Philippines

Basic Data
Official Country Name:	Republic of the Philippines
Region:	Southeast Asia
Population:	81,159,644
Language(s):	Pilipino, English
Literacy Rate:	94.6%
Academic Year:	June-March
Number of Primary Schools:	38,631
Compulsory Schooling:	6 years
Public Expenditure on Education:	3.4%

Foreign Students in National Universities:	4,864
Educational Enrollment:	Primary: 12,159,495
	Secondary: 4,979,795
	Higher: 2,022,106
Educational Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 114%
	Secondary: 77%
	Higher: 29%
Student-Teacher Ratio:	Primary: 35:1
	Secondary: 32:1
Female Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 113%
	Secondary: 78%
	Higher: 33%

History & Background

The Republic of the Philippines consists of 7,107 tropical islands on the Western rim of the Pacific Ocean. Only 4,600 of the islands have been named and only 1,000 have been inhabited. Although the total area of the country is 300,000 square kilometers, the islands are 65 percent mountainous. The inhabited portions are densely populated.

The Philippines is the thirteenth most populated country in the world. The country's capital of Metro Manila has a population of well over ten million people. The Filipinos, are the strongest assets of the country. With the country's literacy rate at 95 percent, the Philippine manpower provides a large pool of English-speaking, well educated, and highly trainable workforce with recognized management, computer, and design skills. The Philippines came in first in a survey of Asian countries on literacy conducted by Asiaweek in 1996. In a similar survey of 46 countries, Filipino skilled workers ranked first while Filipino managers were ranked second among their counterparts. Analysts maintain that it will take other emerging countries of Southeast Asia, a generation to reach the educational advantage of the Filipinos especially for the production of high quality technological products. There are an estimated 4.5 million Filipinos working overseas. In 1997, they sent US$4.5 billion back home. These foreign remittances have helped the Philippines weather the Asian financial crisis better than other affected Asian countries.

Eleven languages and 87 dialects are spoken in the country. Of these 11 languages, 8 are derived from the Malay-Polynesian language family. No two of these are mutually comprehensible. The country has two official languages, Filipino (derived from Tagalog) and English.

As far back as 30,000 years ago, the Aetas (aboriginal people of the Philippines) arrived through land bridges that connected the archipelago to other landmasses. A 22,000-year-old fossil skullcap was discovered in the Tabon caves of Palawan by archeologist Robert Fox. A document dating back to 900 A.D. was discovered at Laguna, Philippines. Mention was made in the document of names of places that exist to the present.

Trade occurred between the tenth and the sixteenth centuries, mostly with the Chinese and Islamic people. These two groups have remained and continue to influence the Filipino culture, including the educational system.

As evidence of the high level of pre-Hispanic culture, native literature is illustrated by the Ilocano (language spoken in Northern Luzon) ballad-epic narrating the life and bravery of Lam-ang in his conquest of the various indigenous groups in the main island of Luzon. Education, of an informal type, was taught during the years prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. An oral tradition was handed down from generation to generation, in the form of poetry, ballads, songs, and dances. Oral literature carried through the ages show an informal and unstructured form of education, including training. Songs, poetry, dances, whether they be religious, festive, heroic, folk, seasonal, or about harvest, love, or war, represent high aspects of a culture. Parents and tribal tutors most likely provided the oral tradition, instruction, and other vocational training.

On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan arrived and claimed the islands for Spain's king, Charles I. His claim was the forerunner of over three centuries of Spanish colonization of the Philippines.

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the inhabitants of the archipelago were literate and had their own system of writing that they used for communication. This writing system is often erroneously referred to as Alibata (the first three letters of the Maguindanao version of the Arabian alphabet: alif, ba, ta). It is more properly named Baybayin, which in Filipino means "to spell." Baybayin has seventeen basic symbols, three of which are vowel sounds. This writing system was used extensively by the inhabitants of the islands, as witnessed by the Spanish upon their arrival. Father Pedro Chirino, a Jesuit chronicler and historian for Miguel de Legazpi (an explorer and the first royal governor of the islands), reports in Relaciones de las Islas Filipinas that when he arrived in the islands in 1565, all the islanders, both men and women, were reading and writing. Another witness and recorder of this fact was Antonio Morga, the Senior Judge Advocate of the High Court of Justice and Commander of the galleon warship San Diego. He noted in Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas that almost all the natives, men and women alike, wrote in the Baybayin language and that there were few who did not write it excellently or correctly.

When the Spanish found that the islanders were educated and literate, the missionaries among them published several books to propagate the Catholic religion among the islanders. The Tagalog Doctrina Christiana (1593) and its Chinese version, based on the catechism teachings of Cardinal Bellarmino, were released a couple of months apart. In 1610, the first Filipino author Tomas Pinpin published a book in Baybayin entitled Librong pagaaralan nang mga Tagalog ng uicang Castila (Book for Tagalogs to Study the Castillian Language). Clearly, the title of the book indicates that education, whether formal or informal, was taking place during this period. In 1620, a fourth book was published. Father Francisco Lopez produced an Ilocano version of the Doctrina Cristiana (spelling changed from the 1593 version) using the Baybayin language. Between 1620 and 1895, this book was reprinted several times. The Baybayin language can still be observed since a form of it is still in use by two indigenous Filipino groups, the Mangyans of the island of Mindoro and the Tagbanuas in the island of Palawan.

The origins of the Baybayin language are unknown, but various theories abound. The Mainland Origin Hypothesis by Peter Belwood stipulates that the language originated from South China and Taiwan. The Island Origin Hypothesis by Wilhelm Solheim suggests that the language originated in the islands of northern Indonesia and Mindanao and then spread northwards. Another theory by David Diringer states that the language derived from Kavi or old Javanese. Fletcher Gardner suggests that the writings came directly from Indian priests who were familiar with the Brahms scripts.

During the entire period of Spanish rule, education was controlled by the Catholic Church. In the place of tribal tutors, Spanish friars and missionaries educated the natives through religion. Upon their arrival, their main goals were to govern the islands, obtain a foothold in the spice trade, and to convert indigenous populations to the Catholic faith. The early friars learned the Baybayin script to allow for better communication with the islanders, particularly in the religious aspect. Religious education then took place using this language. By royal decree the friars were required to teach the Spanish language to the natives, but this was not enforced. This suppression of literacy in the language of the administration kept the inhabitants in ignorance and in subservience for more than 300 years. From 1565 to 1863, there was no specific system of instruction. Worse still, the Baybayin script was replaced by the Roman alphabet since using this gave the indigenous people more leverage dealing with the local Spanish colonial administrators. The Baybayin script was neglected and was not used by succeeding generations.

