DepEd Budget (292) versus Special Purpose Fund (317)

Ernest F. Calayag wrote an opinion for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He mentioned a promise by Roxas when he was running for vice president in 2010, that if they (Aquino and Roxas) win, the DepEd Budget would be increased to the level recommended by UNESCO, 5-6%. "A Promise Yet to Be Fulfilled" was the title of the opinion article. And Calayag explains with humor:

http://opinion.inquirer.net/36386/a-promise-yet-to-be-fulfilled

"However, simple logic explains why only 2-3 percent of the GDP has been allotted for education for the past fiscal years: the 5-6 percent appropriation promised for education was made on the assumption that both candidates, Aquino and Roxas, would win. Given that only one-half of the Noy-Mar tandem won, it stands to reason that only half of the promised 5-6 percent allocation would be considered due."

The Tribune (http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/3939-noy-slams-briones-denies-claim-his-p317-b-pork-goes-to-lp-2013-kitty) has recently discussed an item in the proposed budget, a 317.58 billion Special Purpose Fund. Apparently, according to former National Treasurer Leonor Briones, this is a fund "only the President can disburse as he pleases". This is the "pork barrel" of the members of Congress, to be handed out by the Executive Branch.

Zambales Rep. Milagros "Mitos" Magsaysay has this to say:

“I thought we are now under the daang matuwid and that we are transparent? So, why insert a line item budget of P317 billion as Special Purpose Fund the very purpose of which, we all know would not never be disclosed?” ...And to think that comprises almost 1/6 of the entire national budget!”

...What will happen is we will have a rubber stamp Congress and the legislative branch of government has now surrendered its autonomy to the executive branch,.. And all the while I was made to believe that the power of the purse rests with Congress. But with this kind of situation wherein it is now under the Office of the  President and discretion of the President, we in Congress no longer hold that power of the purse.”

 The proposed DepEd budget for 2013 is 292 billion. The Special Purpose Fund is 317 billion. These are numbers to ponder....

Kasama Ako ng Mga Butil ng Kanin

by Jayson Cruz on Friday, September 7, 2012 at 5:29pm ·

Tula ng pakikiisa sa TDC Boodle Fight na ginanap sa Senado noong Setyembre 5, 2012

Kasama ako ng mga butil ng kanin
sa hapag na inyong kinainan.
Sa ulam na tuyong pinagsaluhan
nang pait ng dusa ng ATING mga GURO
sa ilang dekadang nakaraan.

Sambungkos na talbos,
adobong paa ng manok,
maalat na itlog,
nanguluntoy na nilagang talong
at samboteng bagoong.
Muling pinaalulong
ang namamaos nating tinig,
Muling pinaimbulog
ang pinagsamasamang lakas,

ang mga nagngangalit na ugat sa ating leeg,
pumarada muli, mga maong na kupas
mga kamaong gigil, muling itinaas,
sabay-sabay na isinisigaw nang ubod-lakas

DIGNIDAD NG GURO, WAG LAPASTANGANIN!
DIGNIDAD NG GURO, WAG LAPASTANGANIN!

Kasama ako ng mga butil ng kanin
na isinubo ng mga butuhang kamay
sa magdamag na naglalamay
sa pagbalangkas ng leksiyon ng sangkatauhan,
paghubog ng ugali ng mga kabataan.

Kasama ako ng mga butil ng kanin
sa katawan ninyo'y nagpalakas
sa harap ng Senado, tanghaling tapat.
Sama-sama ninyong hinagilap
hinarap,
ipinakiusap
ang daing ng ATING mga GURO
kahit pagod na sa pagtuturo
patuloy ang pakikipagdayalogo
makamtan ang panalo,
maitaas ang pasahod sa mga guro.

Kasama ako ng mga butil ng kanin
na ating pinagtitiisan
sa matagal na panahon na pakikibaka
sa buhay at kamatayan,
sa kasiyahan at kasawian,
sa kalakasan at kahinaan.

