and quantifiable – though empty and boring – so-called achievements of the government like credit rating, GDP, and investor confidence. The hypnotized herd will probably echo Pnoy’s Big C syndrome which had been the president’s obsession in the past six months: Corona, China, and Congresswoman Gloria Arroyo. Oust Corona in behalf of all hacienderos, challenge China to please Uncle Sam, and prosecute Arroyo to hide his ambivalence on punishing corrupt officials of previous governments.

Meanwhile, the equally obsessive usual suspects will unmask the rotten core of the Aquino presidency. They will match the government’s glowing statistics with damned and damning statistics; they will expose the poisonous and grotesque lies of the Palace Rasputins; and they will ridicule the president’s noxious delusions that he’s the best and most qualified moral person to lead the country.

But what about the rest of the chattering and twittering classes? The skeptical academe? The critical press?

Sadly, there seems to be no serious attempt to challenge or demystify the Aquino mystique. The noise hovers only around Pnoy’s lazy work ethics, poor choice of Cabinet members, sloppy management of the central bureaucracy, and the meddling of his kamag anak in the affairs of Malacanang. Then there’s the constant irritating buzz over the president’s love life and the manufactured stories about his alleged empathy for the common tao.

But lacking or absent is a critical review of Pnoy’s political philosophy. There’s no judgment, critical or otherwise, about the conservative, reactionary, and even the anti-Filipino values that sustain the politics of the president.

What is more nauseating is the smug consensus in the mainstream opinion-making instruments that Pnoy possesses the qualities of a Great Leader. He is christened as the popular King who can perform miraculous deeds in government. Closet apologists insist he is clean, saintly (like his mother), and is not afflicted with the trapo disease of desiring to remain in power beyond 2016.

His flaws are easy to notice but quickly overlooked because of the greater importance placed on his deceptively naive politics. He may be guilty of noynoying but it’s a weakness that is tolerated by the Establishment as long as it doesn’t threaten the power flows and flows of power in society.

We can understand those who truly believe in his character as a person. Even those who got tired and cynical from the bad old days of Ramos, Estrada, and Arroyo can rationalize their quiet support for Pnoy, The Good. But there is no excuse for the muted reaction and ‘uncritical quietism’ of intellectuals while Pnoy and his gang are viciously attacking the fundamental tenets of democracy, including the removal of the hard-won rights of the people.

Some hard-hitting journalists in leading media networks are not even ashamed to hide their incestuous links with the dominant faction of the ruling class as they conspire in the suppression and distortion of the ‘inconvenient truths’ about Pnoy’s bourgeois government.

Pnoy merely revived and rebranded some of the most exploitative and anti-poor programs of his predecessors yet he is praised as an innovator and visionary. PPP is a fancy name for privatization. Green economy is governance by greenwashing. Transparency is sophisticated media manipulation. Human rights, then and now, is only for those who cheer while the president delivers a speech.

But the most unacceptable disregard for History and Reason is the shameful defense of direct American intervention in the country’s domestic politics. It is naked US imperialism but the intellectual gatekeepers refuse to name it for what it really is. The youth should be reminded of the heroic struggle of Filipinos for genuine freedom, which includes the non-renewal of US military bases, but we are miseducating them when we justify the presence of foreign troops in the country. We are diluting the meaning of sovereignty and independent foreign policy.

If Marcos were president today, he would be quickly condemned for parroting the views of the US government. But alas, the people who speak the Truth are the ones being ruthlessly vilified today for spreading anti-Filipino dogmas.

We have reached a dead end. The system it seems has nothing original to offer anymore but a bland revival of failed and illusory programs of the past. The apologists, the intellectuals, and even some of the Survivors are selling nostalgia. Those who benefit from the unequal division of wealth and power in society are conspiring to prevent the emergence of a genuine alternative. They want to preserve the eternal present by breeding a new generation of unthinking, undead creatures. People who have no past, enamored with the digital present, and confused about the distant prosperous future.

