Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Kabataan Partylist said DepEd should be reprimanded for 'cutting classes'

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today lambasted the Department of Education's move to reduce the number of class hours in some public elementary schools, saying that the smaller learning load will only worsen the already sorry state of education in the country.

“Last we checked, students are punished if they cut classes. This time, the DepEd itself is driving students out of their classrooms. The DepEd deserves 'detention time' and should be reprimanded for this proposal," Palatino said.

The young solon said “While it is true that students are squatting on dirty floors in makeshift classrooms, this sorry state should not prompt our education officials to cut down the number of class hours. This will have an adverse impact on the quality of public education, especially since students taking national assessment tests have obtained failing marks during the past few years.”

Palatino also slammed the “integration” of subjects as it will only “confuse learners.”

“Remember that it is basic education we are talking about. Before we learn the connection between subjects, we should learn the basics, the fundamentals. Kung pagsasamahin ang mga subjects, hindi na malalaman ng bata kung ano ang pinagkaiba ng Hekasi sa MAPE,” he said.

Instead of reducing the number of class hours, Palatino said the government should prioritize and focus on building more classrooms and improving school facilities to make learning conducive to students. He said that shortages and the deterioration in the quality of education can be mainly be attributed to the "the government's continuous neglect of the education sector coupled with the numerous unresolved corruption cases within the DepEd that cut off a huge chunk of its already insufficient budget."

“The proposed 2010 budget for education hardly grew from the current budget. The government has been religiously implementing the 'limited or zero growth' in government spending recommended by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to tame the government deficit and ensure debt payments,” Palatino said.

Palatino cited a study conducted by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) that class size in Philippine elementary schools stood at 1:43.9 while in Malaysia the figure is at 1:31.7, Thailand, 1:22.9, Japan, 1:28.6, and India 1:40.

The Unesco data also show that teacher-pupil ratio for the primary level in the Philippines (1:35) far exceeds that of Thailand (1:18), Malaysia (1:17), Indonesia (1:20), Japan (1:19), and China (1:18). ###

Monday, September 14, 2009

'Instead of text tax, cut down Arroyo's budget'

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today said that instead of slapping an excise tax on text messaging and other wireless services, Congress should re-channel questionable portions of the President's budget to the education sector.

“If the rationale behind the imposition of a five centavos text tax is to fund education, why not augment the education budget by getting a slice of the President's pie?” said Palatino, who is also convenor of the consumer rights group TxtPower.

The young solon said the Office of the President's four billion pesos budget for 2010 can still be cut down by removing unnecessary items such as salaries for presidential advisers, overly expensive junkets and other pump-priming projects.

Palatino proposed a cutback on the number of presidential advisers and redundant executives in order to save millions of pesos. “By 2008, the number of presidential advisers and consultants reached an all-time high of 49. Just what exactly are these advisers and consultants doing aside from receive salaries? Other cabinet officials, such as department heads and assistant secretaries can perform their functions anyway,” he said.

Palatino questioned the existence, for instance, of presidential advisers for Trade & Development, Infrastructure, Job Generation, and another for Food Security & Job Creation. “What is the difference in function of a Presidential Adviser on Job Generation to the Department of Labor and Employment Secretary? Kung pareho lang ang kanilang trabaho, hindi ba't nagiging sobra-sobra ang nagagastos sa sweldo?”

Citing a study by the United Nations Development Programme, he said the government could save as much as P58 million a year if it would remove all the redundant executives from the bureaucracy.

Palatino also questioned the President's P150 million in intelligence funds, which only she can approve for release, and the whopping P1 billion for the Commission on Information and Communications Technology's telecommunication's office, which merely functions to send telegrams.

Burden to the youth

Palatino said he is against the text tax as it would burden the country's 56 million cellphone users, majority of which are students and young workers heavily dependent on texting and other mobile services.

Palatino said, “Despite statements from the authors of the bill and House Speaker Propspero Nograles that the 'text tax should not add to the burdens of the tax paying public, these do not guarantee that consumers will not shoulder this additional burden,” said Palatino.

“It is also an irony,” Palatino said, “that the government wants to tax text when it promotes, at the same time, the people's use of SMS to send their queries and grievances to the government through its m-governance program.”

Earlier, Kabataan Partylist and TxtPower launched a “texter's revolt” against text tax. Palatino also urged netizens to join their Facebook cause No Tax on Text and email pro text tax congressmen Danilo Suarez and House Speaker Prospero Nograles.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Youth solon disapproves of House approval of “text tax” bill

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today disapproves of the approval by the House of Representatives in the committee level of a measure imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message, saying that the “no pass-on provision” is no assurance that consumers will not shoulder the additional burden.

"Despite statements from the authors of the bill and House Speaker Propspero Nograles that the “text tax'” should not add to the burdens of the tax paying public, these do not guarantee that consumers will not shoulder this additional burden."

Palatino said that the present deregulated telecommunications industry makes it virtually impossible for the government to impose the “no pass-on” provision. “The government is simply powerless to stop telcos from imposing new fees to consumers in light of the implementation of this new text tax,” he said.

Palatino also said that the profit-driven telecommunications companies may JUST invent new mechanisms to maintain their profiteering in lieu of a text tax. “The discovery of dagdag-bawas schemes of telcoms such as text scams, additional charges and vanishing cellphone loads have shown us that these telcos are not only abusive but creative as well. Because they are deregulated, they can easily circumvent the law,” he said.

Instead of introducing a tex tax, Palatino said the government should scrap its deregulation policy and closely monitor the excesses committed by telecommunications companies

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Kabataan Partylist Representative wants gov't to provide free education to children with special needs

Filipino children and youth with special needs shall receive free and appropriate public education if a bill filed by a young solon pushes through.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino today filed House Bill 6771 or the “Free Special Education (SPED) Act of 2009” allowing free services for children and youth with special needs - from early diagnosis and intervention to basic and ongoing education.

Filipino children and youth with special needs include the gifted or talented, the mentally retarded, the visually impaired, the hearing impaired, the orthopedically or physically handicapped, the learning disabled, the speech defective, the children with behavior problems, the children with autism, and those with health problems.

“Like everyone else, children and youth with special needs have the right to participate and contribute to society. As such, it is the obligation of the State to ensure the equality of their access to social services and life-improvement opportunities, their full participation in decisions concerning their welfare, and the eventual possibility of their economic self-sufficiency,” Palatino said in the bill's explanatory note.

Citing a study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Palatino said SPED in the co untry lacks basic funding to be able to properly address the needs of special children and youth.

Under the HB 6771, a Bureau of SPED will be created to formulate and administrate of an appropriate curriculum and developmentally-suited programs to primarily achieve functional literacy of the students/children with special needs and enswe their integration to society. The SPED bureau shall also ensure adequate and free medical assistance to these children, including those essential to their rehabilitation like therapy, psychometric assessments and medical examinations.


Full text of HB 6771 at kabataanpartylist.com