Kasama ako sa mga butil ng kanin
hanggang sa maipanalo ang laban
nang lahat ng mga guro'y makinabang
ang tunay na mga bayani ng bayan!

NOTE:

SA MGA KASAMA KO SA TDC-NCR,

Ipagpaumanhin ninyo na hindi ako nakasama sa isang makabuluhang pagkilos na ito. Inaapoy ng lagnat ang aking anak at kailangan ako sa tabi niya. Pinagturo ko na ang misis ko dahil wala na siyang service credit at ako'y mayroon pa naman. Bunga ng instant noodles (na pambansang ulam nating mga guro) ang pagkakaroon ng UTI ng aking anak. Patunay lamang ito na hindi sapat ang pasahod na ating tinatanggap mula sa pamahalaan na atin namang pinaglilingkuran nang tapat.

Sa tingin ko'y dapat lamang nating isigaw ang MAKATARUNGANG PASAHOD PARA SA MGA BAYANI NG BAYAN!

Kaisa ninyo,

Jayson Alvar Cruz

2013 DepEd Budget and Kindergarten Teachers

Included in the 293 billion peso proposed DepEd budget for 2013 is the hiring of 61000 teachers. Of these 61000 new teachers, 8000 are in kindergarten. This year, more than 1.5 million pupils entered kindergarten. Assuming the same number, this will require 30000 teachers, with each one handling two sessions of 25 students each. Pursuant to R.A. 10157 (The Kindergarten Act), DepEd issued Order no. 32, s. 2012, which has the following section:

Section 10. Hiring and Deployment. - Pursuant to Section 7 (e) of the Act, in addition to
the guidelines for hiring issued by the Secretary of the DepEd, a kindergarten teacher shall
have at least 18 units of Early Childhood Education (ECE) or its equivalent units as
determined by the appropriate agency.

The section provides an impression that there is a quality requirement for kindergarten instruction. "18 units of Early Childhood Education or its equivalent units" must be met. There is a significant difference between 8000, the number of teachers DepEd intends to fund at regular salary level, and 30000, the number that will be required by 1.5 million kindergarten pupils. This is not in any way a small difference.

DepEd intends to make up the difference through volunteers. Volunteers are currently paid an honorarium of 3000 pesos per month per session. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports:

"During the budget hearing, Tinio also pitched for higher pay for volunteer kindergarten teachers, as well as for the regularization of all 23,000 of them. The volunteer teachers get a P3,000 honorarium a month, but could get up to P6,000 if they teach two sessions. 

Luistro said about 8,000 of them were scheduled to be regularized in 2013. 

He also said that when the idea of the volunteer kindergarten teacher was put forward, the concept was that these volunteers would be those who have other sources of income and have the time to help out in public schools or want to serve the community. 

But Luistro said the situation became problematic when the volunteers had teaching as their lone source of income. 

In such a situation, the honorarium the teacher gets becomes a challenge, he said."

2012 can easily serve as a learning period for DepEd with regard to the kindergarten program. In fact, it is the second year already since DepEd piloted kindergarten before R.A. 10157.  And the news above shows that DepEd is more than aware of the challenges of the kindergarten program. Yet, DepEd simply ignores and continues to ignore the problem. DepEd had unreasonable expectations - that volunteers have other sources of income. Handling two sessions of kindergarten is a full time job. These could only be purely volunteer work among wealthy individuals. How many individuals in the Philippines are wealthy enough to have other sources of income? Second, how many among these individuals have a great sense of community service to in fact dedicate most of their time to kindergarten education? Third, how many among these had 18 units of Early Childhood Education or its equivalent? Lastly, how are these individuals distributed among the various regions of the country? Do they match the distribution needs of the country?

Not seeing the above challenge during the first year is excusable. Ignoring the challenge after seeing reality is not. The Philippines does not have more than 20000 individuals who could teach kindergarten and who could get by with only 6000 pesos a month honorarium. If kindergarten is taken seriously as prescribed by R.A. 10157, ignoring this problem goes against the law. This is simple. It is reality staring back at us. Yet, DepEd still maintains optimism with regard to its K to 12 program while it continues to fail in the kindergarten component. It is like claiming that one knows how to multiply numbers while obviously not knowing first how to add numbers.

