V for Vruha
November 8, 2007 by mlq3
Filed under Daily Dose
The piteous tale of Girl who killed self lamented family’s poverty in diary brings to mind the famous passage from Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure:
First comes this ominous passage:
The failure to find another lodging, and the lack of room in this house for his father, had made a deep impression on the boy– a brooding undemonstrative horror seemed to have seized him. The silence was broken by his saying: “Mother, WHAT shall we do to-morrow!”
“I don’t know!” said Sue despondently. “I am afraid this will trouble your father.”
“I wish Father was quite well, and there had been room for him! Then it wouldn’t matter so much! Poor Father!”
“It wouldn’t!”
“Can I do anything?”
“No! All is trouble, adversity, and suffering!”
“Father went away to give us children room, didn’t he?”
“Partly.”
“It would be better to be out o’ the world than in it, wouldn’t it?”
“It would almost, dear.”
“‘Tis because of us children, too, isn’t it, that you can’t get a good lodging?”
“Well–people do object to children sometimes.”
“Then if children make so much trouble, why do people have ‘em?”
“Oh–because it is a law of nature.”
“But we don’t ask to be born?”
“No indeed.”
“And what makes it worse with me is that you are not my real mother, and you needn’t have had me unless you liked. I oughtn’t to have come to ‘ee–that’s the real truth! I troubled ‘em in Australia, and I trouble folk here. I wish I hadn’t been born!”
“You couldn’t help it, my dear.”
“I think that whenever children be born that are not wanted they should be killed directly, before their souls come to ‘em, and not allowed to grow big and walk about!”
Sue did not reply. She was doubtfully pondering how to treat this too reflective child.
She at last concluded that, so far as circumstances permitted, she would be honest and candid with one who entered into her difficulties like an aged friend.
“There is going to be another in our family soon,” she hesitatingly remarked.
“How?”
“There is going to be another baby.”
“What!” The boy jumped up wildly. “Oh God, Mother, you’ve never a-sent for another; and such trouble with what you’ve got!”
“Yes, I have, I am sorry to say!” murmured Sue, her eyes glistening with suspended tears.
The boy burst out weeping. “Oh you don’t care, you don’t care!” he cried in bitter reproach. “How EVER could you, Mother, be so wicked and cruel as this, when you needn’t have done it till we was better off, and Father well! To bring us all into MORE trouble! No room for us, and Father a-forced to go away, and we turned out to-morrow; and yet you be going to have another of us soon! … ‘Tis done o’ purpose!–’tis–’tis!” He walked up and down sobbing.
“Y-you must forgive me, little Jude!” she pleaded, her bosom heaving now as much as the boy’s. “I can’t explain–I will when you are older. It does seem– as if I had done it on purpose, now we are in these difficulties! I can’t explain, dear! But it–is not quite on purpose–I can’t help it!”
“Yes it is–it must be! For nobody would interfere with us, like that, unless you agreed! I won’t forgive you, ever, ever! I’ll never believe you care for me, or Father, or any of us any more!”
He got up, and went away into the closet adjoining her room, in which a bed had been spread on the floor. There she heard him say: “If we children was gone there’d be no trouble at all!”
“Don’t think that, dear,” she cried, rather peremptorily. “But go to sleep!”
Followed by the passage that has gained so much fame:
She joined Jude in a hasty meal, and in a quarter of an hour they started together, resolving to clear out from Sue’s too respectable lodging immediately. On reaching the place and going upstairs she found that all was quiet in the children’s room, and called to the landlady in timorous tones to please bring up the tea-kettle and something for their breakfast. This was perfunctorily done, and producing a couple of eggs which she had brought with her she put them into the boiling kettle, and summoned Jude to watch them for the youngsters, while she went to call them, it being now about half-past eight o’clock.
Jude stood bending over the kettle, with his watch in his hand, timing the eggs, so that his back was turned to the little inner chamber where the children lay. A shriek from Sue suddenly caused him to start round. He saw that the door of the room, or rather closet– which had seemed to go heavily upon its hinges as she pushed it back– was open, and that Sue had sunk to the floor just within it. Hastening forward to pick her up he turned his eyes to the little bed spread on the boards; no children were there. He looked in bewilderment round the room. At the back of the door were fixed two hooks for hanging garments, and from these the forms of the two youngest children were suspended, by a piece of box-cord round each of their necks, while from a nail a few yards off the body of little Jude was hanging in a similar manner. An overturned chair was near the elder boy, and his glazed eyes were slanted into the room; but those of the girl and the baby boy were closed.
Half-paralyzed by the strange and consummate horror of the scene he let Sue lie, cut the cords with his pocket-knife and threw the three children on the bed; but the feel of their bodies in the momentary handling seemed to say that they were dead. He caught up Sue, who was in fainting fits, and put her on the bed in the other room, after which he breathlessly summoned the landlady and ran out for a doctor.
When he got back Sue had come to herself, and the two helpless women, bending over the children in wild efforts to restore them, and the triplet of little corpses, formed a sight which overthrew his self-command. The nearest surgeon came in, but, as Jude had inferred, his presence was superfluous. The children were past saving, for though their bodies were still barely cold it was conjectured that they had been hanging more than an hour. The probability held by the parents later on, when they were able to reason on the case, was that the elder boy, on waking, looked into the outer room for Sue, and, finding her absent, was thrown into a fit of aggravated despondency that the events and information of the evening before had induced in his morbid temperament. Moreover a piece of paper was found upon the floor, on which was written, in the boy’s hand, with the bit of lead pencil that he carried:
DONE BECAUSE WE ARE TOO MENNY.
The story of Mariannet Amper’s suicide has provoked commentaries from church leaders, and has been instantly linked, editors tell me, by the reading public with these:Â Palace admits cash doles from Kampi and Senate probes cash gifts: Inquiry to focus on source of money.
On that somber note, here’s an intriguing story: Allies of Arroyo clash over impeach rules-
Eighty-two lawmakers, most of them belonging to Ms Arroyo’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party, blocked the move to amend the rules and sent the proposal back to the committee on rules.
They overwhelmed 50 of their colleagues who favored amendments that could allow the consolidation of multiple impeachment complaints, strengthening present moves to oust Ms Arroyo.
At present, House rules allow only one impeachment complaint per year.
Half of those who favored amending the rules were opposition congressmen. But the other half were stalwarts of the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, led by De Venecia.
Mon Casiple has an interesting angle on the FVR-JDV-GMA Axis unveiled (or repolished) last Saturday. Basically, it’s a Lakas-CMD gambit to keep the party in power longer. The President, through her husband, had hoped to topple Lakas in the last elections, but Kampi didn’t make the grade, and the infighting in the ruling coalition led to some bad fallout in the Senate election results.
But the President knows that Kampi, as her personal pet party, has a limited shelf life, unlike say the NPC, which is Danding Cojuangco’s pet party (or the NP, Villar’s pet party, or, technically speaking but less so, the LP as the Roxas pet party). If the President steps down in 2010, Kampi will be what the KBL is today, a shadow of its former powerful self. Lakas, on the other hand, has no real presidential candidate in play, and so might find its fortunes rapidly wiped out, too, come 2010.
So, Mon Casiple says, the three leaders of Lakas realize that in unity, there is strength (pun intended): and that requires Lakas as the main benificiary of… Ta-dah! Charter Change:
The bigger question that seems to be up in the air is: what will happen to GMA in the intervening months until 2010, and thereafter? If current straws in the wind are to be believed, the settlement with Erap did not produce any rapprochement with the opposition–nor with Erap himself. There is also no indication that any deal with frontline presidentiables had occurred.
What is suspect at the moment is that the president is laying the ground for another go at charter change–eventually leading to a possible extension of her stay in power beyond 2010. In this, the three of them are agreed as this will make it possible the political survival of Lakas (and their own political fortunes). We are faced with the specter of revival of a Cha-cha ghost–most probably the “people’s initiative†variety. Appointments to the Comelec thus become more crucial than ever before.
At the moment, however, the more significant implication of the Malacañang photo-ops is the time bought–however short–for regime survival. The fragility of the ruling coalition has been stayed momentarily. It will not preclude further plots along the road to 2010, from both sides of the coalition as well as from both sides of the opposition.
A Filipino I know who lived in Malaysia, once told me that a Malaysian royal once told him, “when you Filipinos lost your royalty, you lost your soul.” A story like this one, Judge Dread in Malaysia, makes for interesting reading.
Incidentally, in the same conversation I had with the Filipino former resident of Malaysia, and a Filipina knowledgeable about Indonesia, she said in Indonesia, the Dutch turned the Indonesian royal rulers into civil servants with Dutch superiors; this destroyed the traditional prestige and authority of the Indonesian royals.
In the Philippines, the Spanish took over the islands one ruler at a time, guaranteeing them privileges (exemptions from tribute), and permitting them local elections in which the local (Spanish) parish priest acted as a kind of one-man Comelec. Spanish officials generally stayed in Manila and so, when the revolution broke out, it was as much about modern ideas of revolt as it was about provincial lords summoning their peasant workers to fight against Spain. Even Bonifacio spoke in terms of the ancient blood compact between the royalty in the islands and the Spanish conquistadors. The historian Glenn May, writing about the Revolution in Batangas, pointed out that in some cases it was the principalia, heirs to the leaders who had originally accepted Spanish sovereignty, who led the revolts and were followed by their tenants.
From Rizal to Laurel, there remained the enduring notion of an aristocracy of the mind; Mabini pointed to the necessity of a meritocracy; and as I’ve written in the past, American social engineering focused on something new, entirely, a middle class, but what emerged was one that aped the traditional provincial leadership and which, in turn, has reached in many ways the same dead end the traditional upper class and their warlord rivals have reached. But these are thoughts I’m still developing, but it’s good to bear in mind where we are similar and differ in terms of Malaysia’s and Indonesia’s societies, even Thailand and Brunei, and, India.
Other readings from overseas: The revolution that never was, on waning foreign attention on the plight of the Burmese. And Why is draft of ASEAN charter being kept from public?, by the PCIJ. How China’s Communist Party practices cronyism in China Rewards its Own: The PetroChina A Share Float makes us think of Russia at its oligarchic best.
And my column for today, is Postcard Power! (thank you to Rage Against Melancholy for reproducing it). The versions you can print out in full color, etc, are here. And of course, Hoorah! to bloggers bisayasijosh, to Romeo’s Site, to Manila Boy, to Sitting Amuck, to Pinoyhood, to Pandora’s Box and ScatCore. An inter-blog debate between Eddie Boy Escudero and Home Bass, too. While circle of rhymes and metaphors completely disagrees. And well, from The Philippine Onion, read it and, uh, weep.
Here’s the video of the V for Vendetta speech I quoted last Monday:
Iloilo City Boy reacts to my entry On Official Allowances.
