The Philippines is a SPED Case

I attended the first Special Education Expo in Makati this Monday. One reason why I didn't get to post my platform on December 1. How sad. It would have been so much more dramatic...

As I sat there trying to make sense of topics far from my field, I realized that there was some connection after all.  A speaker commenting on the state of education in the country noted that a majority of school children should be deemed "At Risk" simply because of the high incidences of poverty, malnutrition, crime, emotional abuse and other contributing factors present in the country.

In that instance it dawned upon me that the entire country is actually a SPED Case. Think about it, the poverty, malnutrition, crime, etc. etc. affects everyone not just the students. It means we are not really able to absorb the lessons the should have educated our citizenry. It also explains why many Filipinos become productive responsible citizens outside the country. They are removed from the situation that places them at risk! That being the case, we should implement Special Education techniques to effectively help the nation to get its act together.

So using a SPED framework our approach must be adopted to the student. Given that the learners' situation is abnormal our usual methods will have diminished effectives. In short we must alter the following:

• Content 
• Method
• Measures

Briefly we define these as:

Content - what we teach the learner. Some things may be more appropriate or less appropriate given the situation. What is taught should take in to consideration what the learner experiences.

Method - the system of delivering the content should be appropriate to the learner.

Measures - how we measure progress would also differ.

Since I am not a trained educator I think I'll consult with the experts I know. It might be worthwhile to see a development agenda in terms of the educational component. In any event, it should be interesting to see what experts come up with given a shift in paradigm.

Pascal's Wager for Philippine Elections

What if you had to choose between a politician who's been around and an unknown candidate?

If you vote the traditional politician he will run the country as it has always been run... into the ground. If he wanted to do anything different he would have done so already. Besides, what are the chances the old politico will have a change of heart? Right. Moving on now...

If you vote an outsider two things can happen:

• He will run things as it has always been run... into the ground.
• He will have actually change things because he doesn't know how to run things the old way or is wise enough to know better.

So the likelihood of going to hell are pretty high, but with a non-traditional candidate you get a slim chance for change.

Political Platform v1.0

Well this is the first version of my political platform. For those who came late to the show: No I'm not running for any office in 2010. I'm working on my own political platform to show that its not that hard to make. Although I'm posting this 3 weeks after my declaration, the actual working time was in the range of four days with one of those days devoted to formatting.

Economy

Widespread Poverty

Issues:

Overpopulation = Reproductive Health Bill - Challenge dissenters to provide alternative solutions and show consistent results even in small areas. Provide access to affordable contraceptives as well as expand reproductive health education. Tax incentives for 3 children only. Eliminate tax breaks for 4^th child and up.

Lack of Jobs = Support MSME’s. Strengthen microfinance - provide support for micro lenders and NGOs. Continue OTOP initiative – provide marketing and RND support for these products. OTOP gives us a framework for choosing marketing and RND initiatives. Provide Tax incentives for MSME’s – no gross minimum tax. 

Low Pay = Increase minimum wage. Stop advertising the country in the usual manner: cheap labor. Focus on high quality of labor and back it up with education and support.

Reliance on Labor Export

Issues:

The OFW phenomenon was supposed to be a short term solution. Reducing the poverty factors should reduce the need for people to work abroad for survival. Working abroad for career advancement is another matter. 

Ballooning National Debt
issues

Weak revenue collection = Increase efficiency of collection. Tie pay incentives of all employees to collection target of agencies. 

Reduce debt servicing = Renegotiate with creditors. Review the debt of the non-financial sector, especially from non-profitable government corporations.

Do not grow the debt. = moratorium on borrowing while we try to plug the money outflow.

Weak agriculture sector

Issues

Poor infrastructure: transpo, irrigation, facilities = many addressed in infra section. Agriculture specific facilities should be built. Concentrate on those that use local resources and allow decentralized management.

Land Reform = implement and support – encourage farmers to form larger cooperatives to take advantage of economies of scale those that can not should be taught techniques that replace the advantages of economies of scale. Provide support to beneficiaries as mentioned in the GTZ report. Implement some of their suggestions such as increased loans, technical support. Reduce the number of people in the DAR so that ratio between personnel and operating costs are at least 40 – 60 favoring opex. At least 10% of the national budget to should be devoted to CARP.

Culture

Lack of appreciation of the arts

Issues
Local industry is heavily commercialized = Support for independent producers especially those using the digital media. 


Stagnant indigenous media = provide financial support for those using indigenous art forms or materials.


Concentration in traditional media = build capabilities in digital art forms. provide grants for those involved in the new media.


Human Capital

Poor Education

Issues

Not enough classrooms = distance education and home schooling guidelines. 

No teachers = higher pay for teachers. Support continuing education program. Institutions that fail to support this will be penalized. 

No textbooks = let institutions choose textbooks based on guidelines by DepEd. Let schools publish textbooks.  Publish DepEd choices/ recommendations so people can review it.

Weak Research = make government data freely accessible - more internet. Review the government websites. Focus is on  easy access for the citizens. This will encourage freelance research.

English as a medium of instruction = use it.

Foreign Affairs

Limited Participation in World Affairs

Issues

Weak linkages = improve ties with Asian neighbors and non-traditional partners.

Infrastructure

Poor transportation

Issues

Provincial linkages are in bad shape = build a railway backbone for Luzon and Mindanao. Improve ports in the Visayas.


Maritime Disasters = more stringent monitoring of ship boarding procedures.Work out computerized reporting so the coast guard has immediate data regarding ship loads.

Flooding

Issues

Good plans not implemented = review development plans especially those where we paid expensive consultants. Make the information public.

Poor sewage = make a plan to expand the sewage system. Seek inexpensive solutions like rain gardens that people can do at the baranggay level. 

Informal settlers = remove them starting with those in dangerous areas. 

Power is expensive

Oil importation = find oil. Substitute wind, tidal, solar etc… clarify rules on environmental measures such as the ethanol bill so that investors have a better picture of the legal environment. 

Pollution

issues
Polluting Vehicles = Retire vehicles of a certain age. Ban 2 stroke vehicles from city roads.
Garbage = nationwide implementation of garbage segregation. 

Communication
issues

Lack of Connectivity = More internet - wiring the country will support a lot of economic efforts. Also supports education. Don’t use foreign debt to do this or we may get another ZTE deal. Use a local company even if its one of the conglomerates.


Environment
issues

Mining = allow mining. Ask for first world quality pollution controls and community aid.


Logging = in tree farms only (at least for 10 years). Identifying law breakers will be easier.


Fisheries = provide alternative livelihood for fisher folk so they are not encouraged to practice damaging methods  (dynamite fishing, cyanide fishing). Those that insist will face stiffer penalties.


National Security

Secessionists and rebels

most of their concerns deal with poverty and governance. address those and they will lose a reason to exist. Those that refuse to disarm should be treated as criminals

Porous Borders
issues
Unclear Boarders = firm up national boundaries. Ask help from international bodies if necessary.


Spotty patrolling = Improve coordination with neighbors' boarder guards. Create transnational procedures for handling problems. 


Governance

Poor governance
issues

Transparency = non-sensitive documents should be digitized and published online as well as printed in hard copy. The public should be given free access to these documents. 

Corruption = Encourange and reward intra agency initiatives for reform. Kill the pork barrel.

Reduce red tape = Benchmark the processing time of vital procedures vs. those of our Asian neighbors, especially the developed nations. Match them.