The San Carlos University was founded in Cebu in 1595. It was initially called the Colegio de San Ildefonso. On April 28, 1611, the University of Santo Tomas was founded in Manila. These universities, along with secondary education schools, were used mainly for Spanish locals.

In 1863, some 342 years after Magellan first arrived in the Philippine islands, Spain promulgated the Education Decree, stipulating compulsory primary education in the Philippines. Education served mainly for catechism purposes. Spanish was used as the language of instruction. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, some 200,000 students (all levels) were in school.

Although secondary and higher education were made available to the local inhabitants by virtue of the 1863 Education Decree, it was only the ilustrados (wealthy locals) who could afford to send their children to study. Some of them even ventured to Europe to complete their studies. This access to higher education and exposure to the liberal trends in Europe crystallized the idea of fighting for independence in the minds of the ilustrados. The education of the ilustrados indirectly fuelled the nationalist spirit of the locals toward a reform movement, and consequently a revolution against Spain.

The Education Decree of 1863 provided for two parts: first, the establishment of at least two free primary schools, one for boys and another for girls, in each town under the control of the municipal government; and second, the creation of a normal school to train men as teachers, supervised by the Jesuits. The teaching of Spanish was compulsory. On June 12, 1898, the revolutionary movement headed by Emilio Aguinaldo declared independence from Spain. Even before the Philippine islands were ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris, the revolutionaries had already drafted the main principles of the Malolos Constitution written mainly by Apolinario Mabini in his Constitution Program for the Republic published in July 1898. The Malolos Constitution mandated a free and compulsory system of elementary education. Three other schools of higher learning were established by this constitution: The Burgos Institute of Malolos; the Military Academy of Malolos; and the Literary University of the Philippines. Tagalog was the language used and taught at all levels during the revolution.

On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed. It stipulated that the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico be ceded to the United States in exchange for the sum of US$20 million. The people of the Phillipines were not consulted regarding this matter and were outraged. The brutal Philippine-American war ensued. Approximately 250,000 Filipinos died in the war in less than three years. Aguinaldo was captured by the Americans on March 23, 1901, and swore allegiance to the United States.

The first decade of American rule in the Philippines witnessed a marked improvement in education. The First Philippine Commission, also known as the Schurman Commission (created on January 20, 1899), was appointed by President McKinley of the United States. Schurman, previously the president of Cornell University, recommended a system of free public elementary schools as a major component of his report to the president. The Second Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission) on March 16, 1900, enforced this recommendation. Under the leadership of William Howard Taft, free primary education became the method by which locals were instructed of their duties as citizens. English became the language of instruction since most of the teachers were non-commissioned American military officers and military chaplains. From September 1900 to August 1902, the Taft Commission issued 499 laws, one of those being Act No. 74 which took effect on January 21, 1901. Through Act No. 74, a centralized public school system was installed under the Department of Public Instruction.

The creation of a public school system resulted in a shortage of instructors. The Taft Commission, through the Secretary of Public Instruction authorized the importation of teachers from the United States. More than one thousand American educators arrived in the Philippines from 1901 to 1902. Most of them arrived in the ship S.S. Thomas, thus their reputation as Thomasites. This marked a blossoming of education from only about 150,000 students enrolled in 1901 to about one million in primary schools after two decades. This total raised to over two million students in all levels by 1941. The Department of Public Instruction also created the Philippine Normal School to train more teachers. In 1902, the Second Philippine Commission also established a high school system supported by provincial governments. Other institutions of learning were established: special education; marine institute; school of arts and trades; agricultural; and commerce schools.

America's democratic emphasis on public, nonreligious education of the masses was quite a contrast to the Spanish educating only the elite in a system completely under the control of the Catholic Church. Education, the American way, became instilled into the Filipinos as a chance for upward social mobility. For the Filipino, earning a diploma ensures a good job and acceptance in society with a chance for a better future. Despite the initial friction between the mostly Protestant American teachers and the Catholic Filipinos, the American system of education prevailed. All through this tumultuous period, the institutions of learning created during the Spanish period (San Carlos University and the University of Santo Tomas) continued to offer degree programs. Act No. 1870 of the Philippine Legislature in 1908 established the first baccalaureate degree granting institution, the University of the Philippines. Like the other institutions of higher education in the Philippines, the organization of this university was European in style, but the language of instruction was English.

In 1916, during the governorship of Francis Harrison, the United States Congress passed the Second Organic Law, more frequently referred to as the Jones Act. This Act replaced the 1902 First Organic Law and was a reorganization act providing for rapid Filipinization of the government. The entire cabinet, other than the Department of Public Instruction, was composed of Filipinos. The legislative branch also came under Filipino control. Nine years after the Jones Law, a committee headed by Paul Monroe surveyed the state of education and found a very problematic and disappointing scenario. The problems included inadequate textbooks, poor budgetary/finance situations, a lack of trained educators, and high dropout and failure rates. In 1934, the U.S. Congress passed legislation for the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. It took effect in 1935. The new Commonwealth was provided with a transition period of ten years before full independence was achieved.

