The Lone textbooks Ranger

They came. He saw. He corrected.

"North is necessary in using a compass." "Ribs: bones at the sides of your chest." "Christmas is the Philippines’ all too brief yet the longest celebration in the world." These are not jokes or punchlines from a television gag show. They are actual lines taken from textbooks used in our schools, and Antonio Calipjo Go has made it his personal crusade to expose such errors.

Acting on both "mission" and "compulsion", Go, who turned 53 last April, has found himself in the center of a storm of controversy.

Go takes a fighting stance where erroneous textbooks are concerned, as he faithfully lists down a thousand book blunders, even declaring that he is not afraid of any possible risk that may come with his crusade. But he does admit to getting nervous.

And so when STARweek recently paid Go a visit at the school he co-founded in Novaliches in Quezon City, getting the photo-op over and done with was first on the agenda.

After a brief tour of the Marian School compound located along the long and winding Sauyo Road, Go was raring to answer every cynic’s question: Why is he doing what he’s doing?

He throws a question in reply: "If I don’t do this, who else will?"

One idle day, Go found himself scanning through the pages of a textbook being used by one of the children of Matt Dizon, the co-founder of Marian School. He didn’t like what he saw and from then on, it became his passion. Go concedes that he seems to be alone in his crusade–a lone textbooks ranger, who bewails how his motives are now being questioned.

"It is a compulsion as it is a grievance," says Go, who calls himself "blessedly single", gesturing towards the school quadrangle as he adds that he considers the students of Marian School his own children. "Whenever I see a textbook I cannot help but open it and read–once I have started, I am compelled to finish it."

Although Go keeps mum when it comes to his credentials, he points out that no one among his detractors can prove that he has an ulterior motive, despite the fact that he has been correcting textbooks for the past decade.

"I don’t say much about myself," Go says. "Ayoko ng endorsement. I don’t even divulge which books we are using (at Marian School) because I might be accused of favoritism."

STARweek found out from Dizon that Go has a background in political science, but all that Go will say about his background is that he was a "product of Chinese schools" and "a product of the streets".

"Most of the things I know came from the streets, from the people themselves. Kaya hindi ganun ka-importante sa akin ang mga titulo," he says.

The bottomline is the quality of textbooks used in schools these days, insists Go. "Wala akong sinasantong publisher at school," he declares.

So how many textbooks has Go gone over in the past 10 years? "In the hundreds," he says. "Almost all publishers kaya marami ang galit sa akin at marami pa diyan ay fly-by-night."

Go stresses all he wants is for the public–parents in particular–to be aware of the flawed reading materials available in schools.

He blames corruption and the "collusion" between schools, publishers and even the authors for this. "There is collusion among them as I keep on stressing," Go says. "There are schools whose airconditioning, school bus service even building and lot in the provinces are provided by the publishers and in return, the schools will use all their books for a contract period of two to three years."

The name Antonio Go hit the headlines last year when he exposed some 400 errors in the history textbook Asya: Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Kultura that prompted the Department of Education (DepEd) to pull out the book for reevaluation. DepEd also took the step of tightening the evaluation of textbooks used in public schools. The controversy may not be as headline grabbing as the jueteng or wiretap scandal, but the shock factor is there.

Go now has what he calls a "cold" relationship with the National Book Development Board (NBDB) following this year’s controversy over the errors found in textbooks published by Phoenix Publishing House.

"The (Phoenix) controversy started in November last year; their sales representatives sent me 135 textbooks so that I may choose what I would like (for Marian School)," he recalls. But when the books were being unloaded, Go says he instantly noticed a glaring error.

"I readily noticed the wrong title –Simply Science in the Next Century. The title itself contained two major errors. They insist however it was correct. First of all, the word ‘simply’ is an adverb; science is a noun," Go explains. He also objects to the phrase "next century". "The phrase itself is wrong as, literally speaking, the children would have been all gone by then."