Technorati Tags: Blogging, Charter Change, constitution, history, House of Representatives, ideas, impeachment, journalism, media, philippines, politics, president, society, Thailand, Washington DC
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BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 2:58 pm
It could be the parents’ fault for letting the child feel their poverty acutely. It could be teasing in school. There are a lot of kids in the same situation. My parents are elementary school teachers. I’ve seen the worst of these situations first hand. In my old religious organization, the Youth for Christ, we had kids coming to prayer meetings without breakfast in their stomachs. When one of them faints people assume it’s the holy spirit or a possession. No, it’s lack of calories. A kid this poor should be prevented from putting all of this poverty to heart. Some parents resort to spanking and insulting their own kids to keep them from being sensitive to their lot in life. I think I know this. There are kids a lot poorer than her, but she probably was too smart for this sort of poverty.
When I first heard of the story this morning, I was blaming the trend towards materialism. Most of what we’re buying are imported goods and all that we see, hear and read concern money: thieving politicians, briberies, glamorous lives of the wealthy. When Cruz said we were all to blame, I was offended. Certainly this wasn’t the case. One-third of this country are poor. How can the bishop stomach even considering these people are to blame too. Are the OFWs to blame? Maybe Rosales feels guilty because the Church did not rise up against our corrupt government. We all feel guilty, but we are not all to blame. We all feel we could’ve done something, but only the leaders, the authorities could prevent such a tragedy. There are millions of poor kids in our country. Who knew which one feels this deep about their state? We can only assume what the constitution and the human rights assume, that all people deserve decent lives. In a country with free education, the tragedy is the fault of people responsible for providing for this free education. Let me rephrase: we pay our taxes; it’s the governments duty that these taxes go where they are supposed to go. Government is to blame for their thievery. The Church is to blame for the compromises that they have made. I cannot blame the parents, much more her teachers, even her neighbors are hard to blame. They are poor too, and perhaps their rejection of the Ampers shields them from more misery. I blame the people in power and the people who should know better: Church and government. These two have failed us all.
BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 3:02 pm
Sorry, that was Cruz not Rosales.
BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 3:12 pm
“From Rizal to Laurel, there remained the enduring notion of an aristocracy of the mind; Mabini pointed to the necessity of a meritocracy; and as I’ve written in the past, American social engineering focused on something new, entirely, a middle class, but what emerged was one that aped the traditional provincial leadership and which, in turn, has reached in many ways the same dead end the traditional upper class and their warlord rivals have reached.”
Manolo forget history. A democratic education can effectively rid us of these informal aristocracies. Don’t forget, Americans are still kings of us when it comes to things of the intellect, so there you go a way to get around our petty hierarchies, and I’m not talking about going to harvard.
manuelbuencamino on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 3:44 pm
It’s sad how poverty has a way of taking away the child in children. Can you imagine driven to hopelessness at such a young age?
Maybe she didn’t hear that the peso is strong, the stock market is high, and the fiscal house is now in order.
BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 3:49 pm
manuel,
this sort of humor is what some ateneans may call “uncouth.”
Willy on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 3:50 pm
I have had some opportunity to touch base with some of the poorest near our district. Most of them have only one source of livelihood, and they call it “pangangalakal”. This involves collecting bits and pieces of scrap to be sold to junk/recycling shops day in and day out. It’s a hand-to-mouth existence, you stop working and you go hungry. And all the while they live in squalid shelter. But most of these people strike me as industrious and intelligent enough in their own right. My son is a YFC chapter leader, and he recruits members from this district to somehow help turn them away from drugs and delinquency. I think its just the sad plight of circumstances that got them in that way. So sad.
My heart reaches out to the parents and siblings of Mariannet, and prayers for her soul.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 3:51 pm
That thought ocurred to me as well.
As to building up aristocracies of the mind, i believe that program, if entrusted to the current aristocracy (e.g. products of UP, Ateneo, La Salle) would become self-serving. If what Brianb means by ‘democratic education’ is abolishing all private/exclusive schools from elementary to high school, then i’m all for it.
Jeg on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:00 pm
BrianB: this sort of humor is what some ateneans may call “uncouth.â€
Some of us non-ateneans simply call this sort of humor “dark.”
cvj: If what Brianb means by ‘democratic education’ is abolishing all private/exclusive schools from elementary to high school, then i’m all for it.
Would abolishing all public/government schools work as well? Give the funds directly to the students (since our constitution mandates that the government shoulders elementary and high school education?
Jeg on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:01 pm
I meant “Would abolishing all public/government schools instead work as well?”
BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:07 pm
Will they be publishing her diary?
Re: democratic education, I merely meant an emphasis in democratic thinking like what they do now in former eastern Bloc countries.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:12 pm
Jeg, the point of abolishing private schools (at the elementary and high school level) is to eliminate the elitist-mindset that goes hand in hand with such formative education. We don’t want future Mike or Mikey Arroyos. If the parents of these rich and middle class kids (e.g. Forbes, Dasmarinas Village) are able to go to the same schools as children from Guadalupe Viejo, then two things can happen:
1. The rich and middle class kids will early on, learn to mix with their less fortunate counterparts.
2. The richer parents will help ensure that a certain level of quality education e.g. textbooks, will be kept.
As it is now, the poorer parents don’t have the clout to insist on such changes.
It’s impossible to abolish public schools since you have to replace it with something that fulfills a similar purpose. Like it or not, there are still some functions that only the State can fulfill. Turning over the education budget to the Regional or provincial governments may be worth looking into though if the Manila-based DECS is too corrupt.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:14 pm
Thanks for the clarification. Any pointers to where i can get more info on this?
leah on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:16 pm
the Catholic Church also should be blamed for that childs death. More than anyone else. 7 children, no house, no job.
did you notice V for Vandetta was used to raise 4.2 million dollars for Ron Paul in the USA?
The Ca t on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:29 pm
The issue is responsible parenthood.
Not all poor families end up with suicidal members at a young age.
Sometime the poverty makes it as a challenge to strive harder and have a better life.
Most of those who are successful whether abroad or in the Philippines are those who have experienced extreme poverty.
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:30 pm
BrianB, you might be reading Bishop Cruz’s words too literally. I think his message is not far from the point you are making: just because we’re not the all-powerful government doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference in the lives of others, especially the poor. Even the poor themselves aren’t exempt from the call to practice charity–and I’m not talking about the monetary kind. In the news article about Mariannet Amper, one neighbor was quoted as saying that other kids didn’t want to play with the Amper kids because the latter were “madungis”. Would it have cost anything to treat them kindly?
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:37 pm
If we want to create a genuine intellectual aristocracy, instead of a self-appointed one that the current elite imagines itself to be, we have to do our part to change the system so that these industrious and intelligent individuals stuck in poverty are able to develop what they have so they can in turn contribute to the system. We don’t lack examples. The provincial government of Kerala in India was able to accomplish this.
ricelander on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:39 pm
It is said that 5% of the Filipino families owns 85% of the country’s total resources. That leaves 95% of Filipino families owning the remaining 15%.
How did this come about, I wonder? Genius in business enterprise on the part of the elite, and indolence on the lower end, or just that plain old, unmitigated ‘gulangan’ where one class happened to be ‘mas magulang’ and the other ‘hindi marunong mang-gulang’?
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:44 pm
Private schools exist because some parents just aren’t satisfied with the quality of public school education. So they pay for private education while paying for public education through their taxes. Why deprive them of a choice?
manuelbuencamino on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:47 pm
BrianB,
I wasn’t trying to make a joke out of the situation. Aparently you haven’t read the press release from Bunye’s office: “PGMA directs DepEd to hasten and widen implementation of alternative distance education”
Naknamputa, ginamit pa yun pagkamatay ng isang inocenteng bata para itulak ang isang proyectong tadtad ng kickback.
No, I made that remark to demonstrate how callous that woman in the Palace is.
mlq3 on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:49 pm
i’ll give an example of a place i find impressive. plm (pamantasan ng lungsod ng maynila) gives 100% free tuition to kids from manila, they have to be valedictorians to even apply. my understanding is the city subsidy is total so long as the students maintain a certain average, if their grades slip below a certain mark, they start paying tuition. salututorians from other places can apply, but i’m not sure if they get a partial subsidy or not.
the salary of the college president -now adel tamano- is a measly 30,000 pesos a month.
the kids are bright, polite, they do quite well in the national board exams in law, nursing, etc. and their material equipment is far from ideal (they just started getting computers recently).
talking to them (some have guested on my show as the audience) they were sharp.
i’ve had my fair share of addressing students from public and private schools, the most apathetic were from two of the top three schools, quite frustrating, really.
i’ve also judged from time to time, in student writing contests (school journalism) held regularly by deped. the best writers were from region 4.
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:49 pm
CVJ: One of the best things the government can do–especially local government–to improve this situation is to remove a lot of the red tape associated with opening a legitimate business. There ARE plenty of industrious Pinoys regardless of economic class, and if properly enabled, they can and will create the enterprises that will produce wealth.
Willy on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:50 pm
cvj,
Exactly. For the very poor people, simple survival requires tremendous effort. But people will feed themselves, if allowed to do so. It’s not really our job to set things right for others. Our responsibility is to remove the obstacles in their paths. These obstacles are often created by those who have so much in excess and wants to even amass more.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 4:57 pm
In terms of benefits to society, the value of having a choice is that it encourages competition which in turn encourages the institutions (in this case, the schools, to improve). However, in the case of our educational system, the availability of such a choice is detrimental to the entire system in the sense that those who are left in the public school system (because they cannot afford to let their children go to private schools) are left with too little voice. Since their children are in private schools, the rich and middle class parents are no longer available to complain about the quality of public school education.
If instead, the rich and middle class kids are compelled to attend public school, then their parents will have more incentive to care about the quality of the public school system. Being richer, they would also have the means to influence the outcome. In summary, this is a case where the absence of choice could lead to a more favorable social outcome.
If we agree that quality education for the majority is one of the keys to development, then this is one way of bringing this about. (Plus the bonus of hopefully having fewer elitists around in a generation or two.)
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:02 pm
I see that things haven’t changed since i was in high school 25 years ago. The prevalent sentiment in La Salle Greenhills shortly after Ninoy’s assasination was why the fuss? When Chino Roces, Joe Burgos and Kit Tatad came to talk to the entire high shcool student body, the last one was the most popular. Roces came off as shrill and Burgos was seen as speechifying. We were a bunch of little Geo’s and Rego’s at that time.
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:18 pm
First of all, the rich (or at least the REALLY rich) will send their kids out of the country. The middle class will try to complain, but do you seriously see the government actually paying attention to their complaints? If anything, there will be a boom in private tutoring, but I doubt this will offset the negative effect of public school education (at its existing level) on kids who would otherwise have done better in private schools.
I’m all in favor of eliminating elitism, but abolishing private schools is not the way.
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:20 pm
Hey, my blockquote worked! I owe you, CVJ! (But that doesn’t mean I will support your call for abolishing private education, hahaha
)
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:20 pm
Mike, Willy, i agree with what you say about removing red tape and enabling the poor to help themselves by removing obstacles in their way.
As i see it, one of the immediate obstacles that we need to remove are the Charter Change advocates who want to deprive the people of voting directly for their national leader, or who want to restrict their choices by fragmenting the electorate (via federalization) or putting up all sorts of qualifications to running for office. If the poor are going to be genuine partners for development, the elitists must be prevented from implementing their agenda.
Also, we have to reverse Gloria Arroyo’s trickle-up economics.
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:22 pm
Incidentally, is there any non-Communist country where private education was abolished?
ronin on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:32 pm
Manolo, thanks for the nice words about PLM. I’m an alumnus of that institution (and obviously proud of it
). Our professors then (I belong to batch ‘92) always told us stories of how the early batches of PLM students i the late 60s were really bright yet financially poor kids who strove hard to get an education (there were always tales of PLM students in the 60s fainting in the classroom because they didn’t have breakfast, that kind of thing). PLM then was really for Manila’s honor students.
Fast-forward to the 80s, declining subsidy from City Hall forced the university administration to open its doors to non-Manila residents (like me; I hail from Laguna). Honor graduates from Manila’s public schools still got 100% scholarship while us non-Manilans were classified under the ‘paying program.’ This meant paying a token amount for out tuition.
We also had to have the required grade point average to get accepted and had to maintain a minimum grade to avodi getting kicked out.
My average tution and other fees per semester: P550 (from 1988-92). If I’m not mistaken, the total tution I paid for my whole bachelor’s degree did not even reach the average tution for a semester’s study in UST at the time.
True, equipments were near-obsolete, even non-existent. I had taken up Mass Communication. My classmates and I always had to rent the facilities of the Communication Foundation of Asia (which were cheap yet old) whenever we had broadcasting projects. We would beg, borrow (but never steal!) video cameras and other necessary gadgets from friends and relative. For me and my classmates, it was no big deal. It only pushed us to be more creative and resource-oriented. Definitely no spoon-feeding from our profs.
Sad to say, politics has also touched PLM. In 2002, under then Mayor Lito Atienza (of course, the Manila Mayor has a big influence over the city university) allowed increasing the number of freshmen enrollees, resulting in a student population way beyond the school’s capacities. I can’t remember how this was done, if the required GPA for admisssion was lowered or something. Atienza may have benefitted from this (imagine the number of poor parents gratified by this decision) but the academic community had to bear the consequences.
As a gesture of gratitude to my alma mater, I taught part-time in 2002. In my first day in class, I had thought I was in another school in a far-flung province, rather than in a city university in the country’s capital.
The classroom I was in was bursting with close to 60 students. I was screaming myself hoarse as I delivered my lecture so that the students at the back can hear me. But who would care, with the heat from 60 human bodies turning the room into an oven (nope, no aircon in the classrooms). This scene was replicated in all classes. Portions of the library were converted into classrooms. I had a class in the former ROTC barracks. The rooms were so small that as I stood in front of the class, my knees were touching those of the girls’ in the front row. No kidding.
I learned that some classes were held in the City University of Manila in the former PNB building in Escolta, and also in some government buildings in the Quiapo area. So, students would rush from the PLM campus in Gen. Luna, Intramuros to their next class in Escolta. Ugh.
It’s a horror story, alright, but my only consolation was that the students were really bright (ehem!). Perhaps even brighter than our batch. More assertive too.
With a new mayor and a new university president, I hope things will get better in PLM. The kids there deserve better service.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:34 pm
Mike, you’re welcome. I agree that the very rich will send their kids overseas and i hope the rest of us notices and deal with them accordingly. So that means we have to rely on the voice of the middle class and it will now be their responsibility to make the government listen. If government doesn’t listen, then they would just have to fight harder. Matira ang matibay. Remember the story of when Julius Ceasar invaded the British Isles? He had the ships that took his army there burned to prevent his soldiers from entertaining thoughts of retreat? The Private schools are like the Ceasar’s ships.
As for private tutoring, that’s also good in a way since that will improve our employment situation and will give teachers supplemental income. One thing i notice though is that we Filipinos seem disillusioned with collective action (through the State) and we prefer piecemeal individual actions like Jeg’s suggestion of giving the money back to the students or the instinct to go for private tutoring. That mindset has got to change if we are (as Sparks has asked in her blog) serious in wanting to become a Nation and a State.
Jeg on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:47 pm
Giving money back to the students (via their parents of course) to enroll where they wish, yes. I am wary of the State having a monopoly of education and would rather have public schools abolished instead of private schools.
And never underestimate the strength of individual action. I see wisdom in collective action of course, but it is in individual freedom and creativity that we as a nation will bloom.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:52 pm
I’m not personally aware of any but in a previous thread, commenter Supremo said:
Also i know that most kids here in Singapore go to public schools.
Anyway, i was only talking about abolishing private education (by Jesuits, La Salle Brothers, Dominicans, Assumption sisters, Benedictine priest and nuns) at the elementary and high school level. At the College level and beyond, there should still be both public and private schools.
Willy on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 5:56 pm
The problem with our top private schools is not what they teach but what they do NOT teach. All to often we have a shallow meaning of true education. (the foremost teachers actually should be the parents themselves).
Thus Mark Twain says: “All schools, all colleges, have two great functions: to confer, and to conceal, valuable knowledge. The theological knowledge which they conceal cannot justly be regarded as less valuable than that which they reveal. That is, when a man is buying a basket of strawberries it can profit him to know that the bottom half of it is rotten”.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 6:02 pm
Jeg, when you say ‘give back the money’, do you mean only the tuition or even the money to build and maintain the schools? Will schools then be set-up as businesses and subject to the laws of supply and demand? Try to develop that idea and see where that leads us.
I have never underestimated the power of individual action. I’m an OFW, part of the OFW phenomenon, remember? So i know how little trickles of remittances from individuals can prop up an economy.
The only thing i notice is that when it comes to coordinated collective action via the State, people have given up. It’s as if we’re content to have our institutions as playgrounds for politicians and bureaucrats. That’s a shame because no country has developed in recent times without the heavy involvement of the State.
Ka Enchong on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 6:06 pm
Our system of education is flawed. Take the premier state university, the University of the Philippines, for example. It is envisioned to cater to the educational needs of intellectually deserving but financially challenged students.
One has to pass UPCAT to earn the right to admission. Needless to say, one has to be intellectually above average to pass UPCAT.
Sadly, our elementary and secondary public school systems generally do not possess the capacity to prepare graduates for the intellectual challenge of the UPCAT. Private schools, on the other hand, have that capacity- and for one to get private education, he has to come from a family which can afford private education. Pera pa rin.
While I concede that there are UP students from poor families, they are more of exemptions rather than rules.
Whoever replaces Aling Gloria should work out a plan to raise the elementary and secondary public school standards to be at par, if not better, than those in private school systems.
Ang masakit kasi, most of the opportunities are available to those who already have them. The systems we have in our society today tend to marginalize those who are already marginalized.
Job hunting after graduation, one would need to be from any of the top three schools to even gain a crack at an interview.
No wonder why, as a rule, the poor gets poorer by the day, while the rich gets richer by the hour.
Just my 2 pesos worth of opinion…
The Equalizer on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 6:13 pm
The quality of education has really deteriorated in our country.
Can you imagine that the top 3 universities(Ateneo,UP and De La Salle) are NOT included in the top 500 universities in the world!
P.S.not even in the top 100 universities in Asia!
Jeg on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 6:27 pm
cvj: Jeg, when you say ‘give back the money’, do you mean only the tuition or even the money to build and maintain the schools?
Everything. The total budget for education (that the State has taken upon itself as its responsibility) divided by the number of students. Will schools be set up as businesses? I suppose they will but more like public utilities. It will not solve the problem you wish to solve –that of diminishing the number of ‘elitists’– but I am of the position that you can’t do that anyway, even with the abolition of private schools. And I dont see harm in having an elitist schmuck as long as they have something to be elite about. Im not thinking of elite in terms of money, but in terms that MBW once talked about when she said something about the French elitisme. I can put up with an elitiste’s annoying and boorish behavior as long as he or she truly is smarter than we are and is doing something to help others. But I see where youre going, though. Youre wary of unfettered capitalism more than you are wary of State monopoly. Im the opposite. If it came down to a choice between which to abolish, public or private schools, I say get rid of the public schools. I think I trust the Jesuits, Dominicans, etc, more than I trust the politicians.
But your suggestion of a decentralized public school system is a very good one.
The only thing i notice is that when it comes to coordinated collective action via the State, people have given up.
That is certainly true of myself. I am of the opinion that our representative democracy is deeply flawed. ‘Via the State’ simply means handing over our lives to these representatives who dont represent. As long as our representative system is in place, I advocate an adversarial position, if not an outright paranoid one. Theyre simply a necessary evil for now but Im looking forward to the day when theyll have lesser and lesser influence in the daily lives of the Filipino.
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 6:28 pm
CVJ, the Canadian experience isn’t quite what you are proposing because you are still free to choose what kind of school you want your kid to go to. Applying that here would mean the government will pay whether you send your kid to an exclusive school or your local municipal school. I think it’s quite obvious what most people would choose.
Your equation seems to be religious private education = elitism. But this is overgeneralizing, isn’t it? And then what about private, secular schools such as IS? Are they to be closed, too?
Mike on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 6:31 pm
Ka Enchong:
Exactly! By all means, raise the standard of public education in the country, and quickly. But this doesn’t have to come at the expense of private education, as Britain, Japan, and Singapore (among others) have shown.
The Equalizer on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 6:57 pm
ronin:more power to you!
tagabukid on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 7:37 pm
I wish Mariannet read the poem below before she reached the “summit of despair”:
Dont Quit
When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When she might have won had she stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
Ive been keeping in my bag the postcard that contains that poem. So to those who feel the same desperation, you would do well to keep that poem in mind.
Tuloy ang laban. May pag-asa pa ang Pilipino!
Willy on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 7:40 pm
Asiaweek’s 1999 Asia-Pacific university survey (it has since stopped conducting this survey) listed UP as # 32, Ateneo as # 71, DLSU as # 76, and UST as # 78 in the rankings. Note though that this survey has generated controversy. Cesar Bacani, Asiaweek’s editor, said: “We do not present ourselves as experts, but we do present ourselves as consumers who, like anybody else, want and demand to know the quality of a very important product…”. It is just interesting to note though, that UP is a cash-starved institution (much like PLM) but
continues to be highly noted for quality education in the same breath as Ateneo and DLSU. Today, one semester in UP (with the recent mighty increase) would cost the financially capable student about 20T ( at 1T per unit) while in Ateneo it would cost around 100T per sem. But UP still maintains the socialized tuition scheme where a student can pay less based on family income. When I entered UP as a freshman long ago, my tuition was free and I paid just 100 pesos or so per sem. as miscellanous fees due to our low-income status.
The point is that quality education need not be expensive.
The Equalizer on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 7:55 pm
willy :
I am shocked how things have changed since 1999.
As I posted earlier ,UP,Ateneo and De La Salle are NOT in the World’s top 500 universities list nor in the top 100 universities in Asia.
The Equalizer on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 7:57 pm
tagabukid: thanks for INSPIRING poem .I will not quit!
