Press statement of Senator Legarda

ON EDUCATION

What is needed in tackling our perennial problem of education is a new shift in thinking. The poor quality of education is shown by the achievement tests in which only 15.3 percent of elementary school pupils crossed the 75 percent level required for high school, and that less than one percent of high school graduates crossed the 75 percent level in the 2006 National Achievement Test.

Clearly there is something wrong with the method and content of teaching in our elementary and high schools. What these fundamental faults are should be the focus of our scholars, experts and analysts. True, the pitiful physical facilities available for our pupils and students while they are learning, such as lack of classrooms and school supplies, have something to do with the poor accomplishments of our students. But it is the method and content of teaching that is equally important.

It is a shame that Laos and Cambodia, considered far below the Philippines in educational advancement some years ago, should now be ahead of us in the educational field. The quality of our education is the future of our children.

ON THE ECONOMY

The denial of President Arroyo in South Korea that our country is on the verge of a recession -- claiming that the Philippines is "holding its own" in the global economic crisis -- is not helpful. A blind attitude to our swift economic downturn - in the face of decades of economic stagnation - could only result in further deterioration of the economy as no meaningful reforms would be undertaken to counter the slide.

The President's denial flies against the report of her economic advisers that our Gross Domestic Product had fallen to only .04 percent in the first quarter of the year. The government economists are warning that unless the trend is reversed the Philippines would not realize its goal of 3 to 4 percent in GNP growth this year and fall into depression.

The blindness to our dire economic situation is caused by a total focus of the administration on prolonging its hold in power after the 2010 elections. It's possible that the administration is conserving the government's financial resources and financial clouts for the 2010 elections when they would be harnessed to lure a hungry electorate to its support out of their need to survive for a day.

ON VISITING FORCES AGREEMENT

The visit of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Philippines should be an occasion for reviewing and updating RP-US military agreements, including the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty. Priority should be given in such agreements to fully equalize the status of the parties to these agreements.

Since the 1960s, the late Senator Claro M. Recto, most revered Filipino nationalist of the post-Philippine revolution era, has complained that the MDT is not the same as the treaties entered into by the US with its European allies. For instance, under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pact, each signatory, including the US, is automatically bound to come to the aid of a NATO member which is attacked. Under the MDT, each side will come to each one's aid only in accordance with constitutional processes. This is quite a difference, Recto pointed out.

Also to be given priority are the extra privileges given to members of the US armed forces who come to the Philippines under the VFA. This is exemplified by the case of Daniel Smith who was allowed to be detained in the US embassy while under indictment for rape in violation of our domestic law which requires that he be detained in a Philippine jail. Equality is a norm in agreement between and among sovereign states.