Jesse M. Robredo on the Role of Local Government in Basic Education

Secretary of the Interior and Local Government
 Jesse M. Robredo
1958-2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Robredo

The death of Jesse M. Robredo is truly a great loss. He is one of the few who clearly understood why it is necessary to strengthen local governance. His views on education and the actions he took to improve public schools in Naga City exemplify one of the seven elements Pasi Sahlberg of Finland talked about in reforming education:

Breadth: Education leadership has gradually diffused from the centre to local levels. Leadership is not only limited to daily managerial duties and administration but especially addresses the responsibility and right to lead continuous development of the education system.

Robredo had the vision, one that goes much farther than seeking short term solutions. And the following paper written by the great mayor of Naga City talks about this vision in greater detail:

Reinventing Local School Boards in the Philippines
http://naga.gov.ph/cityhall/SCHOOL_BOARD.pdf

By JESSE M. ROBREDO
Mayor, Naga City

Introduction

Education governance reform, with local authorities playing a lead role, is a recent phenomenon in the Philippines. Synergeia Foundation helped bring about this interesting development, set in the backdrop of the country’s 15-year experience with decentralization.

This paper will describe these governance reform efforts as a case study in effective local action to bring about large-scale systemic reforms in a centrally managed public education system.

The Setting

Public education in the Philippines is a centrally managed service delivered through the Department of Education (DepEd). At the local level, the DepEd maintains schools divisions and districts corresponding to the three biggest local government units – the provinces, cities and municipalities. The divisions and districts in turn supervise elementary (Grades I to VI) and high schools (1st to 4th year) that comprise the basic education system in the country.

A local school board (LSB) is a special body created by virtue of Republic Act No. 7160, popularly known as the Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC 91). Its main duty is to allocate the Special Education Fund (SEF) to meet the supplementary needs of the local public school system. The SEF is an additional 1% levy that is collected together with real property taxes paid to the local government.

In the case of a city, such as Naga, the code provides for an eight-man LSB that is chaired by the city mayor, co-chaired by the schools division superintendent, and made up of the following members: the chair of the education committee of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council), the city treasurer, a representative of the Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council), and duly elected representatives of the city PTA league, the city teachers' organization, and the non-academic personnel of city public schools.

Problems facing Philippine public schools

On paper, the LSB seems well represented; but in reality most of them are not functioning well. Decision making has been confined to this eight-person board where most often, “educational priorities” are being defined by its two most powerful members: the local chief executive and the division superintendent. Because of its limited involvement, the LSB budget is used mostly for discrete and disparate activities, particularly infrastructure (where the possibility of corruption is strong) and regular sports events. As a result, this has largely prevented the LSB to help address the following problems facing public schools:

• Deteriorating quality of basic education with far-reaching effects on the country’s future
• General lack of awareness about the current state of public education among stakeholders 
• Weak “soft infrastructure” support to facilitate the learning process 
• Weak mechanisms for meaningful parent participation in the education of their children 
• Weak involvement and participation of other community-based stakeholders in the delivery of public education services 
• An underperforming LSB that has been reduced to a mere budgeting entity for local education funds
• Weak planning and budgeting practices and processes that contribute to inefficient and ineffective use of local education funds, and
• The lack of transparency and accountability in the administration of the public school system. 

The LSB Reinvention Advocacy

Recognizing this huge gap, and the opportunity it represents, Synergeia Foundation focused its work on and defined its mission as promoting local government-led systemic education reforms at the community level.

It traces its roots to a handful of highly successful education reform projects spread strategically in the archipelago, with generous funding support through The Ford Foundation. When Ford decided to close its Manila office in 2003, these projects banded together and established Synergeia, convinced of the need to continue with their missionary work.

From the outset, the founding members recognized the centrality of the LSB reinvention in its overall work and advocacy program, given the fact that (a) it is present in every locality, thanks to the basic decentralization law; (b) it has access to a key resource base, i.e. the SEF tax money; and (c) the opportunity for governance reforms is evident, as the LSB itself mirrors the basic constituency of local public school systems in the country.

Transformative thinking

Naga, a city of 150,000 in central Philippines, is the demonstration city for LSB reinvention, but along the way, it has inspired a number of equally innovative variants of the reinvention process. For instance, the municipality of Murcia, Negros Occidental brought in 12 more institutional representatives to its school board, including corporate partners operating in the town. Enrique B. Magalona in the same province pioneered the establishment of barangay school boards, enabling local communities to play a more active role in managing local schools. In Tuao, Cagayan, public school alumni and senior citizens were given non-voting representation. But their common denominator is a local chief executive who thinks beyond the box. Consider Naga’s case of instance. Its pioneering work on the LSB was made possible by two key strategies:

1. Home rule or “half-full glass” philosophy. This liberating perspective anchored the whole LSB reengineering process. It enabled LSBs to become empowered entities that went beyond the traditional function – laid down in the basic decentralization law -- of providing budgetary support to local public schools. This, in itself is a controversial proposition. One school of thought held that the board can only operate within the limits prescribed by the Code. But Naga deliberately embraced the opposite – that what the law does not expressly prohibit, it allows.