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 8:22 pm
Jeg, i’m ok with unfettered capitalism in areas where market failures do not occur. (I do work for a multinational so it would be hypocritical if i didn’t believe in the very capitalism that feeds me.) It just happens that Education (along with public utilities such as power distribution) is not one of those areas. Granted that you give the money to each and every parent. They then have to get together and invest to put up a school or to expand an existing one. They should have a means to coordinate their activities so that they do not duplicate each other’s activities and come up with standards. They have to decide on the curriculum, textbooks, teacher’s pay. In short, you would need something like government to act as a coordinating mechanism. I’m glad you like the decentralized approach since i also believe that competition among the government geographies might offset any inefficiencies of decentralization.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case with our home-grown elitists most of whom are legends in their own mind. Also, the fact that one holds an elitist world view means that s/he is stuck in the pre-modern age where arrangements were hierarchical. In today’s society which is differentiated according to functions, there is no place for elitists, only specialists and generalists in each of these functional areas.
I share your opinion, but as i said before, the countries that developed recently did so with the participation of their State sectors. The solution is not to withdraw into the private sphere but to supplement our system of representation with direct democracy (i.e. People Power big and small). In general, if you are a market fundamentalist as i think you are, then you have to be aware that there is such a thing as market failure since markets only work under a given set of conditions, not all of which are present at a given time in any given situation. That’s why deregulation/privatization works in some sectors and not in others.
In the same way, those who favor government action should be aware that there is also such a thing as government failure and this is a rich area of study within subjects such as mechanism design which Urbano de la Cruz brought in a previous thread.
Mike, in Canada i don’t think the difference between a ‘private’ and a ‘public’ school differs as much as over here, so to transplant the Canadian-style government subsidies without doing something about the unequal quality between public and private subverts the Canadian system and leaves us with the status quo.
The whole point in abolishing private schools (yes, both religious and secular) is to destroy such difference in quality between public and private schools and force everyone (not just the poor) to work for the improvement of our public education system as a whole.
The Equalizer on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 9:18 pm
“Having heard about the fate of a schoolgirl who took her life for lack of transport fare to school, among other needs in life, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed today the Department of Education (DepEd) to hasten and widen the implementation of its alternative distance education program.”IGNACIO BUNYE,Office of the Press Secretary
Unbelievable sympathy!
vic on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 10:24 pm
cjv, proof that a well financed and well managed publicly run education from junior kinder to High School graduation and a heavily subsidized post H.S. education (college and university) will somehow by itself eliminate slowly privately run expensive private education.
And it is indeed nice to see the ultra-rich kids mixing it out with working parents kids, makes them feel equal and learn to adjust to each others early on.
One Program that works so well is the “Breakfast for Children”, where teachers identify underweight or inactive children and direct attention to social services people to either follow up their family situations and design nutrition program for these children at school to keep up with their peers.
The country can afford these programs, if they can eliminate “corruption” by at least half and saving from so many unnecessary programs. Or even one quarter of the pork barrel goes toward the schools would mean a lot for the children..
qwert on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 10:26 pm
“I blame the people in power and the people who should know better: Church and government. These two have failed us all.” – BrianB
The government should solve the problem of grinding poverty but can the church do something about the vices of the poor?
qwert on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 10:30 pm
“Or even one quarter of the pork barrel goes toward the schools would mean a lot for the children..”-vic
vic,
just this evening on the news one senator said this:
“Until now two years later, the manager of the North Rail has [already] died, nothing has happened…And we’re paying $400,000 a month in interest alone,” – GMANews.TV
vic on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:00 pm
“Until now two years later, the manager of the North Rail has [already] died, nothing has happened…And we’re paying $400,000 a month in interest alone,†– GMANews.TV
qwert, that is a “criminal waste” and just imagine what that amount can do for the education of the children.
cjv, I can only speak for the Province of Ontario, but most provinces’ education system are the same. 95 % of Students from Junior kindergarten to Grade 12 (grade 13 was abolished some 5 years ago)attend publicly funded schools, the public schools boards and the separate schools boards (the Catholic Schools, around 30 50 35 %) 3 % for other religious and 2% other privates. In order for Catholic School Board to avail Public funding it has to follow the Ministry’s curriculum, hire accredited teachers, plus their own religious studies and disciplines, like wearing school uniforms and other religious duties.
Last election, 2 months ago, the Opposition lost Big time on the promise of extending funding to the all faith-based schools, instead there is the some noise in some quarters to take back the funding from Catholic Schools and make one Secular Public Education where Religious teaching can be teach within the system where all faiths can be accommodated. nothing comes out of it…
The Ca t on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:13 pm
To correct some info, Mlq3, they don’t have to be valedictorians to apply.They just need to meet a grade requirement in high school and preferably a graduate of a public high school. Private schools’ graduates can also apply but they would be paying a very minimal tuition fee if they pass the entrance examination and the panel interview. Attrition applies both to to the scholars and the non-paying. So from a freshman class of 300, only
one third of the number may graduate after four years.
Passing percentage for entrance exam is only 10 per cent.
The cream of the crop.
Last CPA board exam, a graduate landed in the fifth. The university has a record of almost 200 per cent passing in the Medicine.
Most of the students come from the poor to middle income families of the city.
A I have said poverty is not an obstacle to succeed.
How do I know, I am a graduate of PLM and a former dean of a college at a young age?
BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:26 pm
“BrianB, you might be reading Bishop Cruz’s words too literally”
Mike, his words reminded me of a Trapo by the name of JDV.
BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:28 pm
The best copywriter I’ve met came from Pamatasan Nang Lunsod Nang Maynila. Could write 10k words a day without grammatical error and all in elegant English.
BrianB on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:35 pm
ALL, WE MUST ASK MALACANANG TO RAISE TAXES.
Here’s the gambit. We demand government raise taxes so it can fulfill its constitutional duties. A heavy tax would practically destroy the Philippine retail market. We ask, it is all our fault that many kids cannot go to school and the emotional scar that this brings, in addition to taking away their opportunity to be better equipped for society, is intolerable. We need a solution now and the solution now is raising taxes.
Imagine if our personal taxes suddenly spiked to 50% of gross. Imagine our vigilance against corruption. Maybe a high taxes would finally wake up the people.
cvj on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:50 pm
Vic, thanks for the info on Ontario’s education system. It is always good to benchmark against best practices in Canada.
ronin on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:53 pm
equalizer: thanks!
Dr. D. on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 11:55 pm
Not even close to 95% passing, at least in recent years. PLM ranks a far 2nd-4th compared to UP-Manila, percentage-wise. (Cebu Institute of Medicine and UST are also up there.)
But I must admit, given the university’s resources, PLM is one of the better run public institutions around, if not the best (might be even better managed than UP).
The Ca t on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 12:10 am
And the former president was investigated for corruption.
They make do of whatever they have. One thing that they can e proud of is that the students are really polite and well-behaved.
The Equalizer on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 12:36 am
Let’s please include Rene Saguisag in our prayers tonight.
What a terrible pain he must be suffering for his physical injuries and pain for the loss of his wife.
A fearless lawyer.
Bencard on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 12:36 am
allow me to digress for a moment from this very important discussion. i just want to express my deepest sympathy to rene saguisag for the tragic loss of his beloved wife and for himself sustaining a life-threatening injury. i hope and pray for his complete recovery.
having left the country 4 years after passing the bar, i never had the opportunity of following rene’s political career. but as a sophomore in law school in the early 60’s, i had the (mis)fortune of facing him and the late raul roco (plus another excellent debater whose name i can’t now recall) in an inter-college debate (san beda law v. ust law). as you would probably guess, nilampaso kami ng aking mga team mates.
as a lawyer, i see rene as a brightly shining star in philippine legal firmament, never flamboyant, and always dedicated to the “rule of law” regardless of his politics.
i don’t always agree with every position he takes but i always admire and respect his competence, perseverance and loyalty to his cause. may he be comforted in his grief, and may he be able to continue serving as an instrument of justice for his fellow men.
cvj on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:13 am
equalizer, will do. bencard, very well said. i join you guys in praying for Rene Saguisag and his family.
Abe N. Margallo on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:34 am
If Philippines is breathing a fresher air of freedom today we ought it to handful of people, among them is Rene Saguisag.
During Marcos rule, I used to compare Rene and Jojo (Binay) as the “Starsky & Hutch†in the legal department whose relentless crusades for the regime’s victims and against the dictatorship may be comparable today to the combined efforts of the Pakistani lawyers against Musharraf.
My deepest sympathy to Rene and family. And on your toes now, we still have a long journey, pañero.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:39 am
Re: Cvj’s “The whole point in abolishing private schools (yes, both religious and secular) is to destroy such difference in quality between public and private schools and force everyone (not just the poor) to work for the improvement of our public education system as a whole.”
Pres Mitterand tried to abolish state grants to French private schools with a view to eliminating or rendering private schools ‘inconsequential’ in the long term because being a hardline socialist, he was mouthing Socialist Party dogma — equal opportunities for all, i.e., children of rich and “poor” or not so rich families alike. The educational system in France as a whole is not so bad, even judged excellent by many western standards but it could have been or be better. On hindsight, I say it became chaotic and almost self-destructed.
Mitterand’s classic leftist view of how society should comport itself, i.e., liberté, égalité, fraternité, at least through the primary and secondary stages of the educational stages of young people’s lives could have been a reality had he managed to do what cvj espoused above “to destroy such difference in quality between public and private schools and force everyone (not just the poor) to work for the improvement of (our) public education system as a whole.”
Instead, Mitterand created the unwanted effect: the levelling down of education. It is all very well to say — and in a perfect world, it should be — that by eliminating the difference between rich and poor studnet would force or ensure society to work for the improvement of public education system as a whole but to my mind, it takes a very innovative but hugely strong political will to make that happen because society is composed of people with different ideas, different vocations or motivations and even with different aspirations and as such are not easily maleable, i.e., to conform to a change ideology of change unless that ideology is backed by a strong and genuinely innovative political will.
The effect of the Mitterand levelling down doctrine was deemed disastrous and we can say that it is still felt today. Instead of reducing the disparity between the elitist class and the masse populaire (the ‘masa’), it created an unprecedented toll on society — the wedge became wider when crunch time arrived at the end of year 13: the national baccaulaureat exams. The exams were so watered down to suit the requirements of the levelling down doctrine of the Mitterand presidency that most of those who passed the state high school exams were deemed not qualified for further education in the uni. Despite that, tens of thousands of young baccalaureat (French high school) graduates trooped to the free unis only to be turned out after one term. It was deemed for example, that for every 5,000 freshmen students accepted by Tolbiac faculty of Sorbonne, 4,000 failed their first year. Universities became overpopulated and the unis undermanned.
So bad the educational environment became that even the more determined students started to drop out of uni by the thousands after first term. The effect of the ‘devolution’? Private universities or expensive specialist institutes of higher learning (écoles superieures) mushroomed everywhere in the country from 1985 onwards. The result divided social classes in France even more. The divide was inevitable between families who could afford to shell out 7,000 Euros a year for tuition fees required by these new private institutes to which a family had to add another 7 to 8,000 Euros a year for the living expenses of their child, and families who couldn’t afford the expense thus marginalizing the children of “poor” families all the more.