From a previous post, "Focus First on the Early Years":

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones takes the above one step farther:

...Here you go. There are two big things we could do if we really wanted to improve our childrens' future: aggressively get rid of all the remaining lead in our soil and in old houses — all of it — and spend a bunch of money on high-quality early childhood interventions among poor and working-class families. If we don't think we have the money — an argument I'll put off to another day — we should take it out of the K-12 budgets. We'd be better off with 100% more pre-K and 20% less K-12 than we are with our current funding priorities....

DepEd's K to 12, with its introduction of kindergarten, is a step in this direction. However, its lack of focus on the early years, its poor treatment of kindergarten teachers, and its gargantuan yet diffused programs takes us several steps back. 

Honoring Teachers

This is not the transcript of the speech delivered by former US president Bill Clinton on the Wednesday evening of the Democratic National Convention, but it carries a logic similar to:

"What new ideas did we bring to Washington? I always give a one-word answer: arithmetic." 

- Bill Clinton

This speech also addresses failed policies that politicians seem to embrace over and over again, expecting different results. As Clinton smartly quipped, "We simply can't afford to double down...." 

This speech is about honoring public school teachers in the Philippines. Education reforms that do not alleviate the working and living conditions of teachers will fail. Improving learning outcomes in Philippine basic education must place teachers' rights and welfare on the very top of the list of things to do. No one I hope will argue against thanking our teachers. Yes, there are good teachers and there are not so good teachers. But obviously (as clear as 1+1 = 2) teachers cannot do their job well if we do not enable them. Without addressing their rights and welfare, their vocation to serve our youth is seriously compromised. "We will simply reap what we sow."

Here is a transcript of Rep. Antonio Tinio's privilege speech on the National Teachers' Month.

4 September 2012 

This coming Wednesday, September 5, marks the opening of National Teachers’ Month, declared in 2011 per President Aquino’s Proclamation 242, to “celebrate the unique role and service” of teachers.  “To express sincere gratitude for teachers,” DepEd has advised its regional and division offices and students to give “thank you” cards, free makeover and spa treatments, discounts, or freebies to teachers, also to hang streamers and hold contests to honor teachers, from September 5 to October 5. 

The culminating date, October 5, is celebrated all over the world as Teachers’ Day to mark the adoption on that day of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers in 1966 at a special intergovernmental conference convened by ILO and UNESCO in Paris.  For nearly forty-six years, the Recommendation has served as the international frame of reference for standards on the rights and welfare of teachers, including adequate remuneration, stability of employment and security of tenure, and conditions for effective teaching—on such issues as class size, hours of work, school rooms, and the like. 

Who would say “no” to an entire month of tributes, free spa, discounts, “thank you” cards, or a grand celebration in one’s honor?  But Madam Speaker, my dear colleagues, I invite you to approach any teacher, and ask him or her: How do you like to be thanked?  The most meaningful way of commemorating National Teachers’ Month, the most sincere expression of gratitude for our children’s second parents, is by giving full effect to their rights—to living salary, adequate remuneration, stability of employment and security of tenure, professional advancement, union rights, among others. 

While the Executive branch says, “Let’s thank teachers,” it seems its show of gratitude ends with “thank you” cards and a “grand celebration.”  The DepEd budget is proposed at P231.4 billion under the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2013, the highest appropriation in all departments.  While this looks rosy for the education sector, the President and the Aquino administration merely continues the trend of inadequate funding for education.  Since at least 2004, the government has not given DepEd a budget higher than 1.98% of the GDP, or 11.8% of the total national budget.  Next year, DepEd’s budget is only 1.92% of GDP and 11.53% of the total P2.006 trillion national budget.  Since this inadequate budgetary allocation translates to measly salaries and shortages in critical resources down to the smallest schools, teachers bear most of its impact. 

