For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we bring to your TV screens an interesting discussion on the Department of Education’s K to 12 Program. I have always wanted to have this program discussed on my show, after all the K-12 program has already been implemented by DepED but I just didn’t find the time and the people to interview on this very important topic.
Call it timely that last week, out of the blue, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV lambasted the K-12 program demanding that it should be stopped immediately so that the DepED can go to more important issues like the hiring of some 80,000 or more teachers. I thought to myself…what does Sen. Trillanes know about the problems of education in this country? Perhaps he was trying to stop the Filipino people from focusing on the pork scam where many of our senators have been involved and look instead at the K-12 program.
I also believe that education in this country has suffered a beating mainly because it has been so politicized. As usual, politicians always use the name of the people in vain in order to promote their selfish or vested interest. But we know too well that Philippine education has now been at the bottom of the line when compared to other Asian nations and if we continued on the same path…nothing will happen. So be thankful that at least DepED came up with the K-12 program, which should improve the level of education in this country.
So tonight, we have with us, Mrs. Carmelita T. Dulangon, OIC, director DepED Region VII, Mrs. Rosanna A. Urdaneta, regional director TESDA VII, and Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda SVD, president of the University of San Carlos (USC) to help our viewers understand what the K-12 is all about. You can see it on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00 tonight with replays on Wednesday and Saturday and replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 7:00AM and 9:00PM M-W-F.
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There is no question that Malacañang has gone on a PR offensive to save the mortally wounded Aquino presidency…wounded by a self-inflicted wound when last July 14th, after two weeks of silence, Pres. Benigno Aquino III lambasted the Supreme Court for declaring the Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional. That 20-minute tirade against the SC backfired on the President and many Filipinos who once believed in the Aquino mystique have abruptly awakened from their nearly four-year slumber and finally realized that the joke was on them!
If you watched the live coverage of the Senate hearings last Thursday morning, you could clearly see how the Legislative Branch, which is supposedly independent from the Executive, has closed ranks with the beleaguered Aquino Presidency. Yes, instead of showing the Senate’s independence, Senate President Franklin Drilon sounded more like a Malacañang lawyer defending the DAP when this has become totally indefensible.
As I have predicted, the political elite will defend its peers regardless of how its crime of plunder has been exposed by Janet Lim Napoles and regardless of how the Filipino people feel about it. These people have no shame and they dishonor the institutions that allowed them to use the title of “Honorable.” Our political system is damaged goods and I dare say that we need to fix our broken democracy before we even call for another election.
Meanwhile Pres. Aquino is now facing three impeachment complaints stemming from the DAP and the Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement. The only thing I’m wary about is that the people or groups filing these impeachment complaints are allied with the Communist Party of the Philippines or the National Democratic Front.
Of course we expect that the political elite would close ranks and man the ramparts to defend the institutions that for 28 years since the EDSA revolt have made them all so rich at the expense of the poor Filipino people. So you can expect that the political elite will reject Aquino’s impeachment and bring this nation closer to anarchy… similar to the time when the senator-judges during the impeachment trial for then Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada refused to open that confounded envelope that ended in EDSA Dos.
At this point, if PNoy continues (as he recently did) on his self-righteous path and continue to defy the SC and lambast our Justices, he courts the ire of the Filipino people and he just might end his term no different from how he treated his predecessor former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The handwriting is now written on the wall.
Today, Pres. Benigno Aquino III is supposed to make his 5th SONA, but what can we expect from Mr. Aquino who has failed miserably in the last 4 years in office. In his last SONA, he claimed that by next year we would be self-sufficient in rice. But last week it was reported that we’re importing 400,000 metric tons of rice. So this President lied to the Filipino people because what he said in his last SONA does not reflect today’s reality.