The tide became almost became irriversible; we witnessed the suburban ghetto youth uprising some couple of years ago. Pres Sarkozy who is considered the anti-thesis of everything that is elitist is trying to put some order in the chaotic educational system but I say again, only a strong, bold, decisive political will can change what arguably almost became a failed educational system in France. The supreme irony of it all was that the system was instituted by a corps of leftwing but hugely elitist politicians led by the most paradoxical of presidents, leftwing hardliner Mitterand who in reality behaved more monarchial and more elitist than his predecessor ever behaved, aristocrat Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
There is no miracle for a “successful” public educational system. Solidly good but modern governance backed by a strong political will has got to be the key.
(I was, and to a certain extent still am, very much aware of the education environment in France because I was then a very young, fresh from uni graduate of the Giscard d’Estaing years who became a Paris lycée or high school teacher from 1979 for grades 12 & 13 until 1982 when I resigned in disgust over the new Mitterand doctrine and just as I was being offered a permanent teaching position with full-pledged civil servant status in l’Education Nationale.)
The Equalizer on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:46 am
“i don’t always agree with every position he takes but i always admire and respect his competence, perseverance and loyalty to his cause. may he be comforted in his grief, and may he be able to continue serving as an instrument of justice for his fellow men.”
Amen.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:50 am
correction: I was then a very young, fresh from uni graduate who was FIRST SCHOOLED in the Giscard d’Estaing years…
(Mlq3’s minesweeper on?)
supremo on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:52 am
Back in the 80s, graduates of Manila Science High School along Taft Ave. are exempted from taking the entrance exam at PLM. I’m not sure if that is still the policy today.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 2:50 am
I didn’t know or heard of Mr Saguisag until a few years ago but have read about him a lot recently. My sympathies to him and his family. May God be with Mrs Saguisag and that she may rest in peace.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 2:52 am
btw, cvj, I posted a comment to your own “”The whole point in abolishing private schools (yes, both religious and secular) is to destroy such difference in quality between public and private schools and force everyone (not just the poor) to work for the improvement of our public education system as a whole.” but is being kept away by mlq3’s minesweeper…
rego on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 3:06 am
All the things that were is said about PLM is really true. I am living with a very close cousin who is a BSN graduate of PLM. And boy, everything is free and for 6 years now. Her batch seems very very close that 20 years garduation they still regular meet. Almost very month I have to accompany my cousin to a lot of parties and I cant complain on their brand of freindship. Evry one seem so proud of their humble beginings. And they would always talk about how poor they were during their PLM days. NIf ypu look at them now, you wcan’t help it but really admire these group of people who made extreme poverty really a big challenge to advance in life.
d0d0ng on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 3:21 am
“Sometime the poverty makes it as a challenge to strive harder and have a better life.”
Henry Sy the richest in the Philippines used to clear out every night the counter of his father’s tiny grocery store in Quiapo so he has a place to sleep. He cried when the 12 yr old boy saw his dirt poor dad for the first time after escaping China.
Manny Villar (the 5th Philippine richest in 2007 Forbes), the 2nd of 9 children started selling fish at Divisoria at early age. When he attended college at UP as working student, he was also putting long hours selling fish and shrimp.
I have the respect for these 2 Filipinos (even if Sy is Chinese) regardless of sordid stories against them.
d0d0ng on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 3:40 am
my sympathy to Ka Rene, a true lawyer even for unpopular times.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 3:53 am
After reading the various comments about Manila’s public university here, I wonder why other major cities (or perhaps there are already?) are not doing the same thing? Setting up a similar university in each province with the same criteria for excellence?
I do believe that good, solid education costs money. The cost may be shouldered privately or publicly, i.e., by taxpayers but the bottom line is that there is a need to spend but at the same time, there must be a definite blueprint in imparting good education. Because in the end, society likes to thrive in excellence.
Ka Enchong on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 4:28 am
No, we were not exempted, then. Only advantage was that we were allowed to take the entrance exams regardless of where we stood with our grades. Basta taga MaSci ka, pwede na.
The Equalizer on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 7:44 am
I remember seeing Rene on tv just last week and he was lovingly proclaiming to the whole world that he was married to the prettiest lady in the world.
Such is life.Here today.Gone tomorrow.
inodoro ni emilie on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 9:15 am
“We were a bunch of little Geo’s and Rego’s at that time.”
cvj, luv this metaphor. who could tatay, er, tatad be?
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 9:50 am
“The whole point in abolishing private schools (yes, both religious and secular) is to destroy such difference in quality between public and private schools and force everyone (not just the poor) to work for the improvement of our public education system as a whole.” — cvj
Pres François Mitterand tried to abolish state grants to French private schools with a view to eliminating or rendering private schools ‘inconsequential’ in the long term because being a hardline socialist, he was mouthing Socialist Party dogma — equal opportunities for all, i.e., children of rich and “poor” or not so rich families alike. The educational system in France as a whole is not so bad, even judged excellent by many western standards but it could have been or be better. On hindsight, I say it became chaotic and almost self-destructed.
Mitterand’s classic leftist view of how society should comport itself enough to heed French 1789 revolutionary cry, i.e., liberté, égalité, fraternité, at least through the primary and secondary levels of the educational stages of young people’s lives could have been a reality had he managed to do what cvj espoused above “to destroy such difference in quality between public and private schools and force everyone (not just the poor) to work for the improvement of (our) public education system as a whole.”
Instead, Mitterand created the unwanted effect: le nivellement par le bas (the levelling down of education). It is all very well to say — and in a perfect world, it should be — that by eliminating the difference between rich and poor studnet would force or ensure society to work for the improvement of public education system as a whole but to my mind, it takes a very innovative but hugely strong political will to make that happen because society is composed of people with different ideas, different vocations or motivations and even with different aspirations and as such are not easily maleable, i.e., to conform to a change ideology unless that ideology is backed by a strong and genuinely innovative political will.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 9:51 am
The effect of the Mitterand levelling down doctrine was deemed disastrous and we can say that it is still felt today. Instead of reducing the disparity between the elitist class and the masse populaire (the ‘masa’), it created an unprecedented toll on society — the wedge became wider when crunch time arrived at the end of year 13: the national baccaulaureat exams.
The exams were watered down to suit the requirements of the levelling down doctrine of the Mitterand presidency that most of those who passed the state high school exams were deemed not qualified for further education in the uni. Despite that, tens of thousands of young baccalaureat (French high school) graduates trooped to the free unis only to be turned out after one term. It was deemed for example, that for every 5,000 freshmen students accepted by Tolbiac faculty of Sorbonne, 4,000 failed their first year. Universities became overpopulated and the unis undermanned.
So bad the educational environment became that even the more determined students started to drop out of uni by the thousands after first term. The effect of the ‘devolution’? Private universities or expensive specialist institutes of higher learning (écoles superieures) mushroomed everywhere in the country from 1985 onwards. The result divided social classes in France even more. The divide was inevitable between families who could afford to shell out 7,000 Euros a year (tuition fees were 35 to 45,000 French Francs at the time) for tuition fees required by these new and strictly private institutions, to which a family had to add another 7 to 8,000 Euros a year for the living expenses of their child, and families who couldn’t afford the expense thus marginalizing the children of “poor” families all the more.
The tide of discontent became almost irriversible; we witnessed the suburban ghetto youth uprising some couple of years ago. Pres Sarkozy who is considered the anti-thesis of everything that is elitist is now trying to put some order in the chaotic educational system but I say again, only a strong, bold, decisive political will can change what arguably almost became a failed educational system in France.
¤
The supreme irony of it all is that the system was instituted by a corps of leftwing but hugely elitist politicians led by the most paradoxical of presidents, leftwing hardliner François Mitterand who in reality behaved more monarchial and more elitist than his predecessor ever behaved, aristocrat Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
There is no miracle for a “successful” public educational system. Solidly good but modern governance backed by a strong political will has got to be the key.
leah on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 9:59 am
I had a friend from Luxembourg, and he said there are no private schools there. Maybe the public schools are decent there so there is no need for private.
but any suggestion that private schools be closed in the Philippines is just stupid. the public system is already so overcrowded.
ronin on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:01 am
MBW: Makati, Pasig and Muntinlupa already have their own city universities.
ronin on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:07 am
Leah: I agree. Private universities have a better chance of offering quality education due to laissez faire. Fiercer competition among private schools will force them to offer better curricula, faculty and facilities in order to attract more enrollees. Even tuition fees would be a relative issue as schools try to outdo themselves in offering better rates.
Now if only the owners won’t be that greedy…
hvrds on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:10 am
Is there an area on Planet Earth where unfettered capitalism exists?
Unfettered means no impediments or a pure market economy.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:23 am
Thanks for the info Ronin (btw, Ronin sounds Irish or Gaelic to me)…
Leah,
In France too, majority of primary and secondary schools are state schools — I know there are only very very few in Paris and they include international schools and faith-based schools like Jewish schools. In fact many private but otherwise profoundly secular schools in France were created to absorb the rejects of most public schools, particularly those who fail the grades to make it to the lycée (which are years 11, 12 & 13 or when kids are in age bracket 15 – 18)
System in France is not so bad and truth is many people say it is good, even my English husband who is from an English public school (term English public school is a bit the opposite of what it means, it is actually very expensive and exclusive private school, i.e., Eaton, Harrow, Wellington, etc.) was impressed by the quality of education and educators in French primary and secondary schools, lycée included.
This despite the Mitterandist Socialist policy of opportunities for all that resulted in “nivellement par le bas” (levelling down) of the French education system.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:24 am
Oh dear, my comments are under mlq3’s minesweeping operation again! Grrrrrrrrrr!
hvrds on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:26 am
Oh, I forgot, capitalism is a societal format encompassing economics, politics and culture.
The word is synonymous with an industrial society. The so called shift from agricultural soceities to industrial societies occured for the leading economies of the world during the 18th-19th and 20th centuries.
Prior to this the most advanced society was the feudal agricultural society of China.
The Philippines like all developing economies are transitioning from agricultural societies to what?
However the neo -colonial enclaves established by the architects of empire have distorted the normal historical evolutionary process of agricultural to industrial development. Now we have the huge gap. The same gap that forced the Government of the Peoples Republic of China to institute the one coutry two systems for HK and the rest of the mainland. Slowly the eastern coastal areas of the mainland are duplicating the HK story. In another generation there will no longer be a need for the SAR. (Special Autonomous Region)
The masters of China are after all students of economic determinism as espoused by Marx and Smith. The struggle to fill the stomach rules the human unitl he is assured of a filled stomach then he can worry about filling the mind.
The Ca t on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:26 am
The PLM Alumni abroad are playing big sisters and brothers to the students in the PLM by providing them stipends and books thru scholarship programs. That’s paying back what they owed to the city. But then the donors’ name are not revealed to the recipients.
During the first years of the PLM, uniforms were free, books were loaned out from the library and a small stipend is provided to the needy students.
Abe N. Margallo on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:28 am
Is there an area on Planet Earth where unfettered capitalism exists?