2. The LSB budget is key. To provide the legal basis for its interventions, the Naga City School Board used its annual budget to allocate resources and in the process authorize the conduct of activities that go beyond current laws on the LSB. These include performance measurement through localized testing, participative planning and budgeting, fair and merit-based selection and hiring of teachers, and transparency in textbooks acquisition (procured as goods and services funded under the LSB budget).

Strategic aim

Over the years, other Synergeia project sites all over the country adopted, improved upon, and innovated on Naga’s initial LSB reinvention effort to come up with a highly adaptable and flexible approach to education governance reforms in the context of existing Philippine laws governing the public school system. On the whole, its gains in successful LSB reinvention across project sites all throughout the country demonstrate the local communities’ readiness and capability to manage the local public school system with a greater degree of autonomy from the DepEd. With the country’s 15-year track record in decentralization, there are other similarly situated localities with the same demonstrated capacity, particularly those at the cutting edge of governance innovations. In this regard, a strategic policy advocacy for calibrated decentralization of public education services in these localities, based on local demand, institutional capacity and financial capability, is worth pursuing for the long-term. Our bottomline is for the devolution of the responsibility and the resources for delivering basic education to local governments with accredited LSBs, or those that have demonstrated leadership in education governance and whose work has led to improvement in learning outcomes.

The Organization Behind

From the foregoing, it is very clear that Synergeia Foundation plays a critical integrative role in formulating and developing a social reform product that is essential, relevant and even long-overdue – given the Philippines’ 15-year old decentralization movement. More specifically, the foundation successfully 

• identified the best local communities that can pilot the education governance reforms anchored on the LSB. This was facilitated by its parallel work with Galing Pook Foundation, the country’s most prestigious awards programme for local authorities. 
• supplied the technical expertise in drawing out and developing the model, templates and systems in education governance from among its project sites: a unique strength that combines development theory with real-world practice. 
• set up a functional “learning circle” of, and organized regular events for local education governance advocates. This support programs facilitated the exchange of ideas and experiences that enable program managers and team leaders to resolve common problems and identify probable pitfalls in project implementation. 
• documented and disseminated these models to facilitate scaling up, advocacy and evaluation work. 

What key factors accounted for its success in a relatively short span of time?

Implementation strategies

In terms of project implementation, Synergeia practises what it preaches: decentralized service delivery through on-site, hands-on and LCE-led practical learning activities. This involves

• clustering projects around an allied local authority whose mayor or governor is a Synergeia program champion. This way, the local authority serves as an area resource center, and its chief executive the lead resource person, for neighboring localities interested in the program. 
• conducting rapid assessment with respect to key areas of the LSB reinvention, e.g. membership, regularity and content of meetings, education planning and budgeting. Here, interfacing usually happens at the level of project managers who handle day-today operations; thus, project managers of the area resource center become resource persons themselves. 
• conducting highly participative events – particularly through workshops – to surface local concerns, as well as corresponding solutions, on key aspects of the reinvention process – particularly in broadening LSB membership, expanding its functions, making the planning and budgeting process more transparent, and successfully effecting planned changes. 
• on-site mentoring and coaching by peer-mayors and governors, especially in managing change and improving local resource generation and mobilization; and 
• evidence-based advocacy, emphasizing measurable improvements in education outcomes. Helped by Synergeia-commissioned studies on LSB operations and SEF tax utilization in the Philippines, cross-referenced with poverty and human development indicators, program champions are able to send their message across. This is especially important in convincing mayors and governors that going into education governance is good for their politics. 

Impacts and Outcomes 

Consequently, Synergeia religiously benchmarks itself at two levels: (1) against comparable organizations in the Philippines and all over the world, and (2) among its project sites in regard to such indicators as regularity in convening the LSB, broadening its membership, improvements in school financing and improvements in test scores. Because of this, it can proudly claim key headways made in improving education governance in the Philippines, as indicated by the following:

1. Naga’s LSB reinvention initiative was recognized as one of the 10 outstanding programs of local governments in the Philippines for 2004.

