Magandang hapon po. 

I have no doubt that we are all still concerned about good governance. That despite much criticisms hurled at this Chamber, in the deepest of our hearts, gusto pa rin natin makatulong sa good governance.

Bakit nga po ba hindi? Edukasyon ang itinuturing sa ngayon na susi sa pag-unlad ng isang bayan. Kahit na sinong development expert pa siguro sa buong mundo ang tanungin natin, lahat sila ay magsasabi na mahalaga ang edukasyon ng mga mamamayan ng isang bansa. 

Somebody once said, “Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.”  

By basic human standards, education is a right.  

Kaya nga po sa maraming estado sa buong mundo, itinuturing na obligasyon ng estado ang pagbibigay ng edukasyon sa mga mamayan nito. Obligasyon ng gobyerno, karapatan ng publiko… 

Education, as a right, is always provided to the public through a number of modes.  Foremost of these modes are of course, school buildings and books. 

Nakalulungkot lang po na in the Philippines, textbooks have always figured into controversies. For example, one quickly recalls instances when newspapers and television news were filled by reports on patronage intervening in the government procurement process. Also, in recent years, errors in the contents of textbooks alarmed many of us.  

As if a never-ending cycle, these kinds of irregularities repeatedly hound our education system.     

Bids and Awards  

Nitong nakaraang buwan, naglabas ang Supreme Court ng desisyon na nagsasabing walang basehan upang ipatigil ang multi-million book contract na pinondohan ng World Bank.  

Kahit hindi pa pumapasok ang Supreme Court sa eksena, malaking kontrobersya na ang bidding and awarding na nangyari sa book contract na ito.  

Ayon sa reklamo ng isang kompanya na natalo sa bidding process, ang Kolonwel Trading Inc., ini-award ang kontrata sa Vibal Publishing at mga “sister companies” nito kahit pa una na itong na-disqualify ng Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee ng Department of Budget and Management dahil sa “conflict of interest.” Ang disqualification na ito ng Vidal ay nilalaman ng isang Memorandum na inilabas ng joint DBM-Procurement Service at DepEd technical Working Group noong January 31, 2006.   

We all know that conflict of interest occurs “if the bidder is a corporation or a partnership and it has officers, directors, controlling shareholders, partners or members in common  with another bidder …” 

Dito na pumasok ang World Bank. 

The World Bank prides itself as the vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Among its top priorities is the provision of financial assistance through loans for education to member counties.  

Recently, the World Bank shifted its attention to promoting good governance so that it can better achieve its objectives as a provider of financial and technical assistance to poor countries.  

Napag-alaman po natin na mula November 10, 2006 hanggang January 26, 2007, the World Bank held worldwide consultations with 37 developing countries and 12 donor countries to affirm the Bank’s crusade for good governance and anticorruption works.  

Ang nakakalungkot po dito, kung aanalisahin natin ang nangyari sa Bids and Awards para sa textbook na pinondohan ng World Bank, tila po iba ang ikinukrusada sa aktwal na ginagawa! 

According to reports, in a letter dated April 24, 2006, WB East Asia and Pacific Regional Senior Economist Rekha Menon wrote to DepEd Usec Fe Hidalgo and DBM Assistant Secretary and IABAC Chairman Eduardo Opida disagreeing with the disqualification of Vibal Group and Watana. 

Following WB’s opinion, Vibal Publishing and Watana will be reinstated as legitimate bidders, and together with Daewoo, will be deemed to have submitted the lowest evaluated bid. 

Now why would the World Bank insist in reinstating Vibal when our own system process of screening bidders has already rejected it as an “unqualified bidder?” Akala ko pa naman fan na ng CIBAC ang World Bank, at least sa pag-laban sa korupsyon. Why, after its announcement of strongly-worded campaign against corruption and the promotion of good governance, would the Bank fail to follow its own standard of proper, acceptable, and responsible business conduct? Why did it place undue pressure on the Inter Agency Bids and Awards Committee of the DBM so that the disqualification of Vibal Publishing would be reversed?  

