Are we satisfied customers of Smartmatic?

Allow me to greet a very happy birthday to our daughter Dr. Frances Angelique Avila-Tequillo who had the distinction of being the first our firstborn with Jessica and the first grandchild from both the Avila and Rosello families. Fara was able to meet all her grandparents, from my father Atty. Jesus Avila and Jessica’s grandparents, Man Ange’ and Mama Filo Cabatingan. Time breezed through. Dr. Fara married Atty. Jennoh Tequillo and they have three children namely, Mico, Keena and Baby Jenna who turned one year old last Wednesday. It must be said that the ultimate success story depends on the success of your children. So with God’s blessing, we claim this victory!

* * *

Did you notice how the media gave a full-blown coverage on the arrival of Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza who was tapped by Smartmatic as its Ambassador for Transparency? With the oath taking ceremonies happening at the end of June, Smartmatic is already going on the media offensive, telling us that because we spent P7 billion for our automated elections last May 10, it would only cost us another P2 billion to buy the Smartmatic Technology.

As Don Miquel de Cervantes went, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” The first question Smartmatic ought to ask is whether we Filipinos are satisfied customers? For as long as Smartmatic officials refuse to tell us the score as to why it took them and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) a full month before anyone could say for certain that the winner in the Vice-Presidential race was Jejomar Binay, then I’ll have to say that we, the voters, were shortchanged by Smartmatic!

Sure, in this country, we know that there are no losers as those who failed to win would say that they were cheated. But if only Smartmatic came up with a fool-proof system that would ensure that any fraudulent act by anyone could be traced, then I will be the first to ask that we continue using the Smartmatic system. So why did Smartmatic bring in Miss Universe? I really don’t know. She may be the Ambassador for Transparency, but it is more than clear to us that her sponsors, Smartmatic aren’t transparent about so many things that happened or did not happen during the last May 10 elections. Until now, I have never gotten a satisfactory reply from either Smartmatic or the Comelec why in Cebu we had zero spoiled ballots.

* * *

There is a law passed in 1998 which allows the private sector to help the government in improving our educational system which is the Adopt-a-School Act of 1998. Since that time, some P6 billion in aid and another P7.3 billion in pledges were given nationwide for the years 2008 and 2009. In Central Visayas, the Aboitiz Foundation (AP) is the Department of Education’s (DepEd) biggest partner. I learned from the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) that they’ve had many success stories with their beneficiary public schools. Yet despite this assistance, DepEd still can’t deliver on many of the basic needs for the education of our children?

Year after year, decade after decade, DepEd has always failed in delivering the classrooms or schools and teachers to satisfy the demands of our population growth. This results in ill-trained school graduates, which is why many of our college graduates need to be retrained if they ever find work. We’re talking about the lucky ones who found work!

The other day, I chanced upon a tv discussion by someone who insisted that DepEd should add one more year in school. He apparently believes that the additional year in school would do a lot in improving the skills of our high school students and result in better prepared students to take a College degree. Of course, the problem is whether the parents can afford that additional year for their kids, which understandably is a full-years’ additional cost to them. I will not argue with that fellow because he could be right, especially when he pointed out that 16-year-old high school graduates cannot find jobs anyway and are just too young to enter college.

I agree with his observations because this happened to me. My mom put me in school too early, which is why I was only 15 years old, the youngest in my class when we graduated at the USC Boys High school in 1966. I wasn’t prepared for anything at that young age. So perhaps what DepEd ought to do is come up with a more stringent preparatory school program that would ensure grade school students to be better prepared for High School. The key to having better high school graduates is to give our grade school students better teachers. If we do that, I’m sure that the output of our school children would shoot up.

* * *

Email: [email protected]