Daang Matuwid represents the last desperate attempt of the decaying bourgeois class to prevent the people from recognizing that there’s another Redemption Road. It’s a road which offers no promise of a Yellow Paradise but simply a journey where the people, the poor, are the real masters and bosses up to the final destination.

This noynoying era marks the end of Philippine pre-history.

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Poverty and Children

By admin | June 26, 2012

There are 27.6 million poor Filipinos in 2006, 12.8 million or 47 percent are children 15 years old and below. This was revealed in a study commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund and conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, a government agency. The results of the study were reported to the public on September 2010.

Rural poverty has worsened in the past decade. There are 9 million poor children living in the rural areas. Meanwhile, fisherfolk and farmers belong to the poorest sectors in society. The poverty rate is highest in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (69.3 percent) while the National Capital Region only registered 15.8 percent. It’s clear that the uneven or lopsided development in the country has exacerbated income inequality in the regions.

Discrimination against poor children starts at birth. Out of 2.6 million unregistered children, 70 percent are found in ARMM, Eastern Visayas, Central Mindanao, Western Mindanao, and Southern Mindanao. Parents usually complain against the high cost of birth registration and distance of their homes to the nearest registration centers.

Children living in houses made of makeshift materials are considered deprived of shelter. Despite the claim of the government that it has already addressed the issue, the study found that 2.2 percent of Filipino children are still without decent shelter. Metro Manila alone has 78,000 children under this category. High incidences of children living in informal settlements are also found in Cotabato City and Maguindanao. Most probably they are bakwit children.

There are 246,011 street children, or those who stay in the streets and public areas for at least four hours daily. This figure comprises 3 percent of the population aged 0-17 years old. Unsurprisingly, Metro Manila has the most number of highly visible street children at 11,346.

In 2006, there were 3.4 million children who have no access at all to a toilet facility of any kind. For the 8.6 million children who suffer from sanitation deprivation, it’s definite that they are not part of the #itsmorefun cheering crowd of the tourism department. Unless of course there are insensitive souls who are promoting slum tourism – ‘slumdog millionaires’ Philippine version.

Water access has improved although there are still waterless municipalities. A country surrounded by water yet many people can’t drink clean water? Water access remains a priority concern in regions like ARMM, and the Zamboanga Peninsula where 34 and 21 percent of children, respectively; are severely
deprived of water.

Filipino children suffer too from malnutrition. Malnourished children have declined over the years but the number went up in 2008. Children suffering from thinness rose from 5 percent in 1989 to 6.1 percent in 2008. Curiously, overweight children represent 2 percent of total children population in the country.

Because of malnutrition and their poor living conditions, many children suffer from disabilities. It is estimated that 20 percent of approximately 200,000 Filipinos with disabilities are children. The government’s health care program has failed to provide adequate immunization, vitamin supplementation, nutrition education, prenatal and postnatal care to Filipino families. Will the government fulfill its commitment to use the revenue windfall from higher sin taxes to improve the delivery of health services?

Education targets are part of the global Millennium Development Goals. Sadly, there is a low probability that the Philippines will achieve the desired outcomes on time. In 2002, there were 1.8 million children aged 6-16 who failed to enroll in school primarily because of lack of personal interest and high cost of education. But by 2007, the number rose to 2.2 million. Drop out rates are alarming, especially in the early grade levels. Net enrolment has decreased from 90.3 percent in 2002 to 84.8 percent in 2007. According to the study, Western Visayas registered the lowest enrolment rate in the country. This is quite a mystery since West Visayas is a known education hub.

Cases handled by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in 2006-2007 also went up from 6,606 to 7,182. Most cases involved child abuse, neglect, trafficking, and child labor. But the number could be higher because many cases of abuse are underreported.

Today, the Department of Labor and Employment released the results of a survey which showed that there are 5.59 million children at work, 3.028 million are considered child laborers and 2.993 million are reported to be working in hazardous conditions. These are very alarming numbers and they highlight the ‘heinous crimes’ committed by the state against Filipino children. The crimes pertain to the lack of social services and welfare programs provided to children.