Yes, in google. Even if you enclosed in qoutes, “unfettered capitalism” still turns up 51,100 entries or 348,000 without quotes. (sorry but I can’t find the right emoticon! ha)
The Ca t on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:34 am
Sorry my mistake in writing 200 per cent. That should have been 100. I agree not one hundred per cent. Just like the College of Law, the College of Medicine accepts applicants who have already finished a degree from any university preparatory to Medicine Proper.
Abe N. Margallo on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:45 am
My understanding is first we have the “state of nature,†then the “primitive communal system,†then the “slave system,†then “feudalism,†then “capitalism,†then “industrial capitalism,†then “managerial capitalism,†then “financial capitalism,†then “unfettered capitalism,†then “post-capitalism,†then “socialism,†then “communism,†and then “state of nature†again, each system presenting an “advance†on the last one. But then, I’m just really surmising. (still no emoticon!!)
Jeg on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:51 am
cvj I share your opinion, but as i said before, the countries that developed recently did so with the participation of their State sectors.
Im all for State participation, but in the Philippine setting, the State sector has to be checked and prodded by the citizens. Yes, the solution is not to withdraw, but to engage the State. Engage it in battle if need be. State-led development here is a dream. Im reminded of a quote attributed to Gandhi: “There go my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.” That’s my ideal State.
In general, if you are a market fundamentalist as i think you are…
I dont think I can call myself a market fundamentalist. Im wary of corporations as well. Im just more wary of the State because it has an army.
hvrds: Is there an area on Planet Earth where unfettered capitalism exists?
I can’t think of any. But Im certain there exists on Planet Earth an unfettered State, hence my position.
(I join all of you in praying for Atty Saguisag and his family.)
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 11:35 am
The tale of Marianette who killed herself because of her family’s poverty is front page news in UK’s Independent
www. news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3143286.ece
Report says:
…
In her diary, Mariannet wrote that she had not attended school for a month. Her parents said she had actually been absent for three days. But they had not had money for her food or transport. In one entry, the girl wrote: “We were not able to hear Mass because we did not have fare and my father had a fever. So my mum and I just washed clothes (for money).”
In the Philippines, nearly 14 per cent of the 87 million population lives on less than a dollar a day, despite government claims that the economy is booming.
President Gloria Arroyo told a business forum yesterday that her economic reforms were bearing fruit. “The common people are now feeling the benefits of a growing economy,” she said, announcing that an extra one billion pesos would be given to “hunger mitigation programmes”.
In a recent survey, the Social Weather Stations institute found that about nine million Filipino families regarded themselves as poor. Most live in the south of the country. Many of them said they had experienced “severe hunger” in the past three months.
The Global Call for Action Against Poverty, a coalition of anti- poverty groups, said its own research showed that economic growth was not trickling down to the people who needed it.
rego on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:10 pm
oh i forgot to mention, I have two sister here NYC who are DLSU grad and Ateneo grads. But I cant stand living with them. After two months I have to move out from DLSU grad. As for Ateneo grad only 3 days. Sagot ko pa ang kalahati ng expenses nila nong college sila huh…
inodoro ni emilie on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 1:51 pm
is this forum turning into a personal confessional box or resume building page?
go boost your ego in your own webpages.
The Equalizer on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 2:17 pm
10 Questions I would really like to ask GMA.
* Define honesty
* Is there anything you agree with Senator Lacson on?
* What do you want your young apos to read about you in their history books?
* Who do you want to succeed you?
* What makes you different from President Marcos?
* Is the presidency worth it?
* Do you personally believe in Karma?
* What do you plan to do after 2010?
* Do you read blogs?
* Did you vote in PinoyBigBriber.com?
cvj on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 3:19 pm
In the private sector, they’re called mercenaries.
That betrays the reality that even with the private schools, there’s really no fair competition when it comes to education in the Philippines. The parents are caught between low quality public schools and greedy private schools. The private schools in turn do not really have that much incentive to increase quality because the parents have no recourse to alternatives like public schools. That’s market failure.
Anna, will wait for your response to come out.
HA HA HA. 2 months vs. 3 days is about the right proportion. My sympathies.
Walter M. Robles on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 3:58 pm
Hi Manolo,
Just discovered your blog. Love it. Mind if I like you in my own blog?
Hugs,
Walter
Dominique on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 4:15 pm
Aristocrats of the mind? Many are already aristocrats in their own minds….
The Equalizer on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 9:55 pm
“PAGPAG”:Recycled Garbage Food for the Poor
I just watched the episode on” Poverty in the Philippines” on ANC’s “Crossroads ” .I got so depressed when I learned about a coping mechanism of our very poor called “pagpag”.In the vernacular,”pagpag” is a verb that describes the act of dusting off dirt.One does this with food, such as a piece of bread, when it accidentally slips your hand and you rescue it from the floor. You can still eat it, just dust it off or “pagpag” it.
In Payatas, people makes a living by recycling garbage.”Pagpag” is apparently a very common practice there.
They gather the thrown away plastic, papers, and whatever they can find, including food, that could still be recycled. They sell the papers and plastics to the factories and the recovered food items, usually half-eaten meat, to some stall-owners who cook them again and sell them to the customers. This dish is “pagpag”. The verb has become a noun.
One angry viewer called the “Crossroads” program to express outrage that the “Pinoy Big Briber” can give away P500,000 packed in brown bags to Governors and Congressmen while the very poor are eating recycled garbage food called “pagpag”.
Gloria ,your callousness cries out to high heaven, your stinginess to the poor cries out to high heaven!You remember them only during elections.
qwert on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:23 pm
“Gloria ,your callousness cries out to high heaven, your stinginess to the poor cries out to high heaven!You remember them only during elections.”- Equalizer
__________________
Equalizer,
She does not care about “pagpag”,what she cares for is “dagdag”.
vic on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 10:54 pm
Postsecondary Education in Ontario and the rest of Canada…
For those interested:
Provincial Overview
All other for profit post secondary education institutions are registered for consumers protection and training for occupational skills and all other careers, like computer skills, technicians, driver training for heavy duty equiptment, etc, etc. but not authorized for granting degrees.
The same is true to all other 9 provinces and three territories. To find out more how a Publicly funded postsecondary education works you may check this site…
http://www.cicic.ca/en/page.aspx?sortcode=2.20.24.27.31.32
Unlike elementary and secondary education which are fully funded post secondary education is partly funded by students’ user fees. Students’ loans available to qualified students for board and lodging and school fees, payable upon gainful employment after graduation. Foreign students pay the full fare…
But even with all these opportunities, some students would rather start working full time after high school instead. Well, somebody has got to drive the garbage trucks and sweep the streets, and clean the washrooms, otherwise we all be wearing ties and jackets and nobody going to flip that burger.
Manila Bay Watch on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 11:10 pm
“The Philippines like all developing economies are transitioning from agricultural societies to what?” — hvrds
Indeed! I’d like to know the answer…?
vic on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 11:13 pm
cjv, talked to some University students at work yesterday and they were complaining about how high their tuition fees, not considering that they are subsidized to the hilt. Figures show that the average local post secondary school fees is $4000 while foreign student is $12000 for a year program and beside local student gets deferred interest loan for their board and lodging and tax credits for their school fees and expenses… they are too spoiled…
The Equalizer on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 11:13 pm
“Death is a forced option that the government has imposed on poor Filipinos,” said Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)-Philippines, a local anti-poverty coalition. “Bugbog na ang mga Pilipino sa kahirapan kaya’t maraming nawawalan ng pag-asa (Filipinos are battered by poverty, a lot of people has lost hope).”
“We were shocked and saddened by the news from our friends in Mindanao of the suicide of 11 year old Mariannet Amper, and for a few hours our world stopped. To hear the government reducing her death to an isolated case is outrageous. One death is too much. How many more isolated cases must we have to awaken this government to the realties that the people are dying of hunger and poverty everyday?” continued GCAP-Philippines. ”
From the Global Call To Action Against Poverty(GCAP:Philippines)
cvj on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 11:28 pm
vic, looks like it, but that’s human nature.
nash on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 11:52 pm
“* What do you want your young apos to read about you in their history books?” – equalizer
Unless she manages to find a way to censor the internet, a quick google search on GMA returns everything from ‘hello garci”, “malacanang bribe”, “german bank accounts”, “fertilizer scam”….
The Equalizer on Fri, 9th Nov 2007 11:58 pm
nash:
I am 100% sure that the poor in Payatas who eat “PAGPAG”(recycled garbage food) have more self-respect than Gloria.
Money and good education do not buy you good character.
Such is life.
Manila Bay Watch on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 12:32 am
“Money and good education do not buy you good character.” – The Equalizer
You mean money does not buy good education if one has inherent bad character?
Manila Bay Watch on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 12:44 am
The Equalizer,
To be EDUCATED in my book doesn’t necessarily equate to expensive tuition fees or big named schools or universities.
Good education is never synonimous to money.
Gloria may have received formal education in expensive schools (or which in French may be defined as être instruits or to be instructed as opposed to être eduqué or to be educated with a capital E) so I don’t believe she is educated, educated with a capital E.
Bencard on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 12:51 am
looks like the hate-gloria club has found another tragedy to blame her for, huh?
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 1:01 am
Looks like the old geezer wants us to be callous.Just “another”tragedy”,folks.What’s one death compared to to the impressive GDP growth,huh?
BrianB on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 1:17 am
Hey, anyone in contact with devils?
manuelbuencamino on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 1:49 am
Bencard,
You think it’s perfectly alright for Gloria to use that little girl’s dead body as a launch pad for her Cyber Ed program?
Bencard on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 5:17 am
mbuencamino, no, i don’t think “it’s alright” to use the little girl’s dead body for anything by anyone including the gloria-haters in this blog. have a little decency naman, o.k., mb?
BrianB on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 9:23 am
“Mariannet’s diary is similar to Anne Frank’s: both prefigured the inexorability of doom–Anne’s, the holocaust of the gas chambers; Mariannet’s, the holocaust of poverty.”
From the Inquirer’s Editorial today. I wonder who wrote this one.
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:41 am
old geezer,there are only two ways of handling the real issues in this country:confrontation or the coward’s way,denial.
It’s easy to be in the denial mode when you are 12,000 miles away from reality,where it’s all happening.
In your parallel universe,what’s one more death in a tragically poor country governed by your fantasy leader,huh?
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 12:05 pm
Gloria’s Parallel Universe
* On Hunger: “Kasi iyun naman ang question ng hunger, do you miss one meal during the last three months? Pati naman ako, I’ve missed one meal in the last three months,†Gloria Arroyo said in an interview after a roundtable discussion on education and social services.
* On Human Rights:”The Philippines is the most democratic country in the region. We have championed that human rights be included in our ASEAN charter. We have no tolerance for human rights violations of any kind.”
* On Extra-judicial Killings:”We deplore any and all killings of political activist and journalist. I have met personally with the journalism community and the same with the human rights activist, we share their outrage.”
* On the Philippine Justice System: “We live by the rule of law. We abide by what the courts of the land decide. We must be a government that honors contracts and agreements that go through the required processes despite media attacks. And we must be a government that abides by what the courts of the land decide on matters of dispute.”
* On Electoral Reforms:” We can disagree on political goals but never on the conduct of democratic elections. I ask Congress to fund poll watchdogs. And to enact a stronger law against election- related violence”.