The Commonwealth government passed the Education Act of 1940, but this did not solve much of the problems still plaguing the Department of Public Instruction. As Filipino officials practiced self-governance, World War II suddenly ensued. The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, merely ten hours after Pearl Harbor. On June 11, 1942, the Japanese Executive Commission issued Military Order No. 2, renaming the Department of Public Instruction into the Commission of Education, Health, and Public Welfare. In 1943, the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic created the Ministry of Education. The Japanese emphasized dignity of labor and love for work. Philippine History, Character Education, and the Filipino language were some of the classes permitted by the Japanese regime for Filipino students. Despite efforts by the Japanese to maintain public education, the education of the young Filipinos was disrupted by this war. In 1944, close to the end of the Japanese regime, the Ministry of Education, Health, and Public Welfare was again renamed to the Department of Public Instruction.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

The Philippine traditional value of stressing the importance of education has been codified and incorporated into the constitutions and laws of the country. The first Philippine constitution, or the 1899 Constitution (also called the Malolos Constitution), expressly provided in Article 23 of Title IV that "public education shall be free and obligatory in all schools of the nation." Section 5 Article XIV of the 1935 Constitution, which was enacted for the Commonwealth government, stated that the "Government . . . shall provide at least free primary instruction, and citizenship training to adult citizens." The provision for free public elementary education was retained under the 1943 Constitution adopted by the Provisional government during World War II. This was carried over to the 1973 Constitution that took effect during the regime of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The 1987 Constitution took effect during the presidential term of Corazon Aquino. Several significant provisions on education were embodied in this constitution. Public elementary education was declared to be free and compulsory. Public high school and secondary education were also to be provided for free. Moreover, it was categorically stated in Section 5(5) of Article XIV that the "State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment."

The constitutional provisions on education are creditable considering that the various constitutions of the Philippines have been forged during times when the nation was on the verge of crucial political changes. When the 1899 Constitution was written, the Philippines was embroiled in the Philippine-American War. The 1935 Constitution was written when the Philippines was poised for independence from the United States of America. The 1943 Constitution occurred when Japan occupied the Philippines during World War II. By that time, the Filipinos were fighting for independence against a third foreign colonial power in less than fifty years. When the 1973 Constitution was declared ratified, the dictatorship of Marcos was in full swing. He and his cronies had engineered political and civil unrest to justify the declaration of Martial Law and the indefinite extension of his term in power. Marcos was ousted during the peaceful EDSA Revolution of 1986. The 1987 Constitution was drafted as the country struggled to recover from three decades of Marcos' economic plunder and dictatorship. Political stability has not gained an enduring foothold in the Philippines. The term of office of President Aquino was marked by several attempted coups d'état.

The next president, Fidel V. Ramos, forged peace with the Muslims in the Southern part of the country and brought economic growth. However, his accomplishments were curtailed by his successor, Joseph Estrada. Estrada was elected into the presidency by popular vote in 1998. Conflicts with the Muslims re-ignited after the Muslims kidnapped Filipino citizens and foreigners. Allegations of corruption on a massive scale were filed against Estrada in October 2000. Confidence in his leadership quickly eroded as government officials, prominent political leaders, the military, and his cabinet successively called for his resignation. The people again took to the streets in peaceful protest. In January 2001, he resigned his post and handed the reigns of government to his Vice-President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. An impeachment trial was ongoing when he resigned. Political instability dramatically and adversely affected education. Economic adversity quietly caused systemic educational instability.

Despite the categorical affirmation in the 1987 Constitution for the State to assign the highest budgetary priority to education, this was not followed. The economic plunder of the country by some of its leaders and their cohorts (both Filipino and foreign) left the Philippines with a huge foreign debt that amounted to over US$45 billion in 1997. Annual interest payments alone exceeded US$4.5 billion. Deficits in needed classrooms, textbooks, and salaried teacher positions have accumulated over the years. As of April 2000, the public education system had a deficiency of 37,000 classrooms, 10 million textbooks, 29,000 salaried teacher positions, and 2.6 million desks. These backlogs were not met and spilled over to the succeeding school years. Despite the desperate need for more textbooks, classrooms, teachers, and learning materials, debt servicing takes up the bulk of the fiscal budget every year.

Educational System—An Overview

Three government organizations handle education in the Philippines. These are the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). In 1999, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports, which governs both public and private education in all levels, stated that its mission was "to provide quality basic education that is equitably accessible to all by the foundation for lifelong learning and service for the common good." The Department also stipulated its vision to "develop a highly competent, civic spirited, life-skilled, and God-loving Filipino youth who actively participate in and contribute towards the building of a humane, healthy and productive society." All these ambitions were embodied in the development strategy called "Philippines 2000."

The academic year in the Philippines is patterned after its wet/cool and dry/hot seasons. The hottest months of the year are from March to May, thus making them the "summer break." The wet season starts in June, which also marks the beginning of the academic school year. Beginning 1993, DECS increased the number of school days from 185 to 200. The school year ends during the first few weeks of March. The Philippines, a Catholic country, has a two- to three-week break during Christmas in December and a four- to five-day break at the start of November to celebrate the Day of the Saints and the Day of the Dead.

The language of instruction has been a much debated topic. For a country dispersed over 7,107 islands, with 11 languages and 87 dialects, colonized by Spain for more than 300 years, and educated by the Americans, the decision to pick a particular language of instruction has been very controversial. The languages used for instruction have switched from Spanish to Tagalog, to English to the local vernacular, including some Chinese languages, and Arabic, which is used in the southern part of the country.

According to an official publication of the U.S. Library of Congress, the Philippine census reported that during the 1990s a total of 65 percent of Filipinos understood English. During the last four decades of the twentieth century, education in all levels had vastly improved. In the compulsory elementary level, from 1965-1966, there were a total of 5.8 million students enrolled, 4.5 percent of which were in private institutions. In 1987-1988 these numbers grew to 9.6 million enrolled, 6.6 percent of which were in private schools. By school year 1999-2000, 12.6 million were enrolled with 7.1 percent in the private sector. This level is for grades 1 through 6—ages 7 to 12. The various Philippine grade levels are referred to with cardinal numbers (one, two, three) rather than ordinal numbers (first, second, third). Secondary education is taught for 4 years from ages 13 to 16.

Primary and secondary schools are taught from Monday to Friday, starting at 7:30 A.M. The school day begins with a flag raising, national anthem, and pledge of allegiance. Students usually have an hour for lunch. School cafeterias are mostly non-existent and those that exist are largely inadequate. Students either go home for lunch or pack their lunch. Some parents, usually mothers, come to school to bring warm lunch for their children. Classes resume for the afternoon, until about 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. In some areas, due to lack of facilities, certain schools are forced to have double shifts, minimizing the hours children spend in school.

Access has been a problem for certain sectors of the population and DECS has made this the number one priority. In the secondary level for 1965-1966, approximately 1.17 million students were enrolled with 62.3 percent in the private sector. In 1987-1988, there was a total of 3.49 million students enrolled, 40.8 percent of whom were in private schools. By 1999-2000 there was an overall total of 5.1 million students, with 24 percent in private schools.