The Philippines is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international instruments that aim to promote the welfare of children. There is a popular initiative to build child-friendly governments especially at the local level. But these laws and programs have not succeeded in eliminating the various forms of abuse, poverty and deprivation experienced by many children.

Strong economic fundamentals are irrelevant if they do not lead to the improvement of lives of the people, especially the children. GDP growth is meaningless if not accompanied by real and sustained changes in the living conditions of the poor. Children are among the poorest sub-sectors in society and their marginalization is often overlooked by politicians who prefer to articulate the issues of voters instead of crying minors.

There are many indicators used by mainstream economists to prove that the government’s poverty alleviation programs are working. Another way of measuring the effectivity of these programs is to highlight the situation of Filipino children. Children who are healthy, living in a decent shelter, attending a school, participating in community events, and happily involved in leisure or fun activities – these are the minimum standards that we as a nation should meet for the benefit of our children.

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Scarborough Shoal a Precursor?

By admin | June 25, 2012

French philosopher Voltaire once wrote a story about the mad behavior of men going to war over a “few lumps of earth.” In Southeast Asia, there are numerous small and midsize conflicts between countries over temples, borders, islets, reefs, shoals, and even puny rock formations that disappear during high tide.

For example, Thailand and Cambodia are feuding over the ownership of the historic Preah Vihear temple and the four square kilometers of territory around it. The conflict intensified in 2008, which led to some deadly exchanges of fires between border troops. It strained the relations of two erstwhile friendly neighbors and, more tragically, it reinforced ultra-nationalism and xenophobia in their countries. Last February, renewed clashes resulted in lives lost on both sides.

For several decades, Singapore and Malaysia contested the ownership of several islands, namely Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, which are all strategically located at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait. Middle Rocks consists of two clusters of small rocks, while South Ledge is visible only at low tide. Fortunately, the International Court of Justice in 2008 recognized Singapore as the owner of Pedra Branca and gave Middle Rocks to Malaysia.

The Paracel Islands, meanwhile, are being claimed by Vietnam, China, and Taiwan, while Indonesia and Malaysia have a longstanding dispute over maritime naval borders in the Malacca Strait, which has led to several coastal patrol detentions of fishing boats of the two countries. Recently, the decades-long maritime dispute in the Bay of Bengal, which involved Burma and Bangladesh, was finally resolved by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The active flashpoint today is in the Scarborough Shoal, located in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea. It’s a chain of reefs and rocks claimed by China, the Philippines, and Taiwan. China is accused of using its superior force to assert ownership of the territory. Its decision to dispatch oversized quasi-civilian boats near the shoal is interpreted by many Filipinos as an act of bullying and aggression.

But the main conflict in the region involves the resource rich Spratly Islands, which are being claimed by six countries: China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. Tension is permanently high in the area because of the military posts established by the claimants. If the dispute isn’t resolved diplomatically today or in the near future, it could potentially trigger a broader conflict in the Asia-Pacific.

Could the little spats over Scarborough, the Paracels, Pedra Branca, and the Malacca Strait lead to a bigger clash over the Spratlys? Are they just a sideshow to the main event? Are they just a foretaste of the real tragedy that will befall the region if the Spratlys dispute explodes into a Southeast Asian War? Diplomacy and peace must be given the chance to succeed now.

Written for The Diplomat

Why Filipinos Are Angry at China

Do Filipinos hate China? Social media networks and other online forums in the Philippines are breathing fire as Filipinos continue to post vitriolic comments over China’s “aggressive” behavior in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea. In particular, Filipinos resent the claim made by China that the Scarborough Shoal is part of Chinese territory when in fact it has been a known fishing ground of Filipino fisher folk for hundreds of years.

The situation worsened when the Chinese and Philippine governments engaged in a heated war of words for several weeks, which fanned the flames of ultra nationalism in both countries. It didn’t help that warships or oversized “fishing boats” were dispatched by the two countries near the disputed shoal. Unsurprisingly, Filipinos cheered the decision of their government to strongly condemn and confront the “bullying” behavior of China.

The heightened tension near Scarborough exposed the inferior military capabilities of the Philippines, a point that was invoked by some Filipino politicians when they demanded the entry of more U.S. troops and warships in the Philippines. The Philippines and United States have a mutual defense treaty that many Filipinos interpret as a guarantee that Americans will defend the Philippines if the latter is attacked by another country.

If diplomatic efforts to resolve the Scarborough issue should fail, it might trigger a broader conflict in the region involving other countries that are also claiming the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Military superpowers like the United States and Russia, which have geopolitical interests in the Asia-Pacific, might be dragged into the crisis as well.

Therefore, both China and the Philippines have an equal responsibility to work out a peaceful solution to the standoff. The Philippines should review its plan to conduct more war games with foreign troops near Scarborough or the Spratlys since the military exercises there can provoke a hostile response from China and other claimants. For its part, China must prove that it’s a good neighbor that has no intention of using its economic and military might to dominate smaller nations like the Philippines.

For the sake of regional harmony, China must endeavor to study the source or sources of enmity that it intentionally or unintentionally generates among its neighbors.

Rightly or wrongly, many Filipinos perceive China today as a giant nation that disregards the rights of its poorer neighbors. After being colonized by Spain for more than 300 years, and then by the United States for half a century, Filipinos are naturally wary of unusual foreign troop deployments that could in their minds lead to invasion in the future. As a country that also suffered colonization in the past, China should be the first to understand the apprehension felt by many Filipinos today.

But more than the Scarborough affair, there could be other issues as well which might have contributed to the disturbing surge in resentment expressed by Filipinos towards China today. Perhaps Scarborough was merely the public outburst of a long repressed sentiment.

There’s no doubt that majority of Filipinos who openly criticized China whether online or offline did it to assert the country’s sovereignty. But maybe there was also an unconscious desire to hit back at China, in particular over its stubborn refusal to listen to the appeal of Filipinos to stop the execution of Filipino drug mules. Since 2011, China has executed several Filipino “drug mules” despite the request of the Philippines to suspend the death sentence. In a country where 10 million overseas workers are described as modern heroes, and where the death penalty law has been repealed already, China’s decision to ignore all appeals made by Filipinos to save the lives of their countrymen must have deeply offended the collective feelings of a nation.

We should also recognize that China’s rise as an economic powerhouse has produced uneven consequences in the region. In the Philippines, it meant good business for importers and skilled workers. But the local manufacturing sector suffered tremendously as investors shifted their operations to China. Farmers also complained that they couldn’t compete with the cheaper agricultural products from China that have flooded the local markets in recent years.

When Filipinos discuss Philippine-China relationship, the focus is on Scarborough and the Spratlys. This is understandable because of its international significance and the patriotism it instantly engenders. But maybe it’s about time to start a national conversation about the future of the country in relation to China’s emergence as the new superpower of the world. Territorial disputes shouldn’t overshadow equally important issues in defining the Philippine-China relationship like trade, migrant rights, cultural ties, and even regional security.

Written for The Diplomat

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Rallies and Marathons

By admin | June 22, 2012

Rallies and most marathons for a cause have many things in common. They both require a massive gathering of warm bodies in order to succeed. After converging at a certain point, the participants will soon march to reach the finish line, the target destination. The sheer number of the crowd is eclipsed only by the more persuasive power of the visible togetherness, the collectives in action, the multitudes united by a common purpose. The distance is overlooked since everybody is more eager and determined to survive the street challenge.

The professionals and veterans participate in 42K marathons while newbies, volunteers, and trend followers prefer the short distance runs. Meanwhile, rallies could be a long march (annual lakbayan of southern Luzon peasants), picket, lightning protest, or a procession in old Manila near Malacanang Palace.

Rallies and marathons cannot be organized overnight. There must be a substantial amount of time devoted to public awareness and education campaigns. It isn’t enough to simply announce a rally or marathon. The organizers have the duty to convince the public that it’s necessary to march and run in the streets in support of a particular cause.

The recruitment/marketing process is exciting but difficult. It’s easy to choose an issue since there is no shortage of causes to advocate in #itsmorefun Philippines. But one must be patient, persistent, and creative when convincing people to break habits, challenge norms, sacrifice time, and become agents of change. There are numerous skeptics, cynics, and hecklers who would not only reject an invitation to join the event but would also not hesitate to spread nasty rumors about the initiative. But if converted into the movement, these naysayers will most likely become effective organizers and cadres.

Nobody can predict the outcome of the event proper. Will it rain, will people come, will accidents happen? The success of the activity is initially revealed a few minutes before the start of the march. The key indicator is the size and broad character of the crowd at the starting line. Since the aim is to articulate the sentiment of a community, the participants must represent various constituencies. Big attendance, quality representation, high public and media interest – these are what every organizer hopes to see before the march.

The participants, on the other hand, might view the pre-event scenes differently. They might be more impressed with the large family delegations, the colorful banners and streamers, and the presence of kibitzers. The excitement rises as everybody prepares to march. Each participant has an assigned place in the front, middle, or back rows.

Forward march! The mood in the air is electric. The rush of adrenalin boosts the physical endurance of the participants. There’s an empty space to conquer, there’s a race to finish. The crowd moves in unison, slowly, steadily, carefully reaching the goal at a near distance. It’s a community on the move. Fellow crusaders, fellow travelers, fellow runners. Perspiring as one. Tired bodies. High spirits. The smell of victory is at hand.

The gaze of outsiders – media, police, motorists, vendors – agitates the participants. The runners might be thinking and asking these questions: Do they want to join us? Do they find the running strange, funny, or extraordinary? But the sympathetic onlookers might have other views and questions: Will they be able to finish the race? How many will quit or get hurt? What’s the relevance of their running? Is this going to cause traffic?

End of the march! The organized dispersal will soon take place but only after the participants have checked the safety and well-being of their friends and comrades. There is usually a short program to officially declare the success of the event and to remind the public about the noble objectives of the gathering.

Participants will go home fulfilled despite being exhausted from the street exercise. The Bayanihan Spirit is not that difficult to revive after all.

But if marathons and rallies share many similarities, they have essential differences as well.

Marathons take place in a protected and enclosed space secured by the state. It is well guarded against hostile elements that might provoke violence during the march. Rallyists in rallies, meanwhile, are often considered by the state as the hostile elements that must be kept under constant surveillance. Despite the defined route of rallies, the march is always unpredictable since it can change directions to avoid police blockage or it can first enter an urban poor village before proceeding to a plaza or in front of a government office. In short, rallies are generally peaceful but the situation can be volatile.

Marathons are time-specific. The finish line is literally the finish line. For many participants, the end of the marathon marks the end of their direct involvement in support of the cause. They go back to their normal lives and wait for the announcement of the next marathon.

It’s quite different for rallies. The end of a rally signals the start of preparation for a bigger rally in support of the same cause. Or the cause might be new but it’s still related to the old issue. Rallies, small leading to big, are always interconnected. A rally in Manila is an assertion in behalf of the ‘imagined community’ in the archipelago. A small protest gathering can trigger similar outbursts of collective power in different communities until they lead to a revolutionary situation. A rally is just a sideshow, a dress rehearsal for the Big One. The rally mutating, spreading to all. The here becomes everywhere. The now transforms the future. The future arrives in the present.

The state, which seeks the preservation of the eternal present, is ruthlessly not in favor of rallies. It denies the use of public space for the airing of subversive messages. It instinctively acts to disband the formation of marching militants in the streets. It prefers fun runs and marathons even if it disagrees with their cause. Why? Because the activism espoused in marathons is a case of what Herbert Marcuse calls ‘harmless negation.’ It is ‘digested by the status quo as part of its healthy diet.’

