24/01/2026
𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺’𝘀 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻!
𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸—𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸!
𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲. It is war waged with budgets that never meet the need, policies that fracture responsibility, and a political will that finds endless resources for debt servicing, big businesses, corporate profits and militarism but not for classrooms and teachers.
Our classrooms overflow with fifty, sixty, even seventy learners in spaces built for far fewer. In some regions, children spend their day in four or more shifts simply to fit into schools that cannot accommodate them. This shortage will not disappear soon; projections show the Philippines may still lack tens of thousands of classrooms by 2040 if current trends continue.
Meanwhile, the foundations of learning have collapsed. According to the latest assessments by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), only 15 percent of Grade 1 to 3 learners can read at grade level. Meaning, 85 percent are struggling readers just as they begin their education. By senior high school, proficiency shrinks to essentially near zero, with less than one in 200 learners meeting expected standards in the upper grades.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄, 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸, 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆— 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
There are deeper scars beneath these figures. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey, over 24 million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 are functionally illiterate, and nearly six million are basically illiterate. Even among those who “finish” school, far too many leave without the literacy or cognitive foundation that education is supposed to guarantee.
Higher education, too, bears the marks of this war. State universities and colleges swell with students qualifying for free tuition, yet the support for infrastructure, faculty, laboratories, and student services lags far behind. EDCOM 2’s review of CHED’s mandate reveals that after 30 years, the Commission on Higher Education has still only “partially realized” its mission to align tertiary education with national development goals. In the past decade, CHED has named no new Centers of Excellence and has not actively supported voluntary accreditation despite clear legal obligations.
The vacuum left by this incomplete mandate has been filled with distortion rather than progress. Over half of all graduate enrollment in the country is concentrated in education programs, many of which suffer from poor quality and low completion rates: eight out of ten graduate students fail to finish within the prescribed timeframe. Meanwhile, specialized fields like STEM, so urgently needed by public schools, are marginalized.
𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗸, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲: 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀, 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.
And what makes this violence all the more egregious is its intentionality: it is baked into laws and policies that fragment responsibility, that treat education as an expense to be minimized, a market to be managed, a private benefit rather than a public right. To call this system broken is to excuse it; to name it neoliberalism is to locate its cause, and to point toward what must be undone.
Corruption also infiltrates programs that are meant to expand access. In the Senior High School Voucher Program, the Department of Education uncovered “ghost students”, fictional enrollees used to claim millions in vouchers that never served real learners: a scam amounting to more than ₱52.5 million in just one school year. Meanwhile, the Commission on Audit has flagged DepEd for billions in disallowances, suspensions, unutilized funds, and unliquidated cash advances, meaning money budgeted for education either wasn’t spent on classrooms and teachers or wasn’t properly accounted for at all.
And while the budget for education remains the largest in government this year, with the Department of Education seeking nearly ₱928 billion in 2026 funding, past scandals and ongoing investigations remind us that budget size alone does not guarantee transformation unless accountability is enforced and corruption eradicated. And it will persist where oversight is weak, where legal loopholes and procurement systems are exploited, and where political interests shield perpetrators from consequence.
𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀, 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘁. We must name the structures that allow this assault to persist: laws that enable market logic to dictate educational value, legal frameworks that leave agencies like DepEd, CHED, and TESDA operating in silos, policy incentives that devalue teacher quality while privileging profit, and the persistent corruption that siphons public funds away from classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and the very teachers entrusted to shape our children’s futures. Only by confronting and dismantling these interlocking systems of neoliberal policies, broken legal frameworks, and entrenched corruption can we begin to rebuild an education system truly worthy of our people.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆, 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲, 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄.