DepEd, not rallies, to blame for low enrollment – ACT

MANILA, Philippines — Instead of blaming the drop in enrollees this school year on protests, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte should instead address the “education crisis” the country is facing, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said yesterday.

“There’s nothing wrong in questioning and holding DepEd (Department of Education) accountable for the 2 million drop in enrollment. It is the Department’s responsibility to ensure that no student is left behind. Why is Sara Duterte so allergic to questions?” ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said in a statement.

The DepEd should look into the root causes of the education sector’s problems that left students unable to go back to school this year, such as financial problems that households face due to the country’s economic problems, Quetua said.

“In fact, that’s why we went to the streets to drum up calls for education, teachers, and students. This accusation of Sara Duterte is baseless. She’s constantly blaming the critics while nothing is being done to find out the reasons why enrollments are decreasing,” he added.

In a speech earlier this week, Duterte blamed protests for the drop in enrollment figures for school year 2023-2024, slamming ACT Teachers’ party-list Rep. France Castro for blaming DepEd.

DepEd remains short of its 28.8 million enrollment target for SY 2023-2024 as the total number of enrolled students as of Sept. 13 morning is 26.7 million.

“There is no wonder why, a significant drop-out of enrollees occurred. It is clear that the protest actions calling out the government’s inefficiency is not the reason why a Filipino youth’s right to education is disenfranchised,” Quetua said.

“We have been saying for a long time that the education budget allocated by the government for the education of its youth is not enough. This responsibility is passed on to relatives who only have a meager salary, not enough to eat. Is it any wonder that many choose to just work and not enroll?” he added.

Sara is government caretaker

Vice President Sara Duterte has been named the caretaker of the government while President Marcos is in Singapore, according to Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil yesterday.

Marcos left for Singapore on Wednesday to attend the 10th Asia Summit. He will also watch the finals of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix 2023 upon the invitation of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, according to a recent Malacañang statement.

During the Asia Summit conference, Marcos promoted the Philippines as an investment destination, highlighting the policies designed to improve the ease of doing business in the country. He also cited the government’s efforts to gather inputs from the private sector to come up with an environment more conducive for foreign investors.

Last year, the President drew flak for watching the much-anticipated return of the Formula 1 Grand Prix also in Singapore, a trip that was not announced by Malacañang with critics claiming that it was insensitive to the plight of Filipinos affected by typhoon Karding and the rising prices of goods.

The President is scheduled to return to the Philippines on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) had donated late last July P10 million to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to help it pursue health-related initiatives and aid distribution projects.

The PCSO said that the “significant donation” aims to bolster the OVP’s health-related initiatives, supporting various critical areas such as hospital bill payment assistance, dialysis, medicines, laboratory procedures, chemotherapy, brachytherapy, radiation, implants, medical equipment, assistive devices, as well as physical, speech and occupational therapy.

The PCSO said that the donation has been made possible through the PCSO’s Supplemental Funding Assistance Program, which aims to support significant government projects to assist the less fortunate.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. also pledged last July to provide a P120-million financial support to socio-civic programs of the OVP.

The OVP, under Duterte, has enjoyed a 222 percent boost in its 2023 budget. From the P702-million budget allocation in 2022 under former vice president Leni Robredo, the OVP under Duterte was allotted a budget of P2.3 billion in 2023. — Alexis Romero, Rainier Allan Ronda