Friday, January 18, 2008

Teachers picket Arroyo visit to public school, issue resign call

Militant teachers held a picket this afternoon as Pres. Gloria Arroyo visited a high school in Quezon City.

Around 30 public school teachers and college professors, all members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, conducted the demonstration near the main gate of the Quezon City Science High School, where Mrs. Arroyo was holding a consultation meeting with Department of Education officials, school administrators and personnel.

“We’re holding this protest action to draw attention to the Arroyo administration’s terrible track record in education,” said ACT chairperson Antonio Tinio. Noting that the upcoming anniversary of the People Power 2 uprising would mark seven years of Arroyo’s stay in power, he added: “Seven years of Arroyo’s rule has devastated the education sector.”

“The Arroyo administration’s policy of cutting back on real spending on education annually has resulted in an unprecedented number of school children being denied access to basic education. Shortages of teachers, classrooms, textbooks and other resources have soared to alarming levels. The economic status of teachers has been severely eroded as salaries were frozen for six years. Public higher education institutions have suffered huge budget cuts even as the government has failed to curb runaway tuition and other fee increases in private schools. Even Mrs. Arroyo’s own secretary of education has acknowledged that the quality of education is now at its lowest level. This has been the legacy of seven years under Arroyo,” said Tinio.

Tinio noted that Pres. Arroyo has been making the rounds of public schools in the past few days, visiting the Maceda Integrated School, Araullo High School, and Albert Elementary School in Manila, and now the Quezon City Science High School. “While Pres. Arroyo has made a point of ‘consulting’ teachers about their issues on some of these visits, in reality these were highly stage-managed affairs with no opportunity for bringing up issues which it would rather not confront, such as Cyber Education or the extrajudicial killings of activist teachers.”

The demonstrators bore placards calling for the scrapping of the Cyber Education Project, a PhP 26.48 billion initiative being pushed by Mrs. Arroyo to use satellite television broadcasting in public school classrooms. ACT claims that the project has no proven education value even as it warned of possible large-scale corruption.

“We’re also here to hold Pres. Arroyo accountable for the extrajudicial killings and involuntary disappearances that have taken place under her watch. At least ten of the victims were teachers, three of whom were officials of ACT,” said Tinio. “We demand justice for Napoleon Pornasdoro and Vitoria Samonte, ACT National Council members killed by death squads, and Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado, a former Panay ACT regional coordinator who disappeared last year.”

“We likewise condemn the military’s ongoing propaganda campaign in public schools in Metro Manila, where they single out ACT as a communist front. We must not allow the Arroyo government to bring its ‘dirty war’ to our schools,” warned Tinio.

Tinio concluded by calling for Pres. Arroyo to step down. “For these reasons, ACT joins the people in saying ‘Seven years is enough, Gloria must go!” #

Saturday, January 12, 2008

(UPDATE!)Teachers denounce secret suppliers' demonstration for Cyber Ed

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers denounced the Department of Education for holding a suppliers' demonstration for the controversial Cyber Education Project in secret at a public school in Muntinlupa last Monday.

The demonstration was held at the Muntinlupa Elementary School on the morning of December 17. Department of Education officials led by Secretary Jesli Lapus, Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri and other members of the Presidential Task Force to Assess, Plan, and Monitor the Entire Educational System were present, together with officials of the Chinese firm Nuctech and representatives of suppliers for the lucrative contract.

The Cyber Education Project aims to set up a satellite-based network that will provide live television broadcasts of lessons to over 37,000 public schools nationwide. Costing PhP 26.48 billion, it will be funded by a loan from China . Pres. Gloria Arroyo suspended the project last August, in the wake of allegations of high-level corruption involving the National Broadband Network project, which was to be funded by the same loan package as the CEP.

“This proves that MalacaƱang and the DepEd are quietly preparing for the implementation of the controversial Cyber Education Project behind everyone’s back, even though serious questions regarding the educational value of the project, its economic viability, its legality, and whether or not it’s tainted with corruption, remain unanswered,” said ACT chairperson Antonio Tinio. “No doubt, their intention is to announce the full-blown implementation of CEP early next year, especially now that the controversy over the national broadband network bribery scandal seems to have died down.”

ACT has called for the scrapping of the Cyber Education Project, arguing that it is a white elephant that will burden Filipino taxpayers for decades without addressing the basic needs of the public school system.