2. The central government constantly cites the need to reform the LSB in its own effort to strengthen basic education in the country.

3. More than 250 local governments have embraced LSB reinvention, many bringing this down to the barangay (village) level.

4. There is heightened awareness about the crisis facing the Philippine educational system, with more sectors contributing additional resources to community-based efforts in improving public schools, and

5. Mayors and governors, who used to be ambivalent towards education governance, have become more passionate in improving the lives of children through better education.

Conclusion

Of course, there is much work that needs to be done to mainstream these education governance reform efforts in the Philippines. For instance, we need to educate more LCEs that contrary to convention wisdom, there are enough legal provisions that actually support greater local involvement in public education. We also need to come up with a model that will be useful to mayors in Muslim communities in Southern Philippines, owing to the absence of a good role model and support system for effective governance. Moreover, at 250 localities, we are have barely scratched the surface in this advocacy.

Nonetheless, the successful Philippine experience in education governance through Synergeia’s trailblazing efforts affirms the following:

1. Local education governance reforms can be done. Without the need for rewriting the basic decentralization law, Naga and the other Synergeia project sites have demonstrated that education governance reforms are both doable and feasible. Their experience show that empowered and functional local schools boards have both the mandate and legal personality to serve as focal point for these reforms. 

2. LSBs are the most logical vehicle for reform. Local schools boards can bring together local communities and key players in the public school system in discussing the state of local education, which can be the basis for positive and informed collective action.

3. Broad-based stakeholdership enhances outcomes. Moreover, LSBs can serve as entry points for greater and more meaningful stakeholder participation in the delivery of public education services. Regular grassroots consultations not only make for good politics; they are also avenues for multi-level and multi-stakeholder assessment of where a locality is in the journey to build better schools.

__________________________________________

Before becoming an Interior Secretary, the late Jesse Robredo is a well-loved Mayor of Naga City and a Ramon Magsaysay awardee. "As mayor of Naga City from 1988 to 1998 he demonstrated that democratic government can also be good government," the awards committee said back in August 2000. The Ramon Magsaysay awards described Robredo's system of governance as "against patronage," and instead enforced a "merit-based system of hiring and promotion and reorganized city employees on the basis of aptitude and competence." 

Robredo's was on a twin-engine, four-seater Piper Seneca plane which took off in Cebu and was en route to Naga City. The aircraft crashed in Masbate and Robredo's body was found two days after.

ph.news.yahoo.com 

Putting Our People First, Development that Matters - Secretary Jesse Robredo (1958-2012)

The Missing Element in Education Reform

by Jesse Robredo

http://jesserobredo.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/the-missing-element-in-education-reform/

October 21, 2007

Most of the discussions on improving our public education system dwell on the lack of resources to fund both the hard and soft infrastructure requirements of our public schools. While this may seem valid, I believe there is a more important and telling element that can improve academic achievement levels and participation and completion rates with the available resources that we currently have at our disposal.

In one of the Synergeia consultations I attended, I recall asking a Division Superintendent whether the results of the division achievement tests form part of the basis for the promotion of principals and superintendents. The answer was qualified, with the superintendent saying that in his case, he did consider it. But as a rule, he added, this was not taken into consideration. I can only surmise that completion rates and cohort survival rates of our public schools are incidental outcomes instead of a result of a deliberate effort at the school level to make public education fully accessible to our pupils.

The absence of a clear accountability system makes our public school measurement system unresponsive. While measurement is done both at the national level and the division level with the annual achievement test administered to the students, no one is made to answer for the results in a meaningful way. The achievement test conducted for a selected grade level each year provides a snapshot of how the schools, divisions and regions are faring. However, it could have better served its purpose if the performances of principals, superintendents and regional directors are tracked based on the improvements on achievement levels over time of the jurisdictions under their watch. This will compel them to localize programs that will address the inadequacies in subject areas of their respective assignments. This will compel the superintendents to make the subject area supervisors, principals and consequently the teachers to answer for the improvements in academic proficiencies of their pupils. (Let me clarify that what should be measured would be the improvement in achievement levels rather than the absolute scores.) This will refocus the resources and energies of our education officials to what it important — improving the academic proficiencies of our pupils.

Our experience in Naga City demonstrates that this can be done, especially with a cooperative division superintendent. Diagnostic tests were conducted at the beginning of the year and post tests were conducted at the end of the year for all grade levels and subject areas. By comparing the results of the diagnostic test with that of the post test, we were not only able to assess students’ achievement levels but also the proficiencies of the teachers for the different subject areas per grade. In fact, a portion of the incentive allowance provided by the city government to the teachers was determined by the improvements in achievement levels of the school — meaning to say, that those who did better received more. While this system needs refinement, especially in the area of ensuring the integrity of the testing process, it provides the mechanism that introduces accountability in the current scheme of things. At the moment, it seems that no one is made to answer for the poor achievement levels of our school children.