Higher education in the Philippines is strongly in the private sector. Most bachelor degrees are for four years. Students are usually from 17 to 20 years old. In 1985, the private sector of higher education was close to 80 percent of the student population. Of these institutions one-third are considered non-profit, while two-thirds function for monetary gain. This has lead to the reputation of certain schools as "diploma mills" and to the more serious problem of producing unqualified, unemployed, and underemployed graduates.

During the 1970s, there was a wide discrepancy in the literacy rates of the various regions of the country. The capital region of Metro Manila had a 95 percent literacy rate; the Central Luzon area had a 90 percent literacy rate while the Western portion of Mindanao had a 65 percent rate. Three principal indigenous languages in the Manila area are Cebuano in the Visayas, Tagalog and Ilocano in the northern portion of Luzon. In 1939 Philipino (which is based on the Tagalog language) was made the national language. Philipino later evolved to Filipino which is based on the languages used in the Philippines. English still remains the most important non-indigenous language used by media, higher education, private, primary and secondary schools, government administration, and business. Only a handful of families have maintained speaking in Spanish. The multiplicity of languages used in the Philippines has not affected its literacy rate of 94.6 percent, one of the highest in East Asia and the Pacific region.

Technology use is starting to gain momentum in the overall education of the Philippines. In 1999, there were 93 Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the country. By the beginning of 2001, the participation of nongovernmental organizations and the private sector in education was evident with the donation of 1,000 personal computers for use during school year 2001-2002 in 1,000 public high schools of 16 regions. The program, called One Thousand PCs, has four major components, namely: curriculum development with the creation of a one year course on computer education as a specialization in entrepreneurship; teacher training for recipient schools; courseware development through the creation of Information Technology materials; and the purchase of hardware from the private sector through the Adopt-A-School Program. The Department of Trade and Industry chaired this project.

Curricular development is under the jurisdiction of the DECS. Authority slowly trickled down to the municipal/local levels as the system shifted to decentralize decision-making and empower local schools. Despite these efforts, much of the important decisions, such as the purchase of all public school textbooks, is done by DECS.

Important curricular changes needed to respond to emerging student needs are limited due to budgetary constraints. Three tests are administered to students, the preparation for which must be addressed through further curricular development. These tests are the National Elementary Aptitude Test (NEAT), the National Secondary Aptitude Test (NSAT), and the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE).

The Philippine population grows at a rate of 2.07 percent per year. In July 2000, the estimated population was 81,159,644 people. About 37 percent of this population was from birth to 14-years-old. A 2 percent yearly population growth translates to about 1.6 million children born every year. This growth rate strains the resources of the educational system. During 1999-2000, a 2 percent increase in the number of students meant 8,000 more classrooms needed. The deficit was 29,000 since DECS was able to build only 6,000 new rooms for the year. More teachers required (total lack of 21,000 since the budget allowed for hiring only 4,700 new teachers) 400,000 more desks (of the 2.2 million needed, only 500,000 were purchased) and 10 million additional textbooks with a ratio of 2 students per book. To alleviate this strain, certain schools hold double sessions (one in the morning and another in the afternoon) in elementary schools. Some high schools even have triple sessions due to space and resource problems.

As for gender distribution in the elementary level, male and female students are almost equally represented, while there are more females students at the secondary and higher education level. In rural areas, men are expected to do work while women are allowed to pursue education. Males have a higher rate of failure, dropout, and repetition in both elementary and secondary levels.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Preprimary and primary educational matters are handled by the Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE), under DECS. Preprimary is available in the Philippines for children below the age of six. From age three to five, students first attend nursery school, and then they attend kindergarten. Most private schools offer these programs, particularly in religious schools. Several Montessori schools are available. The Philippine Education for All Assessment Report 2000, an independent evaluation of the education system from 1991 to 2000, stated that the preprimary services had reached only 19.5 percent of the 11.5 million children aged zero to six.

There was, however, an 82 percent increase in the number of public day-care centers from 1993 to 1999. This translates to 32,787 centers. These constructed daycare centers had been able to reach less than half of the 3.2 million who had to have preprimary care by the year 2000.

Six years of primary education is compulsory and is provided free of charge in public schools. In 1998, almost 30 percent of grade 1 entry-age children entered school, an increase of 10 percent since the equivalent rate in 1990 was 20 percent.

The Philippine Education for All Assessment Report of 2000 also stated that a "huge population of children were either over-aged or under-aged for grade one." Families were postponing the education of young children as girls were often asked to take care of younger siblings, and together with boys, help in livelihood.

The number one priority of BEE has been to make primary education accessible for all qualified students. This goal has been met successfully. Some 95 percent of children from ages six to twelve attend primary school. The Early Childhood Development Project (ECDP) is a six-year (1998-2004) joint project of three departments: DECS, the Department of Health, and the Department of Social Welfare. The program, aimed at children under six, shares responsibility for preparing a child for elementary education by providing an eight-week refresher course for grade one entrants in their first two-month-stay in school.

For the school year 2000-2001, DECS projects that 12.75 million students will enroll in primary school. In 1992-1993, there were 34,944 schools, of these 1,974 were private. There were 39,342 elementary schools in 1999-2000, a total of 3,555 of which were private schools serving 7.17 percent of the student body. The gross teacher-pupil ratio was 1:34. The percentage of students passing the NEAT was 76.54 percent.

From 1992 to 2000, the participation rate increased from 85.21 percent to 96.95 percent. Unfortunately dropout rates for the same years also increased from 6.65 percent to 9.38 percent. As of 2000, a total of 4,710 barangays (similar to communities) did not have an elementary school. Performance indicators, key indicators computed to evaluate the system's performance at various levels, show that participation rate has improved from 85.21 percent in 1992-1993 to 96.95 percent in 1999-2000. Completion rate for these same years increased from 66.59 percent to 68.06 percent.

The National Elementary Aptitude Test (NEAT) was first taken by primary students during the 1993-1994 school year, with 55 percent of students passing (50 percent or higher). By 1998-1999, the passing rate was 73.21 percent.