Tinio scored the DepEd for keeping the demonstration under wraps. He noted that members of the public, school personnel not directly involved with the demonstration, and media were barred from the event. According to eyewitnesses, Sec. Lapus himself approached the lone news reporter present at the event to ask him to refrain from covering the activity. The reporter works for a prominent national daily. “Why all the secrecy surrounding this demonstration? This is typical of the lack of transparency which has characterized the Cyber Education Project from its inception,” said Tinio.

According to a 14-page handout provided by the DepEd to invited guests, a copy of which was obtained by ACT, the demonstration consisted of a 27-minute live broadcast of a classroom lecture on “Cause and Effect of Earthquakes” by a Master Teacher in Science from a studio in an undisclosed location. The satellite feeds were transmitted to a facility in Subic, a classroom in Antipolo, as well as the classroom in Muntinlupa Elementary School .

Tinio scored the DepEd for failing to pilot-test satellite-based classroom instruction before signing the 26 billion peso deal with the Chinese. “As far as we know, that 27-minute feed was the first and so far the only time that live satellite broadcasting has ever been used in Philippine public schools. It highlights the absurdity of the whole Cyber Education Project. Would you buy a car sight unseen? Would you fork over your hard-earned money without test-driving it first? Yet this is exactly what Malacanang and the DepEd have done in the case of the CEP. They’ve signed the multi-billion peso agreement with China without even pilot-testing satellite-based instruction to find out whether or not it’s appropriate for our public schools. Unfortunately, they are gambling with the people’s money.”

The dry-run was intended to demonstrate the satellite technology to be used by the CEP and was not meant as a “demo on pedagogy.” The objective was “to test the equipment to be used in a satellite uplink and downlink facility for TV broadcast, internet access and accessing multimedia materials from a source.”

According to the DepEd, three suppliers were involved in the demonstration. These were the United States-based ViaSat, the Israeli firm Gilat, and the Filipino satellite operator Mabuhay. ViaSat provided the equipment for the classroom in Muntinlupa while Gilat equipped the school in Antipolo. Mabuhay provided its Agila 2 satellite for broadcasting.

The DepEd handout also stated that these suppliers were “invited by Tsinghua”—referring to the Chinese firm Tsinghua Tongfang Nuctech, which the Chinese government has designated as the contractor for the Cyber Education Project. Nuctech is a world-leading supplier of x-ray inspection machines for airports, customs, and other security applications. It is headed by Hu Haifeng, the son of Chinese president Hu Jintao.

Tinio noted that the supplier demonstration raised several important questions that must be clarified by the Arroyo government. “Does this mean that the Philippine government has no say whatsoever in the choice of suppliers for CEP? It appears that DepEd’s partner Nuctech, which has no expertise in satellite-based distance learning, being a manufacturer of high-tech x-ray machines, will merely subcontract to other firms with actual competency in the field. That doesn’t seem to be the most advantageous arrangement from the point of view of the Filipino taxpayers who will be paying for this deal. We demand that Sec. Lapus and the Malacanang Task Force on Education make a full disclosure of these latest developments regarding the CEP.”

ACT called on the Senate and House of Representatives to push through with their investigation of the Cyber Education Project as soon as Congress resumes its session after the Christmas holidays. “Clearly, Malacanang and the DepEd are keeping a lot of information about the Cyber Education Project from the public. We hope that our legislators will live up to their oversight role by calling them to account,” concluded Tinio.

The DepEd handout for the suppliers’ demonstration may be downloaded at the ACT website (www.actphils. com). #

Bloggers Action Week: Bloggers Remember People Power 2

Now’s the time to blog about Edsa 2, now’s the time to remember.

A few days before the 7th anniversary of Edsa 2, Bloggers Kapihan urges all of us to take time out to remember what we did, how we felt, what we dreamt about when we went to Edsa in 2001.

Photos, videos, essays, poems — anything to remember Edsa 2 is most welcome.

And on Jan. 19, let’s go to Kape Tasyo for BK 3.0 and collectively remember with some very special guests.

Click below for more:

Kasama ako sa EDSA2!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

What is n30?