While at it, participation rates and completion rates should also form part of measuring the effectiveness of principals and teachers. The closest link to the pupils and the parents are the principals and the teachers. While these access indicators may seem to be mere statistics at the national level, at the school level, these are warm bodies whose future will be determined by the level of education they will receive. We often hear the “education for all” campaign in almost all administrations. But to emphasize, at the school level, the numbers are mere incidentals of what happened without the benefit of a deliberate and focus program to put children in school. For all the sloganeering of a free public school system, basic public education in most parts of the country is not really free. Any parent from schools of poor divisions will tell you so.

Corollary to this accountability system, the superintendents should be made accountable for their principals, the regional director for their superintendents and so on and so forth, until the buck stops at the Department of Education Central Office — the Secretary. Clearly, by focusing on what our education officials should be made to answer for, we can compel them to be more responsive.

Going back to where I started, while it is true that we need resources for the basic requisites to deliver free and quality public education to our school children, the mechanisms to measure their impact must be in place. Let us make our education officials accountable for the outcomes! This does not cost a lot of money, by the way.

__________________________________________

Before becoming an Interior Secretary, the late Jesse Robredo is a well-loved Mayor of Naga City and a Ramon Magsaysay awardee. "As mayor of Naga City from 1988 to 1998 he demonstrated that democratic government can also be good government," the awards committee said back in August 2000. The Ramon Magsaysay awards described Robredo's system of governance as "against patronage," and instead enforced a "merit-based system of hiring and promotion and reorganized city employees on the basis of aptitude and competence." 

Robredo's was on a twin-engine, four-seater Piper Seneca plane which took off in Cebu and was en route to Naga City. The aircraft crashed in Masbate and Robredo's body was found two days after.

ph.news.yahoo.com 

What Is Genuine Research?

The word "research" has been used loosely. Supporting an argument has been reduced to a simple search over the internet. In high school, "research" is indeed used to describe an activity that primarily involves looking over books, journals or nowadays, the world-wide web.

In higher education, "research" is different. It actually involves finding the answers that are not available yet. To illustrate this, I have picked one specific example. The question is: "Does abstinence-only sex education work?". It is a timely question. Can we search the internet for the answer? Of course, we can, but answering this question in this manner is not genuine research. What constitutes original research is formulating the question, designing an experiment that will help address the formulated question, and analyzing the results at the end. And this is exactly what John B. Jemmott, III, PhD; Loretta S. Jemmott, PhD, RN; Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD have done in a published work:

Downloaded from  http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=382798

Downloaded from  http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1263349

The above is presented here to illustrate what research really is, how it is designed, and how the results are disseminated. The abstract (which serves as a summary of a research article) is as follows:

Objective  To evaluate the efficacy of an abstinence-only intervention in preventing sexual involvement in young adolescents.

Design  Randomized controlled trial.

Setting  Urban public schools.

Participants  A total of 662 African American students in grades 6 and 7.

Interventions  An 8-hour abstinence-only intervention targeted reduced sexual intercourse; an 8-hour safer sex–only intervention targeted increased condom use; 8-hour and 12-hour comprehensive interventions targeted sexual intercourse and condom use; and an 8-hour health-promotion control intervention targeted health issues unrelated to sexual behavior. Participants also were randomized to receive or not receive an intervention maintenance program to extend intervention efficacy.

Outcome Measures  The primary outcome was self-report of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were other sexual behaviors.

Results  The participants' mean age was 12.2 years; 53.5% were girls; and 84.4% were still enrolled at 24 months. Abstinence-only intervention reduced sexual initiation (risk ratio [RR], 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.48-0.96). The model-estimated probability of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up was 33.5% in the abstinence-only intervention and 48.5% in the control group. Fewer abstinence-only intervention participants (20.6%) than control participants (29.0%) reported having coitus in the previous 3 months during the follow-up period (RR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.90-0.99). Abstinence-only intervention did not affect condom use. The 8-hour (RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92-1.00) and 12-hour comprehensive (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.91-0.99) interventions reduced reports of having multiple partners compared with the control group. No other differences between interventions and controls were significant.

Conclusion  Theory-based abstinence-only interventions may have an important role in preventing adolescent sexual involvement.

The article is "free", which means it does not require a subscription to access the full version. So anyone could click on the link provided as a caption (http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=382798) and read the entire article. The design of the experiment is described in great detail, demonstrating the need to control carefully factors that may affect results. This is quite different from simple statistics. Variables are identified and a thoughtful consideration is made such that the results will indeed answer the question that was raised. Another feature of research is its unbiased nature. The bias can easily come from the funding source behind the research. The research cited here was funded by the National Institutes of Health. At the end of this publication, one would see the following:

Financial Disclosure: None reported.

Funding/Support: This study was supported by grant R01 MH062049 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Role of the Sponsors: The NIMH had no role in study design; collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the writing of the article.

Disclaimer: This article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMH.

Last but not the least, research work before it could be published needs to be peer-reviewed. This article went through such process. An article submitted for publication is first sent to the editor or one of the associate editors of the journal for consideration.  If the article seems fit to be considered, the editor then sends the manuscript to two or three experts in the field who can then evaluate competently the merits of the paper under consideration. These are the peer-reviewers. Only with a recommendation from these peer-reviewers would a manuscript be published. The paper could be rejected and this does not happen only rarely. Oftentimes, a paper could be accepted after being modified. The peer reviewers can recommend changes to correct errors in the original manuscript. The journal is overseen by a board of editors, who are likewise recognized experts in the field in which materials in the journal are being published. In this particular journal, members of its editorial board are found in this link.

It takes a lot to do research. It is expensive. It is time-consuming. However, if one is asking the same question, "Does abstinence-only sex education work?", the above paper is very useful. And this hopefully illustrates why original research is so important. It is reliable. One is not just quoting a blogger. This is an example of a true primary source.

On DepEd's K to 12 and the RH Bill

These two initiatives of the Philippine government share a lot in common. First, both claim a promise of a better future for Filipinos. Of course, initiatives must have this claim, otherwise, these would not be popular. Unfortunately, another thing these two have in common is the manner and substance of their analysis and discussion. K to 12 ignores what is required to implement correctly the program and pins its hope that by simply adding kindergarten and two years at the end of high school, quality in basic education will be achieved. K to 12 is not grounded on published and peer-reviewed scientific studies, and its rationalization is mostly based on anecdotes, personal stories, and ideology. K to 12 misses the most important element in basic education, the teachers. Likewise, the RH bill is focused so much on the warring ideologies. The stand made by the Roman Catholic Church in the country has been underscored so many times that the RH bill has become a repudiation of the Catholic Church. K to 12's main argument is that the Philippines is not in par with world standards of basic education. The world standards of basic education are not stated in terms of number of years. There are international tests that help determine the output of basic education. And in these tests, clearly the number of years of basic education does not matter. As pointed out by Israel (and others), the major factor correlating with the good performance of students in these tests is the way a country treats its teachers. The best performing countries are those who pay their teachers good salaries. The RH bill may likewise end up the same way, missing the most important element behind health, the doctors and health care professionals. The same way quality education is not determined solely by a curriculum, reproductive health is not determined purely by access to medicine.

The arguments on RH bill have reached a recent low when the majority leader of the Senate lifts his arguments from grey literature. Findings in science and medicine are published in journals that are peer-reviewed. The web is full of misinformation. Before, it takes a lot of resources to spread misinformation. With the internet, spreading the information no longer requires printing. Thus, it is now more important than ever to know when information has been vetted and when information is simply bogus. Peer review in science and medicine accomplishes the much needed examination of experimental results and claims. For this reason, initiatives like K to 12 and the RH bill require input from peer-reviewed scientific literature, and not from anecdotes and hearsay. Simply reading something from the web or a book is not sufficient for arguments in science. These need to be based on peer-reviewed published data. The reasoning from the other side is likewise tainted as some advocates focus heavily on correlations between economic development and use of contraceptives. And as in education, artificial means of birth control is only one factor. As in K to 12, the RH bill must be focused on maternal health and reducing infant mortality rate. These are the far more realistic objectives. And with this emphasis, one can then see what the bill really needs so that its implementation can indeed go farther than a simple pissing match between ideologies.

When Scientists Are Underpaid....

Plight of Pagasa employees prompts calls for salary hike, review of Magna Carta for Scientists
PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 17, 2012

A storm has been brewing, not only within the Philippine area of responsibility but within weather bureau Pagasa itself.

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Various organizations have declared their full support for the fight of the employees of PAGASA, or the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. The sorry economic plight of the weathermen and women have prompted calls for across-the-board salary increases for state workers and a review of Republic Act 8439 or the Magna Carta for Scientists, Engineers, Researchers and Other Science and Technology Personnel in Government.