President Aquino vowed to create, by June next year, 61,510 new teacher items.  We must give credit where credit is due; we laud this unprecedented move of the creation of a massive number of new teacher items.  Normally, in previous years, the national government would only fund 10,000 to 14,000 new items, so this is indeed very welcome and long overdue, as the public school system has long been beset by extreme teacher shortages.  However, we must take issue with the following statement made by the President in his 2013 budget call.  Let me quote: 

“We also aim to fully cover the shortfall in quality public school teachers by allocating P13.4 billion for the creation of 61,510 teaching positions.”
In particular, we take issue with the statement that by 2013, the shortage of teachers will be fully covered.  The fact is, in spite of the creation of this unprecedented number of teaching items, it will still not cover the shortfall of 49,530 teaching positions which are funded by the local government, nor will it cover the shortfall of over 23,000 volunteer Kindergarten teachers employed by DepEd through contracts of service.  So, in other words, far from solving the issue of teacher shortages by 2013, there will remain a shortage of at least 64,000 teachers by 2013. 

The proposed budget by 2013 is in fact still unfortunately marred by the policy of contractualization in the teaching profession.  Beginning school year 2011-2012, DepEd hired, as I said, volunteer Kindergarten teachers.  This school year, the volunteers number around 23,000 and they all receive an “honorarium” which forces them to live within a budget of as low as P100 a day.  They are paid from P3,000 to P6,000 per class per month, remuneration which is unconscionably low considering the P425-minimum wage in NCR and the unchecked increases in the prices of basic needs of the ordinary family.  They also do not enjoy benefits normally received by regular teachers of the national government, nor do they have security of tenure, much less do they have the right to form and join unions. 

Several rights of public school teachers are threatened by this practice, so we strongly urge the Aquino administration to abandon this policy of placing public school teachers in precarious employment through contracts of service.  We call on the administration to allocate sufficient Personal Services funds under the DepEd budget for their immediate regularization.  But pending that, we also urge Aquino to immediately increase the monthly honoraria of volunteer Kindergarten teachers from P3,000 per class per month to at least P6,000 per month.  So, in other words, we call for a doubling of these honoraria. 

Contractualization is even more prevalent in state universities and colleges.  According to last year’s budget hearing, when asked how many new teaching items will be created for all these state universities and colleges for 2013, the answer given by CHED is that there will be zero new items created for 2012.  That is also true for 2012.  In fact, the trend has been in a reduction in the number of full time faculty positions in state universities and colleges. In 2002, the Philippine Normal University had 385 faculty positions, but next year, it will only have 383.  From 2003 to the present, the six SUCs of MIMAROPA collectively lost 106 faculty positions, and the eleven SUCs in Western Visayas lost 70.  On the other hand, enrolment in these regions, as well nationally, increase year by year by around 3,200 and 8,400, respectively at an average of 75,700 students yearly nationwide.  So in other words, the trend has been the reduction in regular faculty positions in SUCs while enrolment has been increasing.
Because the numbers of regular faculty cannot keep up with the increase in enrolment, SUCs resort to hiring contractual faculty out of savings or to the hiring of several part-timers out of the budget for one regular teaching item.  Again, these teachers, called part-time teachers, receive less than their full-time counterparts despite the fact that they all take the same teaching loads and responsibilities, with no benefits and no security of tenure. 

Now, we move on to salaries.  The total personal services budget of DepEd and the SUCs for 2013 have no room for salary increases.  With the implementation of the last tranche of SSL3, teachers in basic and tertiary education, along with non-teaching personnel in public schools, are worried that their salaries will remain stagnant despite the unceasing rise in the cost of living.  Will we see a repeat of the previous experiences regarding public sector pay where, after the implementation of SSL, there will follow several years of a “salary freeze” for our public sector employees?  We certainly hope not. 

Teaching and non-teaching personnel also expect no supplement to their meager salaries, in the form of benefits or incentives.  President Aquino has allotted P9.9 billion for a system of performance-based bonuses for 2013, but its implementing rules, among them Executive Order 80 and DBM Memorandum Circular 2012-01, banned any increase in the rates of existing bonuses and the grant of new bonuses.  We view these executive issuances as attacks against the rights of teachers and other civil servants to adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfilment, particularly to their right to collective negotiation. 

