Punchline
Well-placed Pangasinenses
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
HERE’S a piece of good news that should warm the cockles of hearts of Pangasinenses, and at the same time, a case for transparency on the part of The PUNCH.
Know that there are now three Pangasinenses in the Motion and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). Rachel Arenas is chairperson while our Mocha Uson and Al Mendoza are members!
That makes three for Pangasinan in MTRCB, and soon eight in key positions in the Duterte administration: Arenas, Uson, Mendoza, Amado Valdez, (SSS chairman), Jun Esperon (National Security Adviser), Popoy de Vera (CHED Commissioner), Gonz Duque (SSS commissioner) and Francisco Duque III (GSIS chairman).
So, from The PUNCH, two: Columnists Gonz, and Al! Take a bow guys!
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SIMULTANEOUS WARS. I figured that the joint wars of the Duterte government on drugs and illegal gambling will not only continue to be bloody but may end up achieving less than what’s envisioned.
The complication lies not only in the new profiles of main players behind illegal drugs and gambling but the unfinished business of exposing local government officials and policemen acting as protectors of illegal drugs and illegal gambling. (PNP’s mission to rid its ranks of scalawags is far from over).
One other factor that can make the joint wars bloodier is the fact that many jueteng lords have already dipped their fingers in the drug trade (and vice-versa). This development can lead to fiercer protection of their illegal operations, by hook or by crook. Translation: killing competition and police operatives, or paying off more police officers and politicians for more protection.
It is bad enough that President DU30 himself validated that more than 5,000, cops and local officials are involved in the illegal drug trade, one can imagine how many more of these are regular beneficiaries of jueteng payola on a monthly basis!
The not so new players in town are the off-fronton jai-alai operators in practically all towns and cities in Pangasinan, all fronting for jueteng, as if PCSO’s Small Town Lottery is not enough.
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PH, NOT DAVAO CITY. It’s no secret that everyone in politics and law enforcement know that jueteng, for the longest time, has been the biggest and most regular source of corruption for local government officials and police chiefs (town, province, region).
Other popular but smaller illegal gambling activities in communities, i.e., video-karera, hataw, drop ball, card games, sakla, cockfights, etc. are mostly controlled and protected by barangay officials and police substations.
The lifeline for illegal gambling is protection payoffs – and the primary targets are local chief executives, police chiefs (town, provincial and regional levels). In contrast, while the drug lords’ lifeline depends on their network of peddlers, the ‘lords’ keep corrupt politicians and police officers in their pockets.
So in a sense, the simultaneous wars may have unwittingly created a more beneficial partnership between and among drug lords and gambling lords. It’d not be farfetched to soon see the ‘lords’ packaging more attractive payoffs to one and the same politicians and police officers. Package deals as in “all-in” for protection.
So will Mr. DU30 succeed in his two wars in the country, in the same degree that he accomplished in Davao City? I can only surmise that the President will soon realize that Philippines is not Davao City, and different strategies must apply.
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4Ps AT ITS WORST. Unknown to our policymakers and political leaders, there is a big threat looming not only to the country’s literacy level but to the productivity of Filipinos in the decades to come.
And the culprit is the 4P’s (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) of the government.
I refer specifically the monthly subsidy to qualified indigent beneficiaries to ensure the completion of primary and secondary education of their children.
A recent study by Wilson Chua, president of Bitstop (The PUNCH’s online partner), revealed that contrary to the projections of the implementers of the 4Ps that continue to report an increase in enrolment every year, and, therefore, their education is assured, more children are actually dropping out of school.
The reality, as Wilson has it, the rate of dropouts increases every year. Wilson’s Big Data Analytics as published in Manila Bulletin has it all figured out.
http://technology.mb.com.ph/2016/10/28/big-data-analytics-explain-outliers-in-depeds-budgeting-data/
Wilson correctly summed up the inevitable with these words: “It spells a big problem in the coming years when the age of machine will cut out a lot of jobs, and only those with higher education will survive.”
Let’s localize the scenario. If 10,000 Pangasinan kids drop out of grade school today, they will in all likelihood not be interested to get high school education. Add to that the expected 10,000 that will drop out of high school! In brief, we will have 20,000 kids today who will surely end up joining the ranks of unemployed in 15 years beyond.
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MANGALDAN EXAMPLE. It’s heartening, therefore, to learn that Mangaldan Councilor Aldrin Soriano, as Committee on Education Chairman, proposed two resolutions that seek to validate the high dropout rate in both elementary and secondary schools in his town after learning of Wilson’s big data.
As the young councilor acknowledged, Mangaldan is home to the biggest high school student population in Region I, yet ranked first as having the highest number of dropout rate among secondary schools in the entire province.
“Dropout rate in schools in our town is a serious problem, and we want to know the root of this problem,” Soriano said.
Passed last February 13, SB Resolution No. 2017-34 entitled “Requesting School Principals/Heads of public Elementary and High Schools to submit a report explaining the reason of high number of dropout cases in the municipality, ranking Mangaldan as the number one municipality with highest dropout rate in Pangasinan based on 2013, 2014, and 2015 data from the Department of Education”.
Resolution No. 2017- 35 “requesting the office of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development who is in-charge with the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to submit to the Sangguniang Bayan office the list of students enrolled in public schools and who are also student beneficiaries from 2013, 2014, and 2015 to analyze the phenomenon and compare the students enrolled and that are beneficiaries of 4Ps” was also passed.
It would do Pangasinan’s future a lot of good if the provincial government follows the lead of Mangaldan and undertakes a closer look at the education of its young today. Guv Pogi should also consider directing both provincial officials of DepEd and DSWD to submit findings and recommendations in order to to avert an impeding crisis that will impact on the future generation of Pangasinseses.
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