The weathermen and women of Pagasa led by their union Philippine Weathermen Employees Association (PWEA) said they have not been receiving their benefits since March. According to the group’s president Ramon Agustin, many employees of Pagasa, including the weather forecasters have not been reporting for work because they did not have enough money for transportation.Ordinary employees receive P7,000 to P8,000 ($ 167 to $190) monthly in benefits, but those who rely heavily on the benefits suffered greatly when the benefits were suspended.

PWEA has been raising their concerns about the suspension of such benefits since March. The benefits include subsistence allowance of P160 ($3.80) per day, hazard pay equivalent to 15 percent of their salary, as well as the longevity pay.

Agustin said Pagasa’s healthcare insurance provider terminated its contract with the agency because employees were unable to meet the monthly premiums. He also said that because of the failure of the government to release their benefits, a weather observer and union member died last May 24 from a stroke that was a complication of diabetes. The man, Alex San Pedro, reportedly died because he was unable to take his maintenance medicine.

The group said their situation went against what is mandated by the Magna Carta for Scientists. The latter stipulates that employees should receive benefits, longevity and hazard pay and the subsistence allowance and laundry allowance or Sala.

The progressive alliance of government employees the Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) immediately supported the Pagasa employees, saying that their issues are very valid and are no different from the plight of all the 1.4 million state workers nationwide.

“Our basic pay has been frozen to starvation levels and yet the administration has continuously withheld the benefits we used to receive that augments our meager pay. This situation must be addressed or else the government shall face a strong storm brewing from its own backyard,” said Courage president Ferdinand Gaite.

Gaite opined that the bureaucracy is losing the best and the brightest employees because they are forced to join the private sector out of necessity.

“They need to support their families. Salaries in the government for ordinary, rank and file employees are hardly large. We have been witnesses to the diaspora of our scientists, forecasters, meteorologists, geologists and other science and technology personnel to private local and foreign companies because of our own government’s policy of cheap labor. In the case of Pagasa employees, besides having to suffer low pay, the forecasters are forced to endure the constant berating and ridicule of Pres. Aquino who calls them inefficient,” he said.

In July 2010 and in the wake of tropical storm Basyan, Aquino gave weather officials a dressing down for making a wrong forecast of the typhoon’s direction. Basyang hit the metro suddenly, catching residents and disaster unaware and unprepared. Also last week, during a meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Committee, the president scolded the Pagasa representative for lowering the rainfall warning in the morning and raising it again after a few hours.

Heavy responsibilities, no funding

Gaite said what Aquino refuses to acknowledge is how the agency is ill-equipped and its technology is outdated.

Pagasa’s mandate and functions are comprehensive and heavy. In a report on its website, the agency is said to carry the task of maintaining a nationwide network pertaining to observation and forecasting of weather and other climatological conditions affecting national safety, welfare and economy. It also undertakes activities relative to observation, collection, assessment and processing of atmospheric and allied data for the benefit of agriculture, commerce and industry. The agency is also tasked to engage in studies of geophysical and astronomical phenomena essential to the safety and welfare of the people; as well as undertake researches on the structure, development and motion of typhoons and formulate measures for their moderation.

Another heavy function of Pagasa is to maintain linkages with local and international scientific organizations and promote exchange of scientific information and cooperation among personnel engaged in atmospheric, geophysical and astronomical studies.

For all intents and purposes, however, Gaite said even as Pagasa has a Modernization Law and a Magna Carta for employees, both remained unfunded and ultimately useless.

Gaite said that besides pushing for benefits for state workers, Courage continues to actively campaign for a a P6,000 ($142) increase in their minimum pay. The current minimum pay (or Salary Grade 1 Step 1) is only P9,000 ($ 214) when the mandatory deductions for the Government Social Insurance System (GSIS) , Philhealth and PAG-IBIG premium payments, withholding tax and others have been taken out . Even by government estimates, a family of six need at least P30,000 ($714) a month for its cost of living. A Pagasa forecaster receives a gross pay of P12,000 ($286)

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) this year withheld various benefits of state workers on the pretext that these were already integrated, factored in on their salaries. Even the Collective Negotiations Agreement (the public sector counterpart of CBA) Incentive was capped by the DBM. Courage consequently filed a case at the Supreme Court questioning the said action.

In a report in Malaya, PWEA’s Agustin said the employees of Pagasa are demoralized.

“It’s difficult to accept that our long-standing request that the DOST and the government immediately release our Magna Carta benefits has not been acted upon. We have long suffered trying to survive without these benefits; having these benefits taken away was a blow against our dignity, but we gritted our teeth and bore it because we wanted to show how important our service is for our fellow Filipinos,” Agustin said.