* On the Economy:”We have reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in 20 years. And I’m glad to see the rate of poverty is down, the rate of poverty is down, general poverty as well as what we have seen, extreme poverty. “
qwert on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 12:19 pm
MLQ3,
This is an unsolicited advice, for BnW movement and other concerned groups, that needs some legal research and verification. I am going to based this advice from a news item in Malaya today:
“CITING paramount public interest, former Cebu Rep. Clavel Martinez yesterday asked the Supreme Court to resolve a petition that she and a group of lawyers filed in September 2005 questioning the ratification of a House committee report junking an amended complaint for impeachment against President Arroyo.
In a motion for resolution, Martinez asked the SC to rule on the validity of multiple impeachment complaints against the President and when an impeachment complaint is deemed filed.
“Considering the paramount public interest in the instant petition, that is, the denial of the public’s constitutional right to hold accountable a president accused of wrongdoing, the Supreme Court should not shun its responsibility to eradicate whatever obstruction that is preventing the public from the exercise of their rights,” the petition said.” – Evangeline de Vera (Malaya Reporter)Nov.10, 2007
The abovementioned news item tells us that there is a pending petition before the Supreme Court filed by Cebu Rep. Clavel Martinez and a group of lawyers in September 2005 questioning the ratification of a House committee report junking an amended complaint for impeachment against President Arroyo.
Moreover, the Constitution says:
“ARTICLE VIII,Section 15. (1) All cases or matters filed after the effectivity of this Constitution must be decided or resolved within twenty-four months from date of submission for the Supreme Court, and, unless reduced by the Supreme Court, twelve months for all lower collegiate courts, and three months for all other lower courts.”
So, if rallies can be held in front of Malacanang (not allowed today),in the Batasan Complex, the Senate, why not in front of the Supreme Court to remind(“pressure”) the justices of their constitutional duty to issue a ruling within twenty-four months(due last September,2007)regarding the abovementioned petition.
mlq3 on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 1:12 pm
qwert, that is the case a congressman was telling me about in last weekend’s meeting. the problem is, they asked for oral arguments and the sc refused.
manuelbuencamino on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 1:44 pm
Bencard,
“have a little decency naman, o.k., mb?”
I’m glad you said that. Now you can join Gloria haters in asking her to please step off the little girl’s body.
Here’s an excerpt from a press release by the Office of the Press Secretary:
“PGMA directs DepEd to hasten and widen implementation of alternative distance education
Having heard about the fate of a schoolgirl who took her life for lack of transport fare to school, among other needs in life, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed today the Department of Education (DepEd) to hasten and widen the implementation of its alternative distance education program.â€
Pati ba naman yun bangkay ng isang bata eh gagamitin pang paraan para maibenta sa taong bayan ang isang proyektong umaalingasaw sa baho?
Please write to her and tell her to have some decency naman please
qwert on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 2:18 pm
…”that is the case a congressman was telling me about in last weekend’s meeting. the problem is, they asked for oral arguments and the sc refused” – MLQ3
___________________________
MLQ3,
If that is the case, what is Atty. Harry Roque up to in the motion for resolution he filed the other day?
“In its six-page motion for resolution, lawyer Harry Roque told the high court that the questions that were raised in a similar petition they filed in 2005 were being used again, especially with the filing of another impeachment complaint filed by lawyers Roel Pulido and Adel Tamano.”-INQ Report
I am not obligating you in any way to answer my queries.I am just taking the chance that maybe you’ve talk to someone in the know regarding this issue. Thanks.
paolomendoza on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 3:48 pm
uhm.. i tagged you. hihi
mlq3 on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 3:59 pm
qwert, in a word, nangungulit.
benj on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 4:56 pm
Natural selection at work – removing the defeatists.
Manila Bay Watch on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 5:56 pm
““Kasi iyun naman ang question ng hunger, do you miss one meal during the last three months? Pati naman ako, I’ve missed one meal in the last three months,†Gloria Arroyo said in an interview after a roundtable discussion on education and social services.”
Equalizer, incredible isn’t it?
DevilsAvdc8 on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 7:14 pm
tnx for those who offered their advices and support the other day. i was able to go home and went directly to the hospital. UTI, the doctor said. no real danger. i breathed a sigh of relief and gave my thanks to God.
my son was just discharged frm the hospital this morning.
amazing, how when tragedies strike close to home, we tend to forget almost everything except our loved ones.
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 7:24 pm
“The Philippines is the most democratic country in the region. We have championed that human rights be included in our ASEAN charter. We have no tolerance for human rights violations of any kind.GMA”
Where is JONAS BURGOS?
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 7:48 pm
MLQ and RM are the best Philippine Presidents so far.
In your opinion, who is the worst ever Philippine President?
pls vote in my blog.
Bencard on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:00 pm
mbuencamino, i must confess i’m not too familiar with the “alternative distance education program” so i cannot form an opinion as to its merits and deficiencies. however, assuming the program is not as bad as you imply, i don’t see anything wrong with the president seeking its wider implementation to address the problem exemplified by the tragic incident. i don’t think it is (mis)using the girl’s death. as reported, i see the president’s action as a positive reaction to do something about the problem, a recognition that she did not die in vain.
politicizing the tragedy, as some commenters here are doing, is the reprehensible, even macabre way of “using” the girls death to advance cheap personal political agenda.
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:10 pm
When the peso is improving but a 12-year old girl commits suicide after losing hope—something is terribly,terribly WRONG!
The Ca t on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:14 pm
Yes, something’s wrong with the congressman in the region. Something’s wrong with the barangay chairman in the barangay.
You cannot expect the President to oversee each and everything in this 7,100 islands that constitute the nation.
Why blame the President whose task is to take care of the whole country?
The Ca t on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:17 pm
I just hate looking at those placards by the militant groups seeking justice for the death of the girl. What justice?
These people always ride on every issue that comes out in the media just so they keep their group visible in the streets. Sayang ang allowance.
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:22 pm
On Hunger: “Kasi iyun naman ang question ng hunger, do you miss one meal during the last three months? Pati naman ako, I’ve missed one meal in the last three months,†Gloria Arroyo
“PAGPAG”
In Payatas, people makes a living by recycling garbage.”Pagpag” is apparently a very common practice there.
They gather the thrown away plastic, papers, and whatever they can find, including food, that could still be recycled. They sell the papers and plastics to the factories and the recovered food items, usually half-eaten meat, to some stall-owners who cook them again and sell them to the customers. This dish is “pagpag”. The verb has become a noun for recyled food from the garbage .
Her callousness cries out to high heaven, her stinginess to the poor cries out to high heaven!She remembers them only during elections and during PHOTO-OPS.
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:27 pm
On the Economy:”We have reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in 20 years. And I’m glad to see the rate of poverty is down, the rate of poverty is down, general poverty as well as what we have seen, extreme poverty. ”
Does she eat “pagpag”(recycled garbage food)?
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:28 pm
On Electoral Reforms:” We can disagree on political goals but never on the conduct of democratic elections. I ask Congress to fund poll watchdogs. And to enact a stronger law against election-related violence”GMA.
Who is LINTANG BEDOL?
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:30 pm
On the Philippine Justice System:”We live by the rule of law. We abide by what the courts of the land decide.”GMA
Pardon Erap after 6 weeks from conviction on PLUNDER.
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 10:47 pm
On Extra-judicial Killings:”We deplore any and all killings of political activist and journalist. I have met personally with the journalism community and the same with the human rights activist, we share their outrage.GMA”
Where is Jonas Burgos?
manuelbuencamino on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:00 pm
Bencard,
If you are not familiar with the controversy surrounding the cyber ed contract, then you won’t see why it was callous of Gloria to use the girl’s suicide to promote it.
If you are familiar with the matter, then for once I am sure you and I would agree on something about Gloria because you will see that her action was not “a positive reaction to do something about the problem, a recognition that she did not die in vain.” Rather it was a cheap attempt to sell a project as dirty as the ZTE-DOTC deal.
DevilsAdvc8 on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:02 pm
i doubt there’d be more vigilance. when i worked at a call center, my tax deductions were really big. the higher our salaries got, the more we paid. but the indifference of my co-workers abt government wastage of OUR taxes really galled me. most are angry at the govt, but most have given up hope that our taxes will ever be spent correctly by any govt.
what we need is to pound into our people’s consciousness that if we don’t demand it from govt, we’ll never get it. everything has to be fought for. turning cynic will jz add to the cycle of cynicism. disengaging as Jeg said, is not the answer.
a little more assertiveness, esp in dealing w/govt agencies would go a long way. you’d be surprised what a little attitude adjustment can do for you. i know what it did for me. better service at govt agencies when i bully incompetent personnel. im not rude. but hell if i will be polite on people who don’t deserve common courtesy. a little shouting, demanding, and making a scene, plus threatening to file all kinds of complaints should get the lazy asses off their feet.
sup BrianB? jz came back from the hospital. my son was just discharged today. what you need me for?
HarionV on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:04 pm
i doubt there’d be more vigilance. when i worked at a call center, my tax deductions were really big. the higher our salaries got, the more we paid. but the indifference of my co-workers abt government wastage of OUR taxes really galled me. most are angry at the govt, but most have given up hope that our taxes will ever be spent correctly by any govt.
what we need is to pound into our people’s consciousness that if we don’t demand it from govt, we’ll never get it. everything has to be fought for. turning cynic will jz add to the cycle of cynicism. disengaging as Jeg said, is not the answer.
a little more assertiveness, esp in dealing w/govt agencies would go a long way. you’d be surprised what a little attitude adjustment can do for you. i know what it did for me. better service at govt agencies when i bully incompetent personnel. im not rude. but hell if i will be polite on people who don’t deserve common courtesy. a little shouting, demanding, and making a scene, plus threatening to file all kinds of complaints should get the lazy asses off their feet.
sup BrianB? jz came back from the hospital. my son was just discharged today. what you need me for?
Manolo’s dog is again barking my name away, but it’s me Brian – Devils
Harion on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:05 pm
i doubt there’d be more vigilance. when i worked at a call center, my tax deductions were really big. the higher our salaries got, the more we paid. but the indifference of my co-workers abt government wastage of OUR taxes really galled me. most are angry at the govt, but most have given up hope that our taxes will ever be spent correctly by any govt.
what we need is to pound into our people’s consciousness that if we don’t demand it from govt, we’ll never get it. everything has to be fought for. turning cynic will jz add to the cycle of cynicism. disengaging as Jeg said, is not the answer.
a little more assertiveness, esp in dealing w/govt agencies would go a long way. you’d be surprised what a little attitude adjustment can do for you. i know what it did for me. better service at govt agencies when i bully incompetent personnel. im not rude. but hell if i will be polite on people who don’t deserve common courtesy. a little shouting, demanding, and making a scene, plus threatening to file all kinds of complaints should get the lazy asses off their feet.
sup BrianB? jz came back from the hospital. my son was just discharged today. what you need me for?
- it’s me, Devils (my comments via my nick are not getting through)
The Equalizer on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:09 pm
devilADV(Harion):That’s great news about your son! Thank God.
cvj on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:10 pm
Devils, actually Brianb’s suggestion might work if the tax rate was 100%.
