Out of touch
The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran a front page story in its Jan. 2, 2008 edition about President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordering the release of P500 million for the training of teachers to improve their English language proficiency and arrest the rapid deterioration of the country’s educational system. This provoked me to write a mildly angry letter at the apparent loss of touch on the part of the President about the state of affairs of the nation:
TO THE EDITOR:
“President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo only succeeded in proving that she is terribly out of touch about the state of things in this country when she commented that “something must be wrong about our educational system” (PDI, Jan. 2, 2008).
“That came from a President who has been in office for six years. All the time, she never made that realization. I’m tempted to say that it’s better late than never, but her response to the problem is not a guarantee it will be solved. It’s not enough to allocate funds for the training of teachers in English language proficiency. An overhaul of the entire educational bureaucracy is what the country needs.
“Breaking up the gargantuan bureaucracy of the Department of Education would be a good first step. In case the President is not aware, the department has earned a notoriety as being one of the most corrupt agencies in the national government. To make matters worse, the DepEd is grossly inefficient. We have textbooks that are full of errors. We lack classrooms and teachers.
“It’s also time to consider devolving education to the local governments. We have seen that the quality of education is vastly improved if local communities are closely involved in running the system. Give the LGUs their rightful share of the education pie, and I am confident they would be able to do a better job in solving the chronic problems of classroom and teacher shortages.
“The nation is lagging behind other nations in the field of basic education, and this can only worsen if President Arroyo fails to act decisively on these issues now. Education is the only hope for the poor to rise above poverty. President Arroyo can leave a lasting legacy to the people if she goes beyond just putting aside funds for education.
“MANUEL P. MEJORADA”
Dear Sir, I want to know what is your opinion regarding the routes of our public transportation. I have heard that such re-routing has greatly burden a lot of people, specially the drivers. I live in Oton and I have heard that the drivers there are really suffering because of a low income.
I am not much up to date with this issue since I have my own car to bring me anywhere I want. But what about others that are not as lucky as I am? The drivers are suffering and so are the public who uses public transportation.
What is the reason for this re-routing? Isn’t it that the government should make rules or policies for the betterment of the people? I guess those who made those rules of re-routing can’t feel the effect because they have their own cars. But even I have that, I sympathized with those drivers. I feel their pain. It’s hard to earn money as a driver, so why burden them more?
Could you please give me more info regarding this matter?
Thank You.
intiendes
January 3, 2008 at 2:59 am
The rerouting is a policy adopted by the city government. It’s supposed to help decongest the city streets, which as you know, are literally bursting at the seams with overcrowding. The concept is good. Who doesn’t want a city that has no traffic problem? The only issue is whether there was adequate consultation with all sectors and inputs from experts were solicited. Frankly, I think the city’s officials fell short in the measuring stick on this issue. Another problem is the apparent lack of proper dissemination to the transport groups. When D-Day came, a lot of people were caught by surprise at the drastic changes brought by the rerouting ordinance.
Manuel
January 3, 2008 at 4:42 am
I agree, but since the skyway is working. There seems to be no traffic in the areas of the old route of Oton Jeepneys. I hope they could correct things for everyone’s benefit.
BTW if you have some spare time, I would like to ask for your profile to be put on IloiloBloggers.com please check http://iloilobloggers.com/faqs/
Salamat
intiendes
January 4, 2008 at 1:14 am
There are on-going talks between the drivers groups, Governor Tupas and Mayor Trenas to seek an acceptable compromise on the situation. Just stay tuned to local radio to listen to what happens next.
Manuel
January 4, 2008 at 8:30 am
Thanks
intiendes
January 5, 2008 at 12:13 pm