This brief review of state policies as embodied in the national budget pertaining to teachers and the education sector shows that the Executive could do much more to show gratitude to our teachers and to educators.  Starting this Wednesday, teachers will be hearing DepEd and the President saying “thank you” for an entire month, but they will feel no sincere gratitude from the government for the coming year.  Teachers still receive a starting salary of P18,549 monthly or Salary Grade 11, a compensation incommensurate to their vital roles in society.  They still have to manage oversized classes up to 70 to 90 students each, with two, three, even four sessions each day.  An increasing number of them are unsure if they would still be hired as teachers once their contracts end, on top of the anxiety caused by very low honoraria.  They will discover that their union rights, which they have begun to enjoy only recently, will be severely diluted with their inability to negotiate for bonuses to supplement their salaries. 

In this coming World Teachers’ Month, this representation urges the Executive and Legislative branches in the strongest terms:  Stop the systematic denial of teachers’ rights.  Immediately enact legislation that answers the teachers’ legitimate demands, among them House Bills 2142 for the upgrading of teachers’ salaries from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15 and HB 3746 for a P6,000 increase in the basic pay of public employees. 

On 15 December 2011, this Congress took one significant step forward in expressing gratitude for teachers by approving on third reading HB 4097, “An Act Declaring October 5 of Every Year as ‘National Teachers’ Day’.”  Today, I urge you, my colleagues, to take a more significant step further.  Let us approve the aforementioned House Bills, and like-minded bills and resolutions on the rights and welfare of teachers in the soonest possible time, and convince our colleagues at the Senate that enacting laws that protect teachers’ rights and welfare is the best way of to commemorate World Teachers’ Day. 

Philippines' Global Competitiveness - World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum has recently published the 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Report. This is another ranking of countries, the other report by the International Institute for Management and Development was posted earlier. Out of 144 countries, the Philippines ranks 65th (10 places higher than last year). On the twelve pillars used by the report, the Philippines ranks as follows:

• Institutions - 94
• Infrastructure - 98
• Macroeconomic Environment - 36
• Health and Primary Education - 98
• Higher Education and Training - 64
• Goods Market Efficiency - 86
• Labor Market Efficiency - 103
• Financial Market Development - 58
• Technological Readiness - 79
• Market Size - 35
• Business Sophistication - 49
• Innovation - 94

The above pillars are further subdivided into various components. For example, under Higher Education and Training is Quality of Math and Science Education where Philippines ranks 98th. Under Health and Primary Education, on the criterion Quality of Primary Education, the Philippines is number 86. 

The positive contributors to the ranking of the Philippines are the following:

• Strength of auditing and reporting standards - 41
• Efficacy of Corporate Boards - 51
• Protection of Minority Shareholders' Interest - 57
• Available airline seats - 26
• Government budget balance - 36
• Gross national savings - 47
• HIV prevalence - 12
• Quality of the educational system - 45
• Quality of management schools - 39
• Extent of staff training - 32
• Intensity of local competition - 50
• Degree of customer orientation - 27
• Trade, Tariffs, %Duty - 53
• Extent and effect of taxation - 57
• Buyer sophistication - 57
• Cooperation in employer-labor relations - 38
• Pay and productivity - 57
• Reliance on professional management - 38
• Availability of financial services - 50
• Affordability of financial services - 34
• Financing through local equity market - 36
• Ease of access to loans - 46
• Soundness of banks - 41
• Regulations of securities exchanges - 46
• Firm-level technology absorption - 46
• FDI and technology transfer - 40
• Domestic market size - 29
• Foreign market size - 40
• Local supplier quantity - 49
• State of cluster development - 38
• Extent of marketing - 41
• Willingness to delegate authority - 27

Although the Philippines has improved its overall ranking, it still falls behind its neighbors. In the overall ranking, Thailand is 38 and Indonesia is 50.