The main mission of the Bureau of Elementary Education is to provide access, progress, and quality in primary education. This body not only formulates key programs but also implements and supervises the varied projects that will eventually enable every citizen "to acquire basic preparation that will make him an enlightened, disciplined, nationalistic, self-reliant, God-loving, creative, versatile, and productive member of the national community." Filipino is used to teach such subjects as Work Education, Physical Education, Social Studies, Health Education, and Character Education. English is used in all mathematics and science classes.

For the school year 2000-2001, BEE had a number of projects and programs: the Multigrade Program in Philippine Education (MPPE) was designed to improve access to and provide quality elementary education through the opening of complete multigrade classes and completion of incomplete schools in remote barangays. MPPE projects included Multigrade Demo Schools Projects (MDSP), Pupil Learning Enhancement Program (PLEP), Little Red School House Project (LRSP), and the Integrated Curriculum for Multigrade Classes (IC-MG).

One of the projects was called the Early Childhood Development Project (ECDP). It outlined the broad policy directions for the State to pursue for Filipino children under six-years-old.

The Preschool Service Contracting Program was another program used by BEE. Preschool classes were organized in the 5th and 6th municipalities and urban poor areas, and were provided preschool experiences for 6 months by private preschool providers.

The SPED Personnel Enhancement Program offered short term summer/semester courses, seminar or training workshops, and national conferences done year round. This program was primarily aimed at honing the capabilities of regular and SPED teachers, administrators, supervisors, and other service providers.

The Resource Materials Development for Children with Special Needs (CSNs) was another important project. It dealt with the development and production of various resource and instructional materials, which included textbooks in braille and in large print, Handbook on Inclusive Education, Reference or Guide Materials for Teachers of Children with Learning Disabilities, Learning Competencies for the Gifted in Grades one to three, and Enrichment materials in six learning areas including Computer Education.

Another BEE program was called the Early Intervention Program for Children with Disabilities. This program focused on the training of SPED teachers and social workers as facilitators to provide parents and other community volunteers with knowledge and skills on educational intervention that should be given to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers under age 6 who are disabled or those with developmental delays.

Standards for Quality Elementary Education (SQEE) was another program utilized by BEE. It generated competency standards for the workforce in all levels of elementary education.

In response to the Social Reform Agenda (SRA) of the Philippine government, funded in part by loans from the World Bank, the Third Elementary Education Program (TEEP) was created. According to the World Bank (WB), TEEP would address areas of weakness in the primary education system such as decentralization of authority to local government units, increase the participation rate from nongovernmental organizations such as parents' associations, private business, and the community at large. The Philippines has not had a strong history of parental associations in the educational system set-up. Despite the great start of this project, the WB stated that caution was needed since the project had a "high-risk, high-reward approach." The BEE cited the main objectives of TEEP as being quality education, capacity for change, and maximizing community and local government roles.

The Social Reform Agenda of the Philippine Government had initially targeted twenty under-served provinces for TEEP, while the Presidential Commission to Fight Poverty added six more. Poverty in these provinces is more acute, with 60 percent of the population below the poverty level. The project will be implemented in 3 batches: Batch 1 (2000-2003), six pilot provinces, namely Ifugao, Benguet, Antique, Guimaras, Agusan del Sur, and Surigao del Sur; Batch 2 (2003-2006), eight provinces, namely Romblon, Masbate, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Biliran, Zamboanga del Sur, and North Cotabato; and Batch 3 (2000-2006), twelve provinces, namely, Abra, Mt. Province, Kalinga Apayao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Batanes, Aurora, Capiz, Eastern Samar, and Basilan.

The TEEP's loan of funds from the World Bank (WB) was approved by its board in November 1996 and had a project span date starting July 2, 1997, until June 30, 2004. In 1998, the Quality Assurance Group Risk of the WB rated the project's progress as "non-risky" and the Operations Evaluation Department's Quality at Entry Rating was "highly satisfactory." Both its latest Development Objectives Supervision Rating and Latest Implementation Progress Supervision Rating were rated "satisfactory."

While 90 percent of Filipinos are Christian (83 percent Catholic), 5 percent of the population is Muslim (Moslem). The Muslim population is concentrated in the Southern island of Mindanao. The Mindanao Basic Education Development Project, which lasts from 2000 to 2007, is particularly geared to provide an educational system suited to the diverse culture and needs of the children and youth learners in Mindanao. English and Filipino are used as the media of instruction for primary school, beginning with the first grade. The local vernacular may be used as an auxiliary language of instruction, but must be used only when neither English nor Filipino could be used for full comprehension of certain concepts.

Secondary Education

Governance of the four-year high school education falls under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE) of DECS. Although secondary education is provided free in public schools, participation rate has been inferior in comparison to primary education. In 1965-1966, there were 1,173,000 students in secondary education, a majority of which was in private schools (731,000 or 62.3 percent). In 1987-1988, there were 3,494,460 students with 1,404,387 or 40.8 percent in private schools. In 1992-1993, participation rate was 56.76 percent, with 5,757 total schools (2,285 private) and the total enrollment was 4,450,000 students (1,520,000 in private schools). There were 125,142 teachers (39,822 private). The gross teacher-student ratio was 1:36. The dropout rate was 7 percent. In 1993-1994, 75 municipalities had no high school facilities available. By 1999-2000, there were 5,160,000 students with 1,240,000 being in private schools. The teacher-student ratio was 1:35. By this time, only five municipalities did not have high school facilities. The National Secondary Aptitude test was first implemented in 1994-1995, where the passing rate was 77.32 percent. By 1998-1999, a total of 94.76 percent passed.

BSE has a Curriculum Development Division which coordinates and implements research projects on curriculum changes and innovations. There is also the Staff Development Division for the training and development of teachers, administrators, and staff of the bureau. The Population Education Unit is geared to provide high school students a better grasp of population related issues to enable them to make sound and responsible decisions.

In 1993, DECS formulated a Manual of Information on Secondary Education of the Philippines where it specifies its missions, goals, and functions. The secondary education mission statement was: "to determine a complete, adequate and integrated system of education, both formal and nonformal; to supervise and regulate appropriately all educational institutions; and to develop and promote culture and sports in order to prepare the present and the next generation for life." Briefly stated, it is four specific goals covering the areas of broad general education, training in middle level skills, developing for improving the quality of human life, and responding to the changing needs and conditions of the nation. The manual lists the functions of secondary education in three major aspects which are: formulation of policies, plans, and projects; the supervision of all public and private institutions; and the maintenance of a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the goals of national development.

