Education in the Philippines

They're planning to add two more years to the ten years of education before a student can proceed to college. They believe a 12-year basic education will meet global standards of education. Why only now? I'm not saying it's too late but even if they add twelve or twenty more years to basic education, this is no guarantee that our students will achieve academic excellence.

There is no excellence if teachers are not excellent, well-paid and inspired. A mediocre teacher teaching in a rotting school with flawed textbooks will only produce incompetents. The government now has to know which education problems to fiercely deal with first. I am sure corruption has been killing our already poor educational system.

While the government is trying to fix problems I say to students: LEARN AND GET EDUCATED OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM.... Are parents and TV doing their part as educators? I don't think so.

On Choosing a President

It is not wise to have so many candidates. Two or three would do. Having many presidential candidates is very divisive. The position of president should be contested only by the best and the most qualified candidates. Is there any place for 'filtering" in our politics here? Presidential candidates should be quizzed and pressed for practical and realistic platforms. They should not be spared from a track record scrutiny or from a morality check up.

As part of the electorate, I believe we need to be re-educated. We need to know and understand our political history. We need teachers and educators, resources and technology that can take us back to our political past and see where we went wrong. And from there we can make strong and informed decisions.

Now that we have elected a new president, we must give him the chance to prove himself with our support. Only time can tell if the nation made the right choice or a huge mistake.

I Cannot Hate Marcos and His Family.

I was only a grade schooler in the '70s when Ferdinand Marcos was still the country's president. His political sway was much felt by my parents from the 60s to the 80s. But I did not know about it nor feel it then. It was only when I was in UP High School that I knew something about the "dictator" and what they called was his "tyrrany".

Ferdinand Marcos to me is history. Not having experienced or even suffered from his "dictatorship" as a child is enough reason for me to be incapable of truly hating him. If I cannot hate him, I cannot hate his living wife and their children. Their "corruptions" and "evils" were and are still beyond me. Undoubtedly they are told about in many books.

I am not a hypocrite to raise a fist and say down with the Marcoses. I have not lived to greatly suffer from the Marcos despotism. In fact I like Imee and Bongbong. Though children of a "dictator", they cannot be automatically regarded as "undesirable fruits". I cannot hate the Marcoses. I can only hate the present "evildoers".

The Unqualified Candidate

The fears of an unqualified candidate are many. He fears he would be eventually proved unqualified when he is already in office. He fears his incompetence would lead to his downfall. He fears his corrupt motives will be exposed. He fears what people say of his past, his skeletons in the closet. He fears his personal demons will un-seat him.

I am for early exposure of the true person running for a government seat. When something is exposed, there should be reliable and concrete evidence. If a charge verges on the malicious and scandalous, I will not totally dismiss it. It may just be true.

I still think that there are unqualified candidates out there who have no fears at all. They know that they can get away with many things. They believe they will be elected. And they do get elected. The politics of politics makes our politics here dirty and rotten. The Philippines continues to suffer and crawl.