BongV of antipinoy.com shows this more vividly in his figure below:

Downloaded from  http://antipinoy.com/phl-competitiveness-index-increased-competitive-against-who/

Celebrating Teachers' Month

The following are banners from Facebook pages of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Teachers' Dignity Coalition and National Teacher's Month.

National Teachers' Month

by Benjo Basas
PILIPINO MIRROR COLUMN, September 5, 2012 

Ngayong araw na ito, September 5, 2012 ay ang pasimula ng isang buwang pagdiriwang ng National Teachers’ Month. Ito’y ikalawang taon pa lamang ng pagdiriwang na ito simula nang lagdaan ng Pangulong Aquino ang Presidential Proclamation No. 242 noong nakalipas na taon. Ang pagdiriwang ay magtatapos sa araw ng Oktubre 5- ang siya namang araw na ipinagdiriwang sa mundo bilang World Teachers’ Day (WTD) alinsunod sa deklarasyon ng UNESCO noong 1994. Ang buong buwan ay inlaan ng ating pamahaalan partikular ng Department of Education (DepEd) sa pagbibigay-pugay sa ating mga guro. Maraming mga aktibidad ang nakatakdang gawin mula sa mga paaralan, hanggang dibisyon, lungsod at lalawigan, panrehiyon at maging pambansa- lahat sila ay gagawin upang ipaalala sa ating mga kabataan at sa lahat ng mamamayan ang kalahagahan ng ating guro. Noong mga nakalipas na taon ay masugid kaming mga guro- lalo na ang Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) sa pagtutulak na ideklara ang Octobner 5 bilang special holiday. Para sa amin, kung mayroong Mayo Uno na pandaigdigang araw ng manggagawa at isa sa mga opisyal na holiday sa bansa, dapat ay mayroon ding araw para sa pagkilala sa mga guro. May ilang panukala na rin ang naisumite hinggil dito ngunit hindi pa rin ito tuluyang naisasabatas. Sa ibang mga bansa sa Soutrh East Asia ay nagpasimula ang opisyal na pagdiriwang ng Teachers’ Day noon pang 1956 sa Malaysia, 1957 sa Thailand at 1958 sa Vietnam. At nito ngang nakalipas na taon, samanatrala isang araw lamang ang aming hinihingi ay isang buwan ang ibinigay sa amin ng pamahalaan. Signipikante ang WTD sa lahat ng guro sa buong mundo, sapagkat sa ganitong araw din noong 1966 nang lagdaan ng mga bansang kasapi ng UNESCO at ILO ang Recommendations Concerning the Status of Teachers na siyang naging batayan ng lahat ng bansa kung papaano tratuhin ang kanilang mga guro. Ang instrumentong ito rin ang naging batayan ng pagsasabatas noon ding 1966 ng RA 4670 o Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, na siyang itinuturing na Bibliya ng mga guro sa Pilinas. Nagpapasalamat kami sa ating pamahalaan sapagkat sa wakas ay pormal na niyang kinilala sa pamamagitan ng isang legal na dokumento ang pagdiriwang ng Araw ng mga Guro, noon kasi’y token celebrations lamang ang isinasagawa tuwing Oktubre 5. Subalit, higit sa pagkilala sa pamamagitan ng proklamasyon, mas dapat patunayan ng ating pamahalaan na pinahahalagahan niya ang ating mga guro sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng sapat na panganagilanagan sa sistema ng edukasyon upang maibsan na ang matagal nang suliranin sa mga kakulanagan sa guro, klasrum, upuan, aklat at iba pa. Dapat nang itaas ng Pamahalaang Aquino ang budget sa pampublikong edukasyon. Higit sa lahat, dapat nang bigyan niya ng prayoridad ang kanyang mga guro sa pamamagitan ng mas makatarungang pasahod, mas maraming mga benepisyo at maayos na kalagayan sa kanilang trabaho. Ito ang tunay na pagpapahalaga sa mga bayani, ayon nga sa tema ng National Teachers’ Month: MY TEACHER, MY HERO. #

TDC at the gates of Senate. Preparing for boodle fight