During the beginning of 2001, BSE had 12 active projects and a flagship 6-year program (SEDIP).

Adopt-a-school was a partnership between school and industry to maximize provisions of the resources to public schools. In February 2001, this program was able to procure one thousand PCs for one thousand facilities in sixteen regions nationwide along with provisions to train one teacher in each facility to use and implement technology applications to learning.

Balik-Paaralan sa (Out-of-School Adults (BP-OSA, Back-to-School for Out-of-School Adults) was another project of BSE. As of the beginning of 2001, there are 31 high schools serving some 1,381 adult students in this project.

Another project was Community Service and Public Safety Training (CS-PST). This curriculum relevance project was tested in six private and public schools in the underserved regions of Central Visayas and Southern Mindanao.

Government Assistance to Student and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) was a project utilized by BSE. It was a contract between government and private schools that allowed students who were unable to attend the free public secondary schools to enroll in private schools. In January 1999, there were 374,918 student beneficiaries in 1,122 participating schools for the Education Service Contracting and 162,966 recipients of Tuition Fee Supplements in 638 schools.

Home-Partnership Program (HPP), Population Education Program (PEP) and Population Education Information Network (POPEDIN) were inter-related programs dealing with the topics such as population education and the more delicate topic of adolescent reproductive health.

Another project of BSE was Indigenization/Localization of the Secondary Education Curriculum. This project dealt with the contextualization of the curriculum within the local culture.

Project Effective and Affordable Secondary Education (EASE) was a project that targeted students in disadvantaged situations who were unable to attend regular sessions. EASE provided a temporary study-at-home solution until the student was able to return to the formal classroom setting.

Another BSE project was the Revitalized Homeroom Guidance Program (RHGP). It was a counseling program where school staff members and teachers were given a week-long training to better match students in their aptitude and career interests.

School-Based Education was another project used by BSE. It was a form of self-evaluation by schools, which was initiated, planned, and administered by the principal and the teachers themselves.

Another project was the Self-Instructional Packages in the Social Reform Agenda Provinces. It provided materials to discourage students from dropping out due to poverty/illness. Teacher Training Programs was another BSE project. It was geared mostly to train teachers in science and technology.

Thinking Skills Development for Maximized Cognitive Performance (TSD-MCP) was a program that was initiated in six schools to research and develop steps to improve student cognitive and thinking skills.

In 1983-1984, DECS launched the Program for Decentralized Education (PRODED) for elementary education to modify the curriculum and put emphasis on science, technology, math, reading, and writing. As a follow-up to this, the New Secondary Education Curriculum (NSEC) was implemented in 1989 to replace the 1973 Revised Secondary Education Program (RSEP). NSEC is a major part of the Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP) to bring PRODED into the High School system, to improve quality of graduates, and to expand access to quality education. NSEC brings forth a student-centered, community-oriented style of education where Values Education is incorporated into the teaching of other subject areas.

The eight subject areas are English, Filipino, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science and Technology, Physical Education, Health, and Music (PEHM), Technology and Home Economics, and Values Education. Four years of secondary education is required by most of the higher institutions. Philippine secondary education is composed of academic and vocational curricula. A curriculum for secondary schools introduced in 1989 made Filipino the language of instruction for all subjects except mathematics and sciences. The mathematics curriculum was also changed by the 1993 NSEC. The 1973 Revised Secondary Education Program (RSEP) required that areas of mathematics be taught in yearlong discipline based subjects: Arithmetic in the first year, elementary algebra in the second year, geometry in the third year, and advanced algebra in the fourth year. The NSEC mandates that for each year level, portions of algebra, geometry and measurement, trigonometry, statistics, and consumer mathematics would be included. The level of difficulty increases for each year level. This process allots math subjects with 200 minutes per week, 40 minutes daily.

The programs RSEP, PROPED, NSEC, and SEDP all lead to the Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project SEDIP (2000-2006). SEDIP is similar to TEEP. The goal of the project is to improve equitable access to quality secondary education in poverty affected areas. The three main objectives in the areas of improvement of quality education are increased rates of participation, completion, and decentralization of management and decision making at the provincial level. The program involves the construction of new school buildings; improvement of school facilities; provision of textbooks, manuals and instructional aids; and extensive in-service training programs for teachers and school administrators. The total project cost is $170 million. DECS implemented the 1999 and 2000 Computerization Program, and this allowed 325 public secondary schools to become recipients of computer packages and teacher training.

Higher Education

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) works with DECS to regulate higher education in the Philippines. This organization was created through Republic Act No.7722, also known as the Higher Education Act of 1994, during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos. The commission's vision is the pursuit of a better quality of life for all through education. Most institutions of higher education are in the private sector and there is a large concentration of them in the metropolitan area of Manila. In 1965-1966, there were a total of 527,000 students (468,00 private) in 466 schools (440 private). In 1984-1985, this number more than tripled to 1.73 million students (1.34 million private) in 1,157 schools (838 private). Statistics from CHED show that by 1998, there were 1,495 schools (1,118 private). About 25 foreign nationalities and citizenships are represented amongst the higher education students. China, USA, and Thailand have the most representation.

Higher education programs are offered in the following fields (with the number of students for the years 1990 and 1995 in parenthesis): arts and sciences (187,313 and 226,111); teacher education (257,638 and 276,046); engineering and technology (228,757 and 275,695); medical and health (272,784 and 238,988); commerce (380,491 and 603,575); agriculture (50,006 and 72,656); law (14,581 and 13,983); religion (4,711 and 8,262); information technology (36,947 and 117,799); maritime (92,114 and 137,584); and criminology (24,297 and 47,273). Commerce is the most popular program. There has been a rapid increase, up to 218 percent, in the number of students taking information technology.

Since 1973, students are required to take the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), before they can begin higher education. This exam is administered during the fourth year of high school. A controversial issue regarding this exam is the use of English, which prejudices against students from rural and poor areas.

Tuition in private schools of higher education is higher than that of public schools although private tuition rates sometimes mean less expenditure per student as compared to public institutions. It has even been suggested to the Philippine government that they might save money by offering government scholarships for students to enroll in private schools.

