IN THE DAYS before he took office, BBM instructed his Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio to “review” Republic Act 10533 which established our current “K-12” education system.
I reported this in PN on June 28. Since then, both BBM and Duterte-Carpio have expressed their support for mandatory ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps).
We have not, however, seen the Vice President’s critique of the K-12 Act.
I believe we should take seriously the results of international surveys in which the Philippines is deemed to be below most other countries in educational attainment, particularly in English, Science, and Mathematics. These results are obtained at an early stage, Grade 4, and there is no evidence that, at any time thereafter, we achieve the standards of other countries.
We assume that the majority view in the Philippines is that we wish to become globally competitive.
What to do?
I hope that the Vice President’s review will accurately define the problems and hopefully make recommendations for significant changes.
Overcrowded classrooms create difficulties for our teachers. Budgetary constraints make it impossible to make substantial improvements.
Nevertheless, we wish the Vice-President’s review every success.
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Power Costs
In 2005, Vince Perez, Energy Secretary, introduced the concept that individual electric cooperatives should negotiate contracts with power suppliers for electricity. Hitherto, the cost of electricity to cooperatives was the same.
The outcome is that consumers suffer from wildly different power costs. In Region 6, the costs vary from P12.17 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in Guimaras and P12.48 in Iloilo City to P18.11 for Negros Oriental Cooperative 1 and P17.84 for Negros Oriental Cooperative 2. Bacolod City and environs is P15.39. The concerns are that firstly, electricity costs are extraordinarily high compared with a few years ago and secondly, costs vary excessively from one cooperative to another.
A typical family consuming 300 kWh per month pays P5,400 in Negros Oriental and P3,700 in Iloilo. The difference, P1,700 per month is unconscionable and should be addressed by the Energy Regulatory Commission./PN