After finishing the review, Go recalls having painstakingly shown all 2,079 "factual and grammatical" errors to Phoenix representatives. "What they said was they will show the owners the errors and will come back–but up to this day, they haven’t."

There is obviously no love lost between Go and the NBDB. Go laments that the NBDB played favorites in finding three textbooks submitted for review by Phoenix as "not being defective".

The NBDB, on the other hand, clarified that it never received any formal complaint from Go on the quality of the textbooks.

"I was just surprised that he (Go) went to the media when he knows there is a due process to follow," NBDB chairman Dennis Gonzalez told STARweek in a phone interview. "Everything just goes through the media."

Gonzalez said the three books "voluntarily" submitted by Phoenix last February were Harnessing English Arts Today for Grade 5, Exploring Life through World Literature (fourth year high school) and Simply Science in the Next Century for Grade 3 pupils.

If a complaint is filed with the NBDB, Gonzalez says the board then gets the process of reviewing the questioned book going.

"Reputable experts" from institutions of excellence are tapped to undertake the review for one month at most. The institution then certifies it has performed its function and forwards the evaluation to the NBDB.

The board checks for competency of the curriculum, language or vocabulary appropriate to the target learners, grammatical correctness, accuracy of facts and information as well as if the ideas are well organized.

If the book is found to be of "poor quality", another process is followed– that is, for the NBDB "to ask the publisher and the author to respond" to this. Once the response comes in, the board will conduct another review that includes the responses. If still found wanting, the NBDB tells the publisher to stop selling the book and pay a fine of P100,000 or risk cancellation of their registration with the board.

"Meaning they don’t get to avail of our services anymore but it does not stop them from operating," Gonzalez explains.

The NBDB, however, has no regulatory powers. Created by Republic Act 8047, it is tasked primarily to formulate and implement a National Book Policy with a corresponding National Book Development Plan geared towards the development of the book publishing industry.

"The NBDB is a developmental agency, not a regulatory one," Gonzalez clarifies, pointing out the "misunderstanding" of their mandate. "We are not the textbook police."

Giving the board such power does not sit well with Gonzalez. "I’m not sure if having the government fully regulating the textbooks industry will be good in the long run," he says, citing the risk of government "censorship" which has become a problem in some countries.

Ideally, he says the most efficient way to weed out erroneous textbooks is the "market system". Gonzalez points to the responsibility of private schools in ensuring the quality of textbooks that they get. If this is practiced, irresponsible publishers and authors will not successfully penetrate the market.

"This is where I appeal for parents to be proactive," he adds.

Go and NBDB share the same concern, although the means by which they address the declining quality of textbooks in the country differ. Go wonders why no law exists to punish irresponsible publishers, authors and schools for providing students with gravely flawed books.

Go says the quality of textbooks has really deteriorated since he started on this journey of correcting textbooks a decade ago. There has, however, been an improvement in the attitude of publishers and authors, as last year’s Asya controversy served as a wake up call for them to pay more attention to their responsibility and make the necessary changes.

Go takes out ads in newspapers to emphasize the problem, sometimes spending as much as P400,000. The money comes from his own pocket or is borrowed from banks. "I have proof for that. I have the papers."

Many times Go has thought of throwing in the towel in what he calls a "thankless crusade". So what would he be doing if he wasn’t on this crusade? "I would be farming in my mother’s hometown in Bangui, Ilocos Norte. It’s the town before Pagudpud. It’s a very beautiful place," Go says. "I’m very, very tired of doing this. It’s a thankless crusade but what I am really looking for is drastic change in the way textbooks are made."

His mother and the rest of his family, all living abroad, do not like what he has embarked on. His mother especially wants him in the States with her. So why not leave the controversy behind?

"When we opened this school, everything changed. I saw the need to take this up as a mission because I saw that no one else is doing it. It was an epiphany for me to have seen all those errors for the first time," Go says.

So as long as the system allows error-filed books in our schools, a peaceful life on the farm will have to wait for Antonio Go.