February 15, 2006 · Posted in: Edsa Special, Podcasts
Edsa 20/20: Eugenia Apostol
‘IT’S not just the leadership that must change. The people, too, must change.’
Eggie Apostol was publisher of the opposition daily, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, when People Power broke out. One of the leading lights of the "mosquito press" that published reports that could not come out in the Marcos-controlled media, Apostol was also the founder of the bestselling Mr. & Ms. Special Edition that printed uncensored follow-up stories on the 1983 Aquino assassination. In 1999, in reaction to President Joseph Estrada’s attempts to clamp down on the press, she put out Pinoy Times. Today she is involved in another "revolution," this time to raise the quality of public school education.
Chit Estella talks to Apostol in this podcast.
Length: 00:32:59
File size: 22.6 MB
9 Responses to Edsa 20/20: Eugenia Apostol
Rizalist
February 15th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Great Podcast PCIJ!
My humble respects to EGI APOSTOL, truly one of the foremothers of this country…
Interesting she mentions near the end that three-fourths (3/4) of the pages of our newspapers and magazines are taken up by advertising. Of that, may I say that more than 3/4 again are Globe/Smart advertising or promotionals. Though she praises a certain newspaper for its editorial independence, there is a general state of Omerta wrt to those two giant advertisers, except for when the NPA bombs one of their towers. I think it is scandalous how the telecomms have gotten billions of pesos worth of electromagnetic spectrum for their 3G biznes for FREE. Yet there isn’t much discussion of that in the media, or other cartel-related issues, like our cellphone rates being all out of whack given the size of the market. Your “billboard” postings made me realize that’s the biggest ongoing abuse –the coming microwave ovening of the space we physically live in.
…no discussion of education too bad… i wanted to propose the PRIVATIZATION of public schools in order to drive down the costs of private school education. I think the reason private school educationis so expensive is because they can’t compete with the so-called FREE public education system. (Which itself is run as if Fedex was 450,000 truck drivers with lifetime contracts, but no trucks, no computers, no buildings,no textbooks, no desks, …)
IN other words I bet P125 billion pesos divided up among Ayala, La Salle, Ateneo and UP, say to wire up the barangays with computers, would be far better spent than sending it to that Aging Vat/Welfare Project/EveryKidPasses institution in Pasig called the DepEd.
The problem is not that we don’t spend enough money on education. The problem is we give the money to the wrong people for them to spend: the government.
That is why 3 times in a row (1995, 1999, 2003) Philippines scored higher than only two other countries in the world (Haiti and Somalia) in Math and English.
Also this: 100.00% of students in Public Schools PASS every year. No one ever fails or is held back!
Rizalist
February 15th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Oops,.sorry our three successive third-from-the-bottom finishes were in the Trends in Math and Science Study (TIMSS) …not English…In each case 6,000 Filipinos were part of a worldwide study involving up to 600,000 Grade 4 and Grade 8 kids from 50 countries. The tests were given here by UPNismed and the statistics are 100 times better than any SWS survey. The studies are conclusive. For whatever reason, the public school system has largely failed. It’s time to take action, not wallow in more of the same. Spending MORE money is impossible, and every body knows it. But that is also why, in my opinion, most people point to THAT as the reason we can’t make things better. We can avoid the real solution: Privatize at least the high school part of public schools. That will release 8 million kids to the private schools and cause the establishment of many new private schools too (established by laid off pubic school teachers). And I predict: 50-75% reduction in the private school tuition fees because of competition and economies of scale.
rego
February 16th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
“That will release 8 million kids to the private schools and cause the establishment of many new private schools too (established by laid off pubic school teachers). And I predict: 50-75% reduction in the private school tuition fees because of competition and economies of scale.”
Im curious, Rizalist. How did you come up with these numbers?
Gurong Bayan
February 17th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Rizalist, I certainly agree with your observation, we are throwing money to the wrong office. The 129 Billion pesos is an expensive investment in mediocrity. Have you ever wonder why DepED can not even produce a decent, reliable, and scientific state of our education today? DepED (particularly central and regional and division offices) can not even engage the public in an enlighten debate on relevant education policy indicates an alarming confusion within the Department. We are talking about declining teachers quality, but the real culprit is that the central, regional, and division offices (the machinery of the department) are shamelessly and are passionately incompetent. Proof? Try calling the central office and ask for some information, i bet you will get, if at all, as many different exasperating answers as your call.
My unanswered question is, if our DepED teachers are so good, as they always claim, why are the quality of our education inputs (teachers, textbooks, classrooms) and outcomes (student achievements) are declining!!!??
Its time to privitize and outsource the management of our education system. If some groups will complain, then ask them to help by organizing themselves and help provide education, ala Netherlands.
polsjs
February 18th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Agree. Our Educational system is in a real bad shape. Has “people power” made it better or worse?
jonas
February 21st, 2006 at 7:33 am
Apostol said: “Gloria stays because there is not alternative and there is nobody in the horizon to take her place.”
Ha? Out of 80 million plus she’s telling us there was no alternative to a cheat and a liar?
EA: “Noli hindi willing, saka hindi naman magaling?”
Ah, kahit mandarara at sinungaling o kaya drug lord, jueteng lord basta willing at magaling pwede na?
EA: “We didn’t know how to behave ourselves after the TWO dictatorships?”
I did not realize that we’ve been under two dictators.
jr_lad
February 21st, 2006 at 1:33 pm
jonas, sino kaya yung isang dictator na binanggit ni EA? she must be referring to glue-ria already.
for the nth time i find it kabobohan if somebody say there is no alternative out of the 80million plus filipinos. parang sinasabi pagnawala na si glue-ria, the phils. will no longer exist. titigil na ang ikot ng mundo. what a crap! the truth is these statements are coming from the camp of glue-ria. they are conditioning the minds of the people. then they will continue to say that the opposition are worse than glue-ria. mas masahol pa. kaya sabi pa pagtiyagaan na natin ang mandaraya at sinungaling. MALAKING KALOKOHAN!
blackboard
February 23rd, 2006 at 1:03 am
This is perhaps the folly of the Filipino. We have undergone many leadership changes (dictator to lemon to two-faced to gambler-thief to liar)yet we failed to change the most essential- ourselves. Change must come from within. It is not the leader, it is not the system. The people make the leader, the people make the system. We, the Filipino people are in need of a moral revolutionary change!
INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Edsa 1 documentary on ABS-CBN 2 tonight
February 26th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
[…] Of Edsa 1, Eugenia Apostol, FWPP chairperson, said it was a "shining moment in history" that ushered in the country’s search for genuine change, and whose "real goal…was not a mere change of regimes but rather of genuine social transformation." […]