Marathons are presented as the new and fun mode of volunteerism and activism. Everybody has the chance to participate in the less radical ‘struggle’ without the threat of state reprisal.

Beneficiaries of corporate-sponsored marathons are usually those pitiful subjects who can’t fight back like dolphins, stray animals, and abandoned children. Unfortunately, the victim-beneficiaries are stigmatized by CSR planners as living creatures which require permanent charity. People are asked to run in behalf of the voiceless, the marginalized, and those who are living in subhuman conditions.

On the other hand, the victims are among the active participants and organizers of rallies. The voiceless learn to speak and shout their grievances. The marginalized fight their exclusion by joining a collective. The poor struggle to end exploitation in society. In short, the victims are not to be pitied in rallies. They rub elbows, link arms, and exchange stories with fellow activists in rallies. Solidarity, not charity, is the dominant spirit in rallies.

Marathons? Or rallies? Ready. Set. March.

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K-12: Education reform for whom?

By admin | June 13, 2012

Part 1: Politics of education reforms

Everybody agrees that big reforms are necessary to reverse the decline of Philippine education. This consensus, however, was hijacked by the government to force the implementation of the so-called K-12 program despite the absence of an authoritative study that it will raise the quality of learning in the country.

The short school cycle is blamed for the poor learning skills of students. Admittedly, it is a factor that affects the quality of schooling. But it is wrong to assert that it is the principal reason for the underperformance of schools and students. What about availability of learning resources, adequate teacher preparation, appropriate school facilities and other essential elements in raising the quality of education? In short, lengthening the school cycle or decongesting the curriculum would be rendered meaningless if the school setting is still not conducive to learning.

K-12 proponents argue that it’s the standard in most countries and that the Philippines need it catch up with its neighbors if it wants to be more competitive in the global market. Indeed, K-12 is already the global norm but it doesn’t mean that the Philippines has to blindly copy the model. In fact, its premature and mechanical implementation might even worsen the crisis of education in the country. Based on the experience of developed nations, K-12 succeeded if it’s implemented under an efficient education system. Therefore, what the Philippines should prioritize is the building of modern school facilities throughout the country. Address the basic problems of schools (read: shortages), plug the loopholes in the bureaucracy (read: corruption), and then let’s consider the proposal to adopt K-12.

Our well-meaning education officials are alarmed over the fact that we are alone in this part of the world which is still stuck with a ten-year basic education system. But they should be more indignant over the criminal neglect on the part of the government to provide adequate funds to education. The initial global standard that we must apply, without question and hesitation, is the allocation of 6 percent of the GDP to education.

The embarrassing state of Philippine education today can be rooted to decades of government underspending and underinvestment in the education sector. It’s the crime of the century that caused not only the stagnation of our public schools but also our failure to imagine the worthiness and even possibility of adding more years in the school cycle. K-12 is a solution which we should have tackled several decades ago.

But it seems the Noynoy Aquino administration is determined to implement K-12 without thinking of the present situation of schools, in particular their readiness to absorb the additional tasks of the program. Shouldn’t we first correct the errors of the past by infusing more funds into education? Shouldn’t we first agree to end once and for all the everyday miseries of schools, students, and teachers by fixing the current education set-up?

Some Aquino apologists are all praise for the bold decision of the government to go ahead with K-12 despite the objection of many scholars and citizen groups. They interpret it as a clear display of political will. On the contrary, it’s another manifestation of the recklessness that afflicts the Aquino presidency.

Education reforms can transform lives but they can lead to chaos and permanent confusion as well. It is precisely the reason why programs that require the overhauling of an entire system have to first undergo a trial run in select areas. But Aquino’s K-12 will skip that crucial and critical phase because of the apparent obsession of the government to convert all students into K-12 guinea pigs by 2016.

K-12 will certainly affect millions of innocent lives and what’s at stake here should not be trivialized because it involves the future of an entire generation. But Aquino is ready to risk the future of the youth by agreeing to the launch of the ill-prepared K-12 program this school year. Why conduct an education experiment that may cause harm in the lives of millions? Why the rush? What’s so special with the year 2016? The great potential of education reforms must not be torpedoed by the narrow objectives of electoral politics.

