Speech delivered by Rep. Chona Gonzales on July 30, 2008 to the CIBAC Scholars from various SUCs in Metro Manila. 

Good afternoon CIBAC scholars.  

If there is one set of statistics to show that the Philippines is largely dirt poor—despite the life of luxury and conspicuous consumption exhibited by the 2 percent of the population that sustains the elite department stores and expensive restaurants—it is the annual decline of basic-education enrollment and the annual increase of dropouts. The national dropout rate average is staggering. Of every 100 children who enter Grade 1, only 65 reach Grade 6, only 43 finish high school and only 2 enter college.  

The dropout rate is much higher in the poorest provinces. About one-fourth of the students enrolled in Grades 1 and 2 drop out. This results in one-fourth of the population of our poorest provinces not getting any formal education whatsoever.  

These data on education are affirmed by data on labor and employment.

 According to the National Statistics Office, the rate of unemployment as of April 2008, is 8 percent, while the rate of underemployment is 19.8 percent.  

Gloomy days also await the passers of the recent Nursing Licensure Examination. According to the 2008 data of the Philippine Nurses Association, the demand for Filipino nurses in the United States and other key labor markets is falling, thus swelling the ranks of jobless Filipino nurses. The nursing job market slowdown began in 2006 when the demand for Philippine nurses plateaued due to a shrinking US market for nurses and a change in policy of the United Kingdom on hiring of foreign nurses.  

Finally, even the voguish ‘call centers’ apparently hire at most 5 percent of all the people they interview.  My purpose this afternoon is to open you eyes to the economic crisis and educational decline that have befallen the Philippines in the past years. These are the challenges that young people of this generation must hurdle and triumph over in order to attain the fulfillment of their dreams and aspirations. Amidst all these, it seems that sheer intelligence is insufficient to make one successful and rise up from poverty. Strength of character, determination and perseverance have become the necessary virtues among young people who aspire for the fulfillment of their aspirations.  

In November 2007, the entire country was distressed by the news about a 12-year-old girl, who became despondent over her family’s poverty, hanged herself inside their makeshift house a day after her father told her he could not give her the P100 she needed for a school project. I am referring to Mariannet Amper,  a child whose family lived in a hillside community at the back of the Yñiguez Subdivision in Maa District.  

Mariannet asked her father for P100 which she needed for school projects, on the night of November 1. She was told by her father that he did not have the money yet but he would ask his wife if she could get some money for her. The morning after, however, he was able to get a P1,000 cash advance for a construction work on a downtown chapel. 

Sadly, by the time he got home, Mariannet already lay dead. 

Sad story, isn’t it? But what really grieves me was not the fact of death, but the fact of hopelessness amidst poverty. It’s very disconcerting that a 12-year old child, supposedly full of hope and dreams for her future, succumbed to poverty. The most tragic thing that can ever happen to a person, especially a child, is to lose her faith in God, in her parents and in the possibility of a bright future. 

As your representative, it is my utmost prayer that none of you ever yield and surrender your dreams to poverty, just like Mariannet did. Your family may be impoverished, your father may be unemployed, your mother may be ill and may require expensive medication, or you may just simply lack sufficient resources to finance your education – but none these should hinder you from attaining success in life.  

As God said in Philippians 4.19, “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”. Whatever your family may lack in finances, God will supply. Your admission in a state university and your scholarship grant from CIBAC is proof enough that God’s grace and provision is not restricted to the monthly income of your family. God blesses you and provides for you beyond your means and expectations. God also said in Jeremiah 29.11 that, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare  and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Your future is secured with the Lord. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He has planned your future as a loving Father would do for his child. That being he case, there should be nothing that can hinder you from pursuing and working towards the bright tomorrow that God has placed for you.  

Having been admitted in a state university and having been granted a scholarship already speak of your gift of intellect and talent. Both include tough competition and require rigorous screening process prior to admission and grant. However, I said earlier and in view of the current state of our nation, intelligence alone is not enough for you to achieve the success that you seek. What you need now is strength of character, determination and perseverance. These are the virtues that will keep you steadfast and unwavering amidst financial instability and will help you bring into fruition the greatness that the Lord has thrust upon you.

To end, allow me to share with you a verse from the Bible –  Phil. 4.13. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”