Simply put, it illegally intervened in the bidding process! Ang hindi ko po matanggap dito at I believe, hindi rin matatanggap ng sambayanang Pilipino, this illegal intervention resulted in error-ridden books being used by our elementary students. 

Vibal’s textbooks

Vibal Publishing already had a history of monopolistic practice when it comes to textbook contracts. Official records would show that Vibal Publishing and its “sister” companies had cornered 75.96% of bids by the Department of Education from 1999 to 2004 – or P2,658,756,511 of P3.5 billion – under the World Bank loan. 

Worse and horror of all horrors, Vibal already had a history of producing substandard textbooks. Kung maaalala po natin, may lumabas na noon para isa-isahin ang mga mali sa mga textbook na inilabas ng Vibal Publishing. 

Antonio Calipjo Go, the academic supervisor of Marian School of Quezon City, came out in 2005 to expose that Vibal Publishing published a 316-page textbook used by 2^nd year high school students with 413 errors! “Asya: Noon, Ngayon at sa Hinaharap” had major historical, technical, substantive and grammatical errors and discrepancies!  

Ang tanong po, “eh paano pa natin maiitama ngayon ang mga pumasok na sa utak ng ating mga kabataan na mali-mali pala?”  

Now comes the DepEd! In a classic attempt to arrest the problem, the Department of Education announced last June 30 that it has come out with a 21-page "Errata Guide' to correct 269 errors in seven Social Studies textbooks it approved for use in public schools this year.  

So ngayon, ang scenario natin ay babasahin ng mga guro ang aklat para ituro sa mga bata, pero bago yun babasahin din muna nya ang “errata guide” para sigurado na hindi sya magkamali sa ituturo nya? 

Natatawa kaya ang mga guro sa sitwasyong ito? Natatawa kaya ang DepEd? 

The issuance of "Errata" after the books had already been distributed and used is a sad and pathetic way to make books. In a more sane circumstance, errors must be corrected before publication. 

Now we all know, the disqualification for the project under the Second Social Expenditure Management Program or SSEMP was reversed and the contract was awarded to Vibal Publishing. The World Bank funded the $100-million project.  

Mga tanong ko po muli: 

      -- Why did the World Bank intervene in the Bidding Process?

      -- Why did the concerned Philippine government officials seem  accede to the intervention?  

Loans, Loans and More loans 

Ang malaking isyu pa po rito ay ang katotohanan na ang perang ginamit para bayaran ang Vibal Publishing ay hindi naman pera ng World Bank. Hindi po. Utang natin ito. Utang na babayaran.   

Opo, alam natin “loan” ito. Eh yun na nga po, “loan!” 

Loan, to the common tao like us, is of course basically seen as borrowed money later to be returned, according to the terms of payment agreed. But the way the borrower would spend this loaned money is solely his call, hindi po ba? For as long as the loan will be paid. 

Yung nangyari sa pondo na galing sa World Bank, kumbaga ba, may isang magulang na nag-loan para pang-tuition ng anak niya. Eh yung pinag-loanan niya, pinahiram nga siya ng pera pagkatapos eh ang sabi, “sa ganitong school mo na lang pwede i-enroll yung anak mo. Sa kanila mo lang dapat gagastusin yang perang yan!” 

Now, going back to the premise that we are all concerned about good governance, magtatanong po akong muli: 

      -- Ang isyu po ba ng libro para sa ating mga kabataan ay isyu ng good governance?

      -- Ang isyu po ba ng pangungutang natin at ng pagbabayad-utang natin ay isyu ng good governance?

      -- Hindi po ba kung matutugunan natin ang mga ito, isa itong mataas na uri ng “public service?” Alam nyo naman po na makulit ako. Salamat po sa pagtityaga nyo sa mga tanong ko. Baka po kayo naman ang gustong magtanong, “Eh Joel, ano ba talaga ang gusto mong mangyari?” 

Action points

Tungkol po sa isyu ng mga defective na textbooks.  

I just want to bring back into the surface the status of the existing investigation and make sure that the guilty is punished, that we ensure the protection of our public school students going forward, and review, amend if necessary, the process by which textbooks are printed. 

