As Congress inches closer to passing Resolutions of Both Houses No. 6 and 7, which seek to amend the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, the Committee on National Issues and Concerns convened various stakeholders and institutions in an Education Sector Forum on Charter Change at the Verdure last March 18.
A back-to-basics discussion on the Constitution highlighted the implications of amending the articles covering education, as academician Emmanuel Leyco warned that such moves could further plague the country’s problems in education due to the propensity of foreign investors to prioritize profit. ACT Teachers Party-list Secretary General Raymond Basilio seconded Leyco’s comments, saying that there are multiple instances of partly foreign-owned institutions in the Philippines failing to uphold quality standards.
“Noong inimbestigahan namin ang mga paaralang ito, sa baba ay talyer, sa second floor ay eskwelahan na walang library, walang sapat na education support personnel, at kagaya ng nasa ibang bansa, scripted ang lesson,” he revealed, reporting his group’s findings on the APEC Schools, a 40-percent foreign-owned low-fee, for-profit school in the country.
(When we investigated these schools, the basements were warehouses, the second floor being the school with no library, not enough education support personnel, and like those in other countries, the lessons are scripted.)
The proposed entry of foreigners into the education sector is the wrong solution to the issues Filipino students are facing, Leyco posited. Citing the Year One report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education, he argues that funds allocated for education have always been way below the six-percent-of-GDP recommendation of the United Nations, making students and teachers less equipped. He said that there is a need to increase teacher’s wages and expand social welfare programs to reduce the cost and improve the accessibility of education in the country.
Meanwhile, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Atty. Christian Monsod outright dismissed the “politically motivated” resolutions and the now-COMELEC-suspended People’s Initiative (PI) campaign. He outlined that there are two points of contention in the said proposals: the introduction of the phrase “unless provided by law” in the Constitution and the disagreement on whether both houses should vote jointly or separately on the amendments.
Lawmakers have pushed for the inclusion of the phrase to supposedly simplify the process and allow proposed amendments to take the typical path of how a bill is passed but still require a three-fourths majority of its members. However, Monsod and former ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio warned that this method is illegal as it bypasses the Constitution and would allow Congress to act as a rubber stamp to its members’ self-serving interests.
The proposals themselves have also caused infighting among leaders of the legislature. Last January 24, the Senate unanimously issued a strongly-worded manifesto condemning the alleged Speaker-backed PI that sought to amend Article XVII of the Constitution to force Congress to vote jointly. Monsod explained that the move would render the Senate’s 24 votes useless as just the House membership alone would be enough to satisfy the three-fourths quorum requirement in the 340-strong joint session.
During the reaction portion of the forum, University Student Government (USG) Vice President for External Affairs Macie Ternate echoed the panelists’ sentiments asserting that reducing corruption and minimizing red tape is the way to go instead of Charter Change. This was reaffirmed by the Association of Faculty and Educators of DLSU, Inc. President Dr. David Michael San Juan by reiterating the contents of the manifesto of the No to Cha-Cha Network, which he signed along with University President Br. Bernard Oca and other civic leaders.
To close the program, USG President Raphael Hari-Ong encouraged the Lasallian community to participate in the People’s Rally at the South Gate of the Batasang Pambansa last March 20 and announced that a position paper by the University against Charter Change would be released, which was eventually posted a day after, last March 19.
With reports from John Joseph Mercado