Review the Magna Carta

The lack of implementation of the Magna Carta is also to blame for the brain drain in the country. This was pointed out by Dr. Giovanni Tapang, the chairman of Advocates of Science and Technology for the People(Agham) and vice-President of Kalikasan Partylist.

Tapang said there are are ambiguous provisions between the law and the implementing rules and regulations, resulting in various interpretations to the disadvantage of eligible scientists.

Tapang said provisions in the law declare that its money will come from the General Appropriations Fund, but on the other hand, the implementing guidelines state that funding sources for these incentives should be derived from the savings of the agency. This, Tapang said, is a recurring problem not just in Pagasa and the DOST, but also in other government agencies whose employees are eligible for Magna Carta benefits.

“This matter should be addressed to put an end or at least lessen the exodus of scientists who play a crucial role in national development and the country’s progress,” he said.

The Magna Carta was passed supposedly as part of the government’s recognition of the contribution of science and technology professionals for the country’s development and progress.

The government by passing the law declared itself to be committed to the promotion of science and technology through development of human resources. Among the magna Carta provisions are the provision of scholarships and popularization of science culture and incentives for pursuing careers in science and technology.

According to Tapang, however, since the law was enacted in in 1998, it did put a stop to the country’s brain drain. He said that In 1998, there were 9,877 science workers who went out of the country to seek for better opportunities abroad. After more than 10 years, the number has grown by 148 percent. Some 24,502 S&T professionals that include engineers and health workers have left the country to seek greener pastures or to pursue further studies and better research opportunities abroad.

Government workers victims of rationalization

Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño, for his part, has called for the immediate release of the Magna Carta benefits of the Pagasa employees.

“We need to recognize the heroic efforts of our weather bureau workers, not just through words but through concrete actions. They should be given their rightful and lawful benefits,” said Casiño.“Pagasa workers have the right to protest. The law entitles them to receive hazard pay, longevity, laundry and subsistence allowances. Denial or delays in the release of such benefits is unjust and a disservice to the people whom they serve.”

Casiño questioned how the the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through its Administrative Order No 002 series of 2007 charges hazard pay to “appropriations and/or savings of the agency.” Pagasa is an adjunct agency of the DOST.

Casiño like Courage’s Gaite said the Pagasa workers’ predicament is not an isolated case, citing the protests of public health workers nationwide over unpaid hazard pay since January this year, pending the approval of the Department of Budget and Management for the use of agency savings. Even though exposed to all kinds of hazards in hospitals and communities in their course of duty, health workers are denied of the P2,000-P8,000 ($48-$190) per month hazard pay mandated by RA 7305 or the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.

“Our government workers in Pagasa and public hospitals should not bear the brunt of so-called ‘rationalization’ of the government benefits system being done by the DBM,” said Casiño.

“We cannot just tell our public servants to wait and suffer some more, especially in the face of calamities in addition to the increasing prices of oil, utilities and basic commodities. If we expect them to provide hourly weather updates or timely and life-saving medical service, the government give them humane compensation. Otherwise we will be pushing more of our brightest workers out of government service and out of the country,” Casiño said.

Stop berating state employees

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in the meantime criticized Pres. Aquino for lecturing the Pagasa employees about their duties while at the same time refusing to give a date as to when the employees will receive their benefits.

DBM secretary Florencio Abad in a statement has said that the employees will get their retroactive benefits once some kinks have been ironed out. He said that Pagasa and DBM are also discussing the matter. Depending on the longevity of the service of an employee, he or she may get anywhere from P3, 500 to P6,000 ($83 to $142) per month of hazard pay and all these benefits will be given retroactively.

In a surprise visit to Pagasa, however, Aquino reminded the employees that their agitation is adding to the worries of our countrymen with the ongoing monsoon rains and the typhoons that had been visiting the country the past weeks.

“He should stop lecturing Pag-asa employees about their duty to the nation amidst the typhoon season and start addressing the demands of these government employees,” said KMU chairman Elmer Labog.

“General promises with no timetables won’t do. If Pres. Aquino really wants Pagasa employees to fulfill their duties to the nation well, then he should immediately act on their just demands,” he added. “Pagasa employees have shown their worth for the nation with years of dedicated service while Aquino has been ineffective when it comes to addressing the disasters that continue to afflict the country.

On Scientific Evidence ....

Senator Sotto, in a privileged speech at the Senate, attempted to justify his position against artificial contraception by using the same words and argument posted in a blog called "Sarah, the healthy home economist". I do not know if the senator has his own speechwriter but the senator denies plagiarism, stating that it was never hidden that parts of his speech were being taken from a book written by Natasha Campbell-McBride. Campbell-McBride wrote a book that talked about the importance of bacteria in the human digestive system and claimed a connection between the use of the pill and a "gut syndrome", an imbalance in the microbes in one's system. Sotto may deny plagiarism, but he could not deny propagating myths and unfounded medical claims. Campbell-Mcbride is simply an example of quackery, one who thrives on personal testimonials and anecdotes. There have been other claims made by Campbell-Mcbride such as autism is caused by vaccines. Evidence-based medicine is published and peer-reviewed in journals. None of these claims are based on data that have been examined by other experts. These are all alternative explanations based on anecdotes which basically tell what they want to say and support what they claim.

The lack of scrutiny of claims is pervasive in a society that does not recognize the importance of peer review in science and medical journals. Publication in scientific literature submits findings to others so that these could be verified or refuted. Here is another claim from the Philippines official website:

_________________________________________________________________

Local language instruction boosts new language proficiency

By Alex Romeo R. Fernandez

Thursday 16th of August 2012

DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan, Aug 16 (PIA) -- Instruction using native languages does not only help one in assimilating lessons but also in becoming proficient in other languages.

Renato Santillan, a teacher of Filipino at the Dagupan City National High School, said the Department of Education (DepEd) has found out that students who are taught using their native language have 80 percent chance of becoming fluent in other languages. 

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The question is: Where is the published and peer-reviewed study? The above is a huge claim. One could only imagine the impact of such results. Up till now, California, New Mexico, Arizona, and other states still deal with the question of immersion versus bilingual education. And here it is in the Philippines, it is claimed that "students taught using their native language have 80 percent chance of becoming fluent in other languages". That is almost one hundred percent.

Now, there are certainly instances when one does not need a science journal to be properly informed. For instance, one can look directly at information:

Picture taken from Dr. Tabios lecture on Ondoy flooding.
Downloaded from Mon Ramirez facebook page

Yet, even facing direct information, we choose to ignore. The problem seems not only rooted in a lack of acknowledgement of proper scientific practices or reporting. It is a simple case of choosing the truth we want to hear and see.

"Muster the Courage and Wisdom to Vote"

Faculty members of Ateneo de Manila University recently endorsed the Reproductive Health Bill. The professors signed the endorsement as individuals making it clear at the end that they are not representing the views of their other colleagues, the university, and the Society of Jesus. As an institution of higher learning, I am confident that the Ateneo will continue to respect intellectual freedom. Without such, a university crumbles. At one level, it is easy to see how one's way of thinking can succumb to pressure. There are punitive actions that can be taken by an authoritarian administration. In various blogs, the Catholic Church has been equated to an antiquated institution bent on punishing its members who do not follow the marching orders handed down by the bishops. The fact that proposed Reproductive Health bills in the Philippines have not moved forward in Congress has been blamed fully on pressure and influence from the Roman Catholic Church. It has been more than one hundred years since the friars of the Spanish empire had full control of the archipelago, yet the people of the Philippines still think that the tyranny is still present. The Catholic Church is accused of meddling with politics although for so long, there really has not been a "Catholic vote". Marcos, after all, stayed in power for twenty years in spite of Catholic priests being openly against his administration.

Without doubt, the Philippines indeed had its share of imprisoning intellectuals. These are political prisoners. They get jailed simply for what their beliefs and views.

But there is a different type of tyranny that exists. To the intellect, what is really scarier is to go against the trend. Among intellectuals going against the flow requires one to muster the courage and wisdom to think. Straying away from what is fashionable can mean isolation. It can mean being ignored.

Human nature begs for an audience. And not only an audience, but an audience that claps their hands in applause. It is probably one reason why Facebook has the "Like" button.

So the argument goes; The Philippines is among a less than handful of countries that have only ten years of basic education. The country is being left behind by other nations and is not meeting current global standards (even though there is really no global standard for basic education). But the threat of the "fashion police" is real. And it is the threat that can truly kill an intellectual. Who would want to be labeled as being against the Philippines becoming at par with its neighbors?

Scientists at times have managed to rise above "Argumentum Ad Populum", although in most cases, funding could still be influenced by what society dictates. Society does pay taxes so it is reasonable that society must retain its voice in terms of research funding and priorities. On publications, however, science does not recognize the "argument by what is popular". Scientific publications are peer reviewed and are backed by data and evidence.

Issues such as poverty, climate change, population growth, and basic education have a science dimension. Intellectuals need only to muster the courage and wisdom to be sincere and honest. Still, the "fashion police" are out there. You really would not want to be ignored and have "0" likes on Facebook....