Toxic politics

The announcement of VP Sara that her father and brothers will run for the Senate next year is just the political family expressing its disgust with national politicians. Sige kayo…inapi ninyo si Sara sa Manila. Magdusa kayo sa tatlong Duterte sa Senado. Not only that, the very obviously unqualified youngest brother will run for President in 2028 daw.

That’s how toxic, destructive and totally irrelevant to national development our politics can be. A dynastic family feels they have a majority of the people at their beck and call and they are betting everything to get back the national political power they have learned to enjoy and abuse.

The sad part is, they could be right. Only a Tulfo may save us from a Duterte, if you can consider that being saved.

For many of our people, it doesn’t matter that the first Duterte reign was a disaster that set us back more years than the nation can afford.

But it is hopeless that we are talking or worrying about this plot of the Duterte family to get back to Malacanang when we have a crisis in education to work on. Well, at least VP Sara is out of DepEd so we can start repairing the institution. That wouldn’t have been possible with her at DepEd.

Good things won’t start to happen unless BBM appoints a really capable DepEd Secretary. He or she must not be a politician unless of the statesman mold and we do not have too many of those. A good rule of thumb for BBM to use is, if the person is actively campaigning to be appointed, that’s not the right one.

There were some suggestions that former VP Leni Robredo be appointed. That would be seen as a unification of political rivals for the sake of the country. Good optics for BBM.

But it is a bad idea for Leni. It is a no win situation for her. If she does well as I think she would, even the allies of the President with ambitions to succeed him will get jealous. They will put obstacles to ensure her failure.

Besides, the problem at DepEd is so bad you need more than a half term to register noticeable improvements. At best, the massive bleeding can be controlled but PISA scores won’t show improvements just yet. It may require at least a decade of doing the right things before we can say we are on the right trajectory. So, no Leni for DepEd.

Perhaps a low key person with exposure to our educational problems will be better. Two names come to mind. Dr. Vic Limlingan and Milwilda Guevarra.

Dr. Limlingan is a Harvard educated economist and former professor at the Asian Institute of Management. He has been involved in helping some LGUs: Makati, Antipolo and Pasig with improving outcomes in the basic education of their constituents. Dr. Vic has even organized a Foundation to study options in improving such educational outcomes by introducing targeted reforms. His management expertise is essential in running DepEd’s million strong bureaucracy. Best of all, he has no political ambitions, given his age.

Former finance undersecretary Milwilda Guevarra was so interested in doing her share to educate our youth that she established the Synergia Foundation after she retired from DOF. Her work with Synergia brought her into contact with many LGU leaders and DepEd officials at the local level. She knows what ails the system better than many education PhDs who have been stuck in academic ivory towers.

Indeed, Ms Guevarra shifted her efforts somewhat to helping feed pre- schoolers and those in kindergarten because she knows unless those young brains develop properly before age five, it will be tough for them to learn anything in the higher grades.

If a politician is desired, it will have to be a low key one who has a track record in studying the problems of the education sector. The name that comes to mind is Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo. He has consistently immersed himself in the education sector without the publicity that most politicians crave for. He is very much in his family’s tradition for public service, following the footsteps of his father, former senator Alberto Romulo and his uncle, Carlos P. Romulo. In a sense he isn’t your typical politician but knows enough of the system to navigate it well.

I heard some past UP presidents are also interested. Problem is, there has been no recent UP president who seems worthy of the Cabinet position. Sadly, the presidency of UP has been politicized in recent years. No more OD Corpuzes or Dodong Nemenzos or Emil Javier or Noel Soriano. Indeed, the UP faculty had been at odds with those who had been UP presidents in recent years.

In any case, whoever BBM picks, the first order of business is to work with DSWD to feed the very young kids. Then, a vigorous program of training teachers must be undertaken specially for Math and Science.

I recently mentioned to a Singapore Embassy official that they should consider helping train our teachers in math. My grandchildren are currently benefiting from the good educational system in Singapore. Maybe we can expose our teachers to how they do it so well in Singapore.

Where do we get the money to improve education? DepEd already has the largest budget. Maybe if we plug the leakages and spend more efficiently, we will have better results. A good DepEd Secretary can make that happen.

Right now education is our number one crisis. I hope BBM and Congress realize that. Our country’s future is at stake. And that’s no exaggeration.

We have no time for toxic politics.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected] Follow him on X @boochanco.