During the school year 1989-1990, the four autonomous campuses and five regional units of the University of the Philippines initiated a program of socialized tuition and subsidies named Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP). During its first year, 44 percent of the 26,000 undergraduate students received free tuition. A tuition reduction or discount of 25 to 75 percent was given to another 22 percent. Living and book allowances are other forms of subsidy under this program and some 24 percent of undergraduate students received these.

Through CHED, various projects have been created to improve higher education, namely: National Higher Education Research Agenda (NHERA), Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program, 1996 CHED Computerization Program, and Centers of Excellence/Centers of Development.

During the 1980s and 1990s, higher education institutions were producing many graduates who were unable to find employment to match their educational skills. This lead to certain institutions being known as "diploma mills," earning profit for churning out jobless graduates or underemployed graduates. It also created a group of highly educated, discontented youth quick to criticize the administration. To prevent this situation from further deteriorating, two surveys were performed: Higher Education Labor Market Surveys I and II or HELMS I and II. These studies researched and surveyed the transition from school to work over a period of time, then made recommendations based on their findings.

With the Philippine economy unable to employ its graduates, these skilled workers looked overseas for employment. An exodus of professionals and skilled laborers ensued. This situation has been referred to as the "brain drain" of the Philippines. In 1996, the Philippine National Statistics Office reported that the majority of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) were in Asia/Middles East (78.8 percent). While definitely being a grave problem, it has had some positive effects. According to the US State Government Background Notes on the Philippines, the country's economy was less severely damaged by the Asian financial crisis of 1997 due to the considerable remittances from overseas workers, totaling approximately $5 billion annually.

Of the 650 institutions providing higher education in the country, 550 are private colleges, 35 are private universities, 25 are state colleges, and 7 are state universities. In 1987 there were 274 graduate schools (196 private) in the Philippines, most of which were located in Metro Manila. There were 44,427 students in the master's programs while 4,848 were in doctoral programs during 1985-1986. About 2 percent of all students in higher education were in the graduate level. For this same period 176 graduate programs were available in Metro Manila. These post-graduate programs were in the arts and sciences (81), agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (34), and teacher education (20).

Some 147 schools offered M.B.A.s while 141 institutions offered M.A.s in education. The highest number of doctoral students was in the field of education. The majority of faculty members teaching higher education have received either a B.S./B.A. degree or a master's degree. Only about 4 percent have their doctoral degrees, and most of them are at the University of the Philippines. Faculty development becomes a major issue since schools have difficulty recruiting highly qualified faculty members due to low salary levels. Colleges and universities usually lose their professors to industries that have better pay or to overseas employers who pay in dollars.

Higher education is slowly catching up with the information age as more institutions are going online. During the beginning of 2001, there were a number of institutions with their own Web sites. Various public and private sites have also surfaced to provide services to students in higher education. The notable ones are the Advanced Science and Technology Institute, Kodiko Online, 2StudyIt.com, Education for Life Foundation, Estudyante.com, FAPENET, Gurong Pahinugod, Iskolar.com, and others. School budgetary problems limit the access of students to technology in the classroom.

Administration, Finance, & Educational Research

The Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS) administers, supervises, and regulates primary and secondary education. In 1994, the Commission for Higher Education (CHED) was established. It has supervision and regulatory powers over both public and private higher education institutions as well as degree-granting programs in all public and private postsecondary educational institutions.

The task of overseeing postsecondary technicalvocational education and the training and development of out-of-school youth and unemployed community adults used to be distributed among a few government agencies. These agencies were fused together in 1994 to create the Technical Education and Skills Authority (TESDA). The agencies concerned are the National Manpower and Youth Council of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Bureau of Technical and Vocational Education of DECS, and the Apprenticeship Program of the Bureau of Local Employment of the DOLE. They were put together to prevent overlapping functions and to provide a centralized agency to give national direction for the government programs concerning the technicalvocational education and training system of the country. The focus of TESDA is to realize the full participation of industry, labor, local government units and technicalvocational institutions in the country's skilled manpower development programs.

As compared to other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, the Philippine government expenditures for education is low considering the state's task of providing free education. In 1994, the Philippine government spent 2.7 percent of the gross domestic product to education compared with Malaysia's 5.4 percent and Thailand's 3.5 percent. The proportion of national government budget allocated to education has varied from a high of 31.53 percent in 1957 to a low of 7.61 percent in 1981. It stood at 15.5 percent in 1987 and at 14.0 percent in 1997. In 1997, debt service payment was 40 percent of the national budget.

The State's responsibility to provide education had been transferred to the local government units and the private sector through the processes of "devolution" and "decentralization." These processes provide a solution for the financially strapped government but it may worsen existing inequities where poorer and richer local government units will be duplicated in the educational units themselves. The disparities between the poor and the rich schools may be widened.

Filipino research on education is hampered by a scarcity of funds. The approach and scope has mostly been confined within the parameters of pragmatism. Research is conducted to find solutions to urgent problems. Sometimes, the research itself is skipped such as when computers were bought en masse by DECS and private schools. The hasty incorporation of computer education into the curricula had prompted the procurement of the computers. Unfortunately, training in technology use by teachers lags behind the procurement of expensive equipment.

DECS offers a Computer Literacy Program and a Distance Learning Program. On June 2000, a new method to upgrade teaching skills was introduced at the annual conference of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges. A master's degree can be earned primarily using Internet resources.

Nonformal Education

The mission of Nonformal Education (NFE) in the Philippines is to empower the Filipino with "desirable knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that will enable him/her to think critically and creatively, act innovatively and humanely in improving the quality of his/her life and that of his/her family, community and country." NFE aims to reduce the number of illiterate out-of-school youth and adults with need-based literacy programs, plus continue education through basic development projects. Activities that fall under this system of education range from vocational training to adult reading classes, from family planning sessions to cultural and leadership workshops for community leaders.

This branch of education is governed by the DECS Bureau of Nonformal Education(BNFE) and its history can be traced as far back as 1908 when ACT No. 1829 was created to provide for the delivery of civicoeducational lectures in towns and barrios. Six years later the act was amended to assign teachers in public schools to give the lectures. The New Commonwealth government passed Act No. 80 in 1936 to create the Office of Adult Education as part of the then Department of Instruction. A decade later, this branch was transformed into the Adult and Community Education Division of the Bureau of Public Schools. After the declaration of Martial Law, the Marcos government's Philippine Constitution of 1973 created the position of the Undersecretary of Nonformal Education.