Glad to hear your son was discharged. I guess that means he’s ok.
Tongue in, anew on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:51 pm
Off topic:
Saguisag critical, wife dead in car crash.
Alioden Dalaig, Comelec’s head of Legal, felled by assassin’s bullets.
What’s common? Both were in the shortlist of Comelec Commissioner-candidates which Ermita denies he made. Was it a shorlist or a hitlist?
Abe N. Margallo on Sat, 10th Nov 2007 11:57 pm
“it’s me, Devils (my comments via my nick are not getting through)â€
Harion is a welcome alternative to DevilsAdv. Arion, a winged horse believed to be Poseidon’s offspring is as close as it could get to Diablo’s blissful nemesis; he’s also a poet like you.
I’m glad too your son is well.
Harion on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 12:12 am
equalizer, cvj – yeah. first-time father, first time dealing w/one of my own getting sick – well, you know. thank God it wasn’t anything serious. jz UTI.
btw, i rather like an all-public school system for elementary and secondary schools. but instead of going total abolishment of private schools route, why don’t we just turn all the private schools into public ones? we have the added benefit of just adding on existing staff and school buildings and equipments.
do it slowly. make owning private schools financially taxing. then impose a requirement that 5% of student population be scholars. increase that requirement every year, all the while increasing subsidies as scholar population increases. then make it punitive to enroll in private schools. parents still enrolling kids in private schools are required to pay more taxes. these taxes immediately go to the country’s education budget. each year, these “private school privilage tax” will be raised higher and higher.
Harion on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 12:20 am
I forgot to mention that as subsidies of these private schools increase, so does govt ownership of them. in time, all elementary and secondary private schools will be govt owned.
demand for private tutors may increase. but this will just be for the better. in fact, i’ve often thought that sometimes apprenticing in a certain craft is much better than what we do now. throwing general knowledge around with little, or no possible chance of them being used by the students in practical life.
Abe, Harion Vincent is the name I gave my son. In Tolkien’s elvish language, Harion means Prince.
cvj on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 12:32 am
I think your suggested approach is a very promising one compared to outright abolition.
Manila Bay Watch on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 12:48 am
Harion,
Glad to hear your baby is alright…
Manila Bay Watch on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 12:50 am
Tongue,
Unimaginable… just too horrible to even contemplate (just as one of cvj’s sisters said about probability of the Glorietta blast being some terrorist act.)
vic on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 2:27 am
Isn’t it a “rule of law” that if someone was shot dead, the police should investigate immediately instead of waiting for an order from President Arroyo? What is so special about a Comelec Official as compared to any other citizen that also got shot dead that it has to get the attention of the President? sometimes i wonder if people who supposed to know the rule of law really knows wattt the heck they’re talking about….
Watchful eye on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 3:41 am
NEWS fr Manila Times!
Justin Yap, World Bank’s private sector development specialist with the Doing Business team, said, “The Philippines did not do any reform this year, many countries are reforming. . . .â€
Yap explained the country’s low ranking, The Philippines “does not do anything,†by way of reforms.
In the region, the World Bank and IFC report said, countries that made business easier are China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.
“[The Philippines] is a slower reformer. I hope it will pick up. If a country can’t do reforming, it will be left behind,†Yap said.
The bank and IFC said the most popular reform was easing regulations on starting a business.
Forty-three countries simplified procedures, reducing costs and delays. The second most popular was reducing tax rates and the administrative hassle that businesses endure when paying taxes.
“It is easy to understand why these reforms top the list: Elections can be won on the ‘more jobs, lower taxes’ platform,†the report said.
Sobs, sobs, sobs.
qwert on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 7:26 am
Harion,
Nice to know that Harion is doing fine.
BrianB on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 8:17 am
It’s good news devils.
If I had a son I’d call him Master Chief.
Harion on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 8:18 am
MBW, qwert – yeah. now I owe God twice a lifetime of servitude
cvj, yes. imagine if rich parents have no other recourse but to send their kids to public schools or get them private tutors..
the latter will get them to pay insane amt of taxes (untouchable by the executive and congress), thereby indirectly helping the country’s education. while the former will result in pockets of ultra developed public schools in places where rich kids go to school.
kind of like what’s happening in prisons today. rich inmates spend money to make prison amenities better. the rest of the inmates benefit from the rich inmate’s caprices. everyone’s happy.
Francis on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 10:10 am
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?article_id=100147
Ayan consistent pattern since GMA became president.
Everytime me scandal someone dies.
Terminal 3, NAIA services contract etc.
Weird ano pero I find it very consistent.
vic on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 10:22 am
Harion, that/s is one splendid idea, exactly what we experienced here, saving a lot in initial expense with already the exixting facilities and staf of the Catholic Schools that only need accredition for its teachers and additional buildings as the population grows.
But every School Boards should be provided with the same funds for the equal benefits of all students to abide by the “rule of equality” in education, that every child should have an opportunity for an education funded by the society, equal to any other child no matter where they live in the Province…
Dirk Pitt on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 11:18 am
$1 = P 42.795
looks like the love-gloria club has found another joy to praise her for, huh?
qwert on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 12:36 pm
Harion, Vic, cvj,
There is an existing law ragarding private school subsidies, it might help us study it further.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8545
AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6728, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “AN ACT PROVIDING GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE TO STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN PRIVATE EDUCATION AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR,” ESTABLISHING A FUND FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBSIDIZING SALARIES OF PRIVATE SCHOOL TEACHERS, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR.
Just Google it ( masyadong mahaba para i-copy/paste)
cvj on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 2:33 pm
Qwert, thanks for the pointer.
vic on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 3:19 pm
qwert, check the Act and it was enacted in l998, but still doubt if it was properly funded or implemented.
BTW, the law is still selective as to its beneficiaries, like only so many students qualified and also give preference to gifted students like the valedictorians and honour students. I would rather see the law that will give benefits and opportunities to all regardless of their status and maybe lack of exemplary intellect, but still have the opportunity to get proper education where their capabilities best suited for.
Such law would not get a change if challenge for its constitutionality in our case, especially in the equality provision. That’s why sometimes it is not in the quantity of laws that is passed by the legislature, but the quality…
qwert on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 4:52 pm
“check the Act and it was enacted in l998, but still doubt if it was properly funded or implemented.”-vic
_________________________
There was an initial funding in 1998 in the General Appropriations Act of one billion pesos, I’m going to check in the 2006 budget if it’s still there or if it was increased. I think not only the honor students can avail of this subsidies, if the annual family income does not exceed P72,000.00, a student can avail of this subsidy. The problem lies in the amount to be subsidized, it must not exceed the cost per student in the Public School.
Another problem is the decimination of information regarding the benefits of this act. A lot of underprivileged students do not know this law.
qwert on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 5:15 pm
oooops… “decimination of information” should be “dissemination of information”
vic on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 5:47 pm
gwert,
one very good part of government programs towards financing students’ post secondary education in our system is the student’s loan which does not require government outlays, but in actuality an arrangement made by the government to the banks or financial institutions to provide the financing and the government paying the interests duration of students attending their classes, until such time that they have completed their training and ready to assume paying the loans.
There were instances of Bad Loans, but most would strive to finish their education so they can have a better job and pay up their students’ loans in a hurry. And that is applicable not only in the country’s schools, but anywhere in the world the student wants to go to…
justice league on Sun, 11th Nov 2007 9:31 pm
There was a student suicide once before. Can’t remember on whose term it was.
But if I’m not mistaken, the issue was either poverty or the environment.
alas ka dora on Mon, 12th Nov 2007 6:16 pm
the reality of marianett will obscure the meaning of inflation of 2.7% and gdp of 7.5 because tuitions are high, books are high and other basic needs including “mantika” if you are doing your grocery,increased by 9+% 61/liter last year now 67.
my neighbor who’s husband is a seaman had to ask two of his sons to forego schooling if only for this year because the remittance that her husband is sending them had shrunk significantly because of the exchange rate. she could not now afford to send all of them to school.
only the government seemed to benefit from the peso apprecaiton and high taxes
RoelM on Mon, 12th Nov 2007 8:17 pm
“The historian Glenn May, writing about the Revolution in Batangas, pointed out that in some cases it was the principalia, heirs to the leaders who had originally accepted Spanish sovereignty, who led the revolts and were followed by their tenants.”
Hi MLQ3,
It has been pointed out by social historians that the principalia in the late 19th century in many cases did not descend from the prehispanic chiefly class but were Chinese mestizos who rose to prominence in society starting in the 18th century. The mestizos did so by using their commercial/industrial wealth to accumulate land. The effect was probably to displace many of the remaining descendants of those prehispanic chiefs who originally accepted Spanish sovereignty. You might say the prehispanic royalty/nobility found their position dissolving under relentless socio-economic pressure. Although there was probably not much of royalty to begin with in terms of territorial jurisdiction except for the sultanates in Mindanao.
mlq3 on Mon, 12th Nov 2007 8:37 pm
roelm, thank you very very much for that clarification, something i have to brush up on! appreciate it.
Abe N. Margallo on Tue, 13th Nov 2007 11:21 am
I will cut and paste here my take on the matter, which is not far from RoelM’s and which I believe, with Catholicism and Spanish Aristocracy, is the basis our elitist, patrimonlialist and hierarchical system:
__________
The friar system reformists like Rizal intended to dismantle had an entrenched network of power relations among its surrogates, mostly landowning families of Chinese descent who originally had served as stewards for the estates of the monastic orders, morphed into hispanized hacienderos, then transitioned as mutually-buttressing guilds or factions of Marxian bourgeois and cosmopolitan elites. In hindsight, one would be hard put to surmise whether the uprising fueled by Rizal’s ultimate sacrifice could have ended the system (had the Americans not come into the picture from out of the blue). The fact is that Rizal had been fearful in Fili, and rightly so, of “(freeing) the slaves of today, if they will be the tyrants of tomorrow.†For, those who were waiting in the wings—to succeed to the powers of the Pulpit—were fawning sycophants, hostage and servile but only to the fat friar. To the ignorant and powerless, like the Crispins and the Basilios of Noli, they were as fiendish and callous hirelings who savored every conceivable scent of power, as was the petty and abusive parish sacristan mayor who, as the darker side of the Filipino character in the novel, had made use of every niggling authority it had arrogated unto himself. Still, and in fairness, there were many of them who emerged as the ilustrado, the enlightened ones, and joined the nationalist movement against Spain and then, but only for a fleeting chapter, against the Americans.
Many ilustrados, to preserve their privileges, abandoned the nationalist cause to collaborate with the Americans even while the war was in progress. They saw themselves as heirs apparent and logical beneficiaries of yet another “royal grant†from the new sovereign.
tonio on Tue, 13th Nov 2007 12:42 pm
qwert:
ready your typo as the “decimation” of information… kinda true, when the truth out there is so clouded nowadays… haha!
timlight on Tue, 4th Dec 2007 8:02 am
mlq3, thanks for mentioning my Pinoyhood blog here. Keep up the great work