Education is society’s ‘great equalizer’ but it remains a distant goal in the Philippines where more than half of students who entered Grade One are still unable to finish high school. The problem is not only the short number of school years; the bigger problem is the high drop-out rate in all levels of schooling. The challenge then is to mainstream the out-of-school youth into the formal schooling system. But by adding two more years in the school cycle, K-12 will only succeed in producing more school drop-outs and a new underclass of school rejects. K-12 will finally institutionalize the reactionary fantasy of preventing the rise of college ‘educated proletariat’. In other words, K-12 will worsen inequality in society.

Furthermore, K-12 advocates are guilty of giving false hopes to the public every time they claim that the program will address the problem of youth unemployment. Will the teaching of technical/vocational skills increase the job prospects of the young? Maybe. But it doesn’t guarantee employment since job creation is a function of the economy, not schools. In fact, college graduates comprise the highest number of unemployed youth in the country because of the lack of decent job and livelihood opportunities in the local market.

K-12 was designed to enhance the international labor advantage of Filipino graduates. Isn’t this a direct endorsement for the labor export policy? But schooling should be more than just job preparation. Schools should not only develop employable graduates; they should aim for the holistic development of the youth.

The economic value of education should not be limited to matching the manpower needs of local and foreign sunshine industries. Through innovation, research, and systematic planning, education can be a catalyst for sustained economic growth. Research centers can lead to the stimulation of domestic industries. The basic requirement is that we draft an education blueprint that serves the specific objective of building a nationalist economy. If we are to restructure the education system, we should aim for broader economic aspirations instead of the current restrictive goal of transforming students into efficient but docile laborers for the benefit of select industries.

But the power of education should be harnessed not just for its economic value but also because of its strategic role in the nation-building process. Students must be equipped with critical thinking skills that would allow them to perform their duties and responsibilities as citizens of this country and the world.

K-12 serves as a reminder that education must not be left in the hands of technocrats, bureaucrats, and policymakers who are often divorced from the realities of everyday life. K-12 should lead to more public discussion and debate about the establishment of an education system that is truly responsive to the aspirations of the greatest number of Filipinos. Hopefully, it would inspire us to continue the struggle not just for meaningful education reforms but also for political initiatives that would lead to the rise of political leaders and champions who understand the role of a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented type of education in improving the lives of Filipinos.

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No To Higher Sin Taxes

By admin | June 9, 2012

Speech delivered on June 6, 2012 at the House of Representatives

I vote ‘NO’ because this measure will only impose higher taxes in the country. The bigger sin is not the act of smoking but the negligence on the part of the government to implement a more comprehensive plan to prevent or discourage people from smoking; and the failure to set up a health care system that addresses the overall well-being of the people, especially the poor. This measure is being hailed as the key component in the anti-smoking drive but the goal is to be achieved by charging more taxes against the people. It’s quite unfortunate that this measure is called a health care bill. It is not. It is actually a revenue generating measure which the government claims will be used to boost or improve the delivery of universal health care in the country. The measure is sustained by contradictory objectives: raise revenues on one hand; and drive down the sales of tobacco firms on the other. I must emphasize that my negative vote is not a vote in favor of smoking and tobacco firms. I must inform the public that even multinational tobacco companies have been aggressively lobbying in favor of the measure. In truth, I can’t trust this government to be true to its pledge that the funds generated from this measure will be used to finance health care. I can’t vote in favor of a measure that will only add revenues to a corrupt bureaucracy. There are other ways to stop smoking and there are more effective mechanism to rationalize tax collection in the country without passing the burden of higher taxes to the people. The convenient and popular option is to vote yes to higher sin taxes. But tonight I cast my negative vote because as a matter of principle, and in my conscience, I cannot support a measure which for me has no clear benefit for the great majority.

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