The Education Act of 1982 created the Bureau of Continuing Education from the Office of Nonformal Education. The Aquino government after the People Power Revolution, enacted Executive Order No. 117 in 1987 to create the Bureau of Nonformal Education. Article 14, section 2(4) of the 1987 Philippine Constitution stated: "The state shall encourage nonformal, formal, indigenous learning systems, as well as self-learning, independent and out-of-school study programs, particularly those that respond to community needs; and provide adult citizens, the disabled and out-of school youth training in civics, vocational efficiency and other skills." Nonformal education, in this sense, is designed to extend, complement, and provide an alternative to the existing educational system. Human development thus becomes an important factor in alleviating poverty.

The National Statistics Office of the Philippines reported that in 1989, there were 3,000,000 school youths between the ages of 7 to 24. This increased to 3,800,000 by 1994. The highest percentage of these youths was from the Western Mindanao region. Out-of-school women outnumbered the men by 6.7 percent. On October 16, 1990, Proclamation No. 480 declared the period from 1990 to 1999 as the Decade of Education for All, with the goal of meeting the educational needs of the poor and under educated.

BNFE is divided into three divisions: the Literacy Division (LD), the Continuing Education Division (CED), and the Staff Development Division (SDD). The bureau outlines its functions as: serving the needs of those unable to avail of formal education; expanding access to educational opportunities; and providing opportunities for the acquisition of skills to ensure employability, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness in the labor market. BNFE funds come from three main sources which are: the General Appropriations Act, loans from the Asian Development Bank, and funds from other international agencies such as UNESCO, UNICEF, ACCU, and elsewhere.

In 1995, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) was established to help regulate non-degree technical-vocational programs. TESDA was also in charge of skill orientation, training, and development of out-of-school youth and unemployed community adults.

Teaching Profession

The higher education system is not producing enough teachers to meet the expanding needs of the entire educational system of the country. In the academic year 1990-1991 DECS reported that there was not enough teachers. In elementary education they needed some 24,260 teachers, while secondary education lacked 22,450 teachers. These deficits were caused by the provision of free public secondary education. The mere 19,608 increase in students studying teacher education from 1990 to 1995 was not sufficient to fill the lack of teachers. As was stated in the overview, for school year 2000-2001 there was a lack of 29,000 teachers. The teaching career is not attracting students since it has a reputation for being an underpaid and unrewarding profession. Despite incentives from the government, more students are taking up commerce, perhaps due to the image of the business profession as a faster route to social mobility. Reports have also indicated the existence of corruption within the educational system and this greatly affects the morale of faculty and staff.

Recent studies have shown that not only is there a need for more teachers in the sciences and mathematics, but that present teachers in these two fields have to undergo further training and development. In 1989, the Philippines received a major grant from the Japanese government to begin construction of two new teacher retraining facilities in science education. These facilities are located in Baguio City and inside the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus.

In 1987 the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports sponsored the Task Force to Study State Higher Education. It recommended the identification and designation of certain campuses for teacher retraining. These campuses would serve as centers for advancement of education in designated special fields of teaching. The Task Force also recommended using actual public schools for practice teaching rather than university-based laboratory schools. This was done to promote the relationship between educational teaching programs and public schools.

The qualification to teach in elementary and preprimary schools is a bachelor's degree in elementary education. To teach secondary education, the teacher must have either a bachelor's degree in education which a major and a minor; an equivalent degree but also with a major and a minor; or a bachelor's degree in arts and/or sciences with at least 18 education units for teaching in high school.

Decentralization efforts in elementary and high school educational systems will require a more active role from principals, superintendents, and local community leaders. The TEEP and the SEDP programs are responsible for monitoring this transition process. Public institutions for higher education require that the teacher have at least an M.A. to be awarded the rank of Assistant Professor. Labor laws stipulate that faculty members become permanent (similar to tenured) after three years. The evaluation for this promotion is mostly based on performance, attendance, and tardiness. Extra-curricular activities such as publications, research, scholarship, and community services are rarely required. Since teaching is neither a lucrative nor a well-paying job, many professors in medicine, engineering, law, and business teach only on a part-time basis while maintaining other jobs within the industry. A DECS survey during the late 1980s showed 16 percent of total faculty members in public schools as part-time, while over 40 percent of the faculty in private schools were part-time.

In 1987, a study of 64 of the 78 State Colleges and Universities showed that of the 10,546 faculty members, 57 percent were women, 56 percent had only their B.S./B.A. degrees, about 33 percent had M.S./M.A. degrees, while 10 percent had their doctorates. This 10 percent rate goes down to 4 percent when private school faculty members are included. The decade from 1991 to 2000 marked a 400 percent increase in the salaries of public school teachers. However, the added expense cut into the funding for public elementary education, textbooks, educational materials, and facilities. The marked increase in teacher salaries only gave them a compensation package that is 1.2 times higher than the poverty threshold.

Summary

The Filipinos were literate even before they were colonized by Spain, the United States of America, and Japan. They may no longer be physically colonized but the ballooning economic debt, for which they may not have fully benefited, curtails their freedom. More than 32 percent of the population lives below poverty level as of 1997. Their innate desire for knowledge has been reinforced by the hope that good education can provide upward economic mobility. Steps for the realization of this hope has been codified into the constitution of the Philippines, which categorically states that the highest budgetary priority shall be given to education.

Faced with a lack of employment opportunities in their home country, at least 4.5 million of the well-educated labor force have sought and found work in other countries. They have sent their earnings back to their families and relatives in the Philippines. Overseas remittances in 1997 had amounted to US$4.5 billion. This amount, however, does not rebound for the benefit of education or the people of the country. Debt servicing in the form of interest payments for the same year amounted in excess of US$4.5 billion, which comprised the majority of the annual budget, at 40 percent. However, the ingrained resilience of the Filipinos has produced a population with 95 percent literacy despite adverse times. The over-populated country has turned the manpower section of the population into its biggest export and income-earner. The Filipinos may yet learn lessons from their economic bondage and realize that education can provide not only upward economic mobility but also economic empowerment.

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—Juanita Villena-Alvarez and Victoria Villena