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In the 2006 IMD survey of
competitiveness, the Philippines has slid from No. 31 in 1996 to
52nd in 2004 and improving slightly to 49th in 2005.
In the World
Economic Forum survey, the Philippines did even worse, No. 71. It
used to be No. 33.
Why? Blame the
sad state of Philippine education. Few countries in the world have a
huger chunk of the population studying than ours—nearly 20 million
in elementary and high school alone, 23.5 percent of the population.
This is why
the Philippines has a very high literacy rate; 92 percent are able
to read and write.
But that’s
about it. The statistics then becomes depressing. Only 92 percent of
children who should be in elementary school are in school. At least
one million grade-school kids are not in school. A third of them are
malnourished. Why? Because of poverty. Only 68 percent of
high-school age kids are in school. At least two million are not in
school. Why? Because of poverty. And the kids want to work right
away to supplement the meager family income.
So a total of
three million kids are not in school or OSYs (out-of-school youths)
because of poverty. To think that both elementary and high school
are offered free by the government.
Enrolment in
elementary and high school is flat, if not down. In 2006 the
increase was only 73,000. Normally, the increase should be 440,000
per year. Why? Parents cannot afford to send their children to
school. Even if school is free, they have no money for the kids’
meals, clothes, slippers, school bags and other paraphernalia. Or
the school is too far away. Remember Hilario Davide? He used to walk
barefoot 14 kms every day to go to school in Cebu. He became chief
justice and installed Gloria Arroyo as president.
How much does
it take to bring back an out-of-school youth to school? Only P5,000
a year.
How much pork
barrel does a senator make a year? P200 million per senator or P4.8
billion for 24 senators a year. The same amount could send back one
million OSY kids to school. How much does a congressman make in pork
barrel a year? P70 million each or P16.5 billion a year for all 236
congressmen. The same amount could send back three million OSY kids
for one year.
In other
words, if all the senators and all the congressmen were to waive
their pork barrel, no child wouldn’t be attending school. That’s
how expensive our senators and congressmen are. They are using up
money that otherwise could be used to improve the country’s human
capital—our kids, the next generation of doers and shakers.
If the kids
are not in school, the only way for them to make it in society is
any one of these three options—one, join the Communist Party and
become a party-list congressman or dance in the Netherlands; two,
join the MILF and become an operative of the al-Qaeda and make the
US Embassy pay P5 million for you to be captured, dead or alive; or
three, become an actor, a senator, and a president in that order. It
is not difficult what career pattern to choose.
At least, our
communist guerrillas and Muslim rebels are world-class. We have the
world’s longest-running communist insurgency; 38 years, can you
believe that? Their leaders are harbored or funded by do-gooding
European countries. Our Muslim rebels are recruited for Afghanistan,
Iraq, Indonesia and God knows, many other places. They are monitored
by the CIA.
As for actors?
Neither Hollywood nor Bollywood has taken notice of them. But they
populate the Senate and barge into Malacañang.
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