SHOCK DOCTRINE(IMPERIALIST WAY OF SHOCKING THE WORLD)





GUYS PANOORIN NYO TO.Ito ang paraan ng mga imperialista to control our lives!this is something to do with the monopoly capitalist globalization agression to control the socio-economy and socio-political of the whole world.###

STOP THE KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES!

Kabataan Party (remembrance kahit talo,tagumpay parin!)

Awit ng Pagasa(Song of Hope)

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Kritiko hinggil sa bagong lucky me supreme tv commercial

Nagulat ako ng makita ko ang bagong t.v. ad ng Lucky me featuring Miss Tapia at ang setting sa PNU. Ito na yata ang pagngalwang t.v. ad na ginawa sa normal.Yung una ay ang Colegate toothpaste na ang tagline ay ”talk to me”. Iba pa dito yung shooting ng scorpion nigths staring albert martines at joyce jimenes. At ang building sa …sikreto!

Pero hindi ko talaga maisip kung bakit pinapayagan ng admin ang mga ganitong promosyon. Kung baga, bakit dito pa sa normal imbes na sa ibang mga lugar. Siguro marahil ay ganito na talaga kalala ang pangangailanga ng Normal sa Pinansya. Ang sa akin lang, napakarami kasi ng kwento sa likod ng mga ito. As in beyond the prodution itself. Eto at ikukweto ko sa inyo.

Miss Tapia: ”yan di kasi nagbreakfast”

Paano ba naman di makakapag agahan e napaka-hectic ng sched sa klase. Ang mga nasa BSE courses ginawa ng quaterly. Well, ganyan talaga, ang iba pa nga grabe ang dinadanas dahil sa mga project na ”over price” at ”kumikitang kabuhayan”. Dagdag pa dyan ang mahal na mga pagkain sa Luncheonett na hindi kaya ni isko at iska. At isa rin sa mga dahilan kung bakit mahal ang mga bilihin ay dahil sa mataas na parenta sa mga stall.ang resulta, ang mga umuupa na hindi na makabayad sa renta (note:10000 php ang renta)kaagad na pinapaalis. Karaniwang mga napapaalis ay yung mga umuupa na mababa ang mga presyo ng mga paninda.tsk..tsk.tsk...

Youtube: PNU Commercial[ization] T.V. Ad

Ito na siguro ang maituturing na isang porma ng komersylisasyon sa loob ng normal. Hindi lingid sa ating kaalaman na salat sa badyet ang normal at bilang pangtapal sa lumalalang problemang ito, ipinatupad ng admin ang tinaguriaang “tatapos sa maliligayang araw” ng mga iskolar at magiging guro ng bayan, ang ”Normative Funding”. Ayon sa apat na taoong programang nakapaloob nito, unti-unting babawasan ng gobyerno ang mga alokasyon nito hangang tuluyan ng maging “selfsuficient” ang mga SUC.samakatwid,pribatisado na. Ito ay nakabalangkas sa probisyon ng Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997 na kung saan inaalis na ng gobyerno ang kanilang tungkulin sa mga subsidyo sa mga SUC at kailangan na din na magsagawa ng mga income generating projects ang mga ito para maging supisyente. ang resulta, nakaambang pagtaas ng matrikula, mga Fund raising, Curriculum experimentation(4 day class, NSTP fieldtrip) PNU press Commercialization, ID System, Commercial stalls, Student Teaching Fee at CTL phase out.

Ang lucky me TV ad at ang mga nauna ko ng nabanggit ay manipestasyon lamang ng komersyalisasyon sa normal at iba pang mga SUC. Hinagupit na ng matindi ang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas kung saan nagtaas ng 300% ang matrikula. Gayundin ang EARIST at iba pa. Maganda ang mga ganitong tv ads , pero mapapaltan ang iyong ngiti
kapag nalaman mong dahil sa mga tv ad na ito, unti-unting bibitiwan ng gobyerno ang tungkuling nito sa edukasyon. gayundin,ang mga perang makukuha sa mga tv ad na ito ay walang katiyakang makapagbibigay ng matagalang ganansya sa mga iskolar ng bayan.

Okey lang naman mga tv ad na ito pero kailangan nating sipatin at malalimang unawain ang mga kwento sa likod ng mga ito.

No to commercialization!
No to Privatization!
Fight for higher state subsidy!
Education for All!
Scientific, Nationalist, and Mass oriented Education for the people!
Powered By Blogger