Having presented a backgrounder on the poor quality of the books that we give to our children especially in public schools, we challenge the World Bank and take them on the principles of accountability and high standards of public service. Hindi nga po ba ito ang kanilang krusada ngayon? 

At the very least, we should look into the World Bank’s position relative to the following issues: 

      -- The World Bank’s role in our procurement system;

      -- The relationship of the World Bank with publishing companies, Vibal in particular. What caused World Bank to come to the rescue of Vibal when the latter had already been disqualified by IABAC? 

       -- Is it coincidence that Vibal manages to corner majority of the World Bank funded Dep-Ed textbook requirement?

       -- The extent of World Bank’s influence in government agencies. If Vibal somehow influences DepEd, then why did the latter’s representative in IABAC dissented in the granting the contract to Vibal? Is Vibal’s influence directed to the DBM then or other agencies? 

Bilang pagtatapos, ilang simpleng mga punto rin lang ang gusto kong pagdalhan sa inyo sa talumpati kong ito.  

Una, budget season na naman. Nakapaloob sa inihain na 2008 Budget ang paglaan ng 8 milyong dolyar bilang bahagi ng pagbabayad sa 100 milyong dolyar na inutang natin sa World Bank para sa mga nabanggit na textbooks. Bilang bahagi ng iginagalang na Kamara de Representantes, iminumungkahi ko na pagtuunan ng pansin ng Kamara ang inilaang pondong ito at suriin mabuti kung karapat-dapat ba na ituloy natin ang paglaan ng pondong ito bilang paunang pambayad sa kwestyonableng pagpapa-imprenta ng mga nasabing textbooks. 

Ang pagbayad ng utang ay isang obligasyon na dapat pahalagahan NGUNIT ang pagbayad ng mga ilihetimong utang gamit ang pera ng bayan ay kataksilan na walang kapatawaran. 

The Filipinos of my generation grew up under the shadows of the illegitimate Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Debt. For almost thirty years, each and every Filipino shelled out more than 17 million pesos daily to pay for a power plant which did not produce a single kilowatt of power. A few months ago, that loan was actually fully paid. Ayon na sana ang pagtatapos ng pagkakatali natin sa mga mapaniil at ilihetimong pautang. Unfortunately, as a dark age ends, we seem intent on ushering another epoch of darkness. We cannot commit the same mistake and allow our students this time to live under the shadow of an illegitimate debt immortalized by defective textbooks.  

Pangalawa, mabuti na rin siguring suriin natin ang implikasyon ng ating relasyon sa mga institusyong tulad ng World Bank, Asian Development Bank at iba pang mga International Financing Institutions (o IFIs) lalo na sa mga programang pang-edukasyon. Tunay na masarap ang makatanggap ng pondo mula sa mga institusyong ito ngunit sa anong halaga? Hindi kaya masyadong mahal ang kapalit ng mga pondong pinahihiram sa atin lalo na kung ang nakasalalay ay ang edukasyon ng kinabukasan ng ating bayan? 

Pangatlo, sa harap ng lahat ng mga kontrobersyang ito, ano na ang ginagawang hakbang ng Deped at DBM, ang mga ahensya na pangunahing sangkot rito, upang mabigyang kasagutan at solusyon ang mga problemang nabanggit? Bakit sila nanahimik at magpasa-hanggang ngayon ay nananatiling tahimik sa pakikialam at pagmamaniobra na sila mismo ang unang pumuna? This House must remind them that their accountability is to the people and not to foreign financing institutions. Kailangan natin maimbistigahan kung bakit para yatang nakakalimutan nila ang sagradong konsepto na ito lalo na’t sila ang pangunahing humuhulma sa kamalayan ng mahigit 20 milyong batang mag-aaral na Pilipino.   

Salamat po sa pasensya ninyo. Salamat sa pakikinig. 

Paumanhin po sa mga tanong ko. Wala po sa libro ang mga tanong na ito at wala rin sa libro ang sagot. Nasa pag-aksyon po natin bilang mga lingkod-bayan! Sana po ay sama-sama nating masagot ng tama ang mga tanong na ito. 

Salamat po.