TONY'S TAKE: PERSPECTIVE AND PERCEPTION
GLIMPSES ON SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES-6
By Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired
Toronto-Canada
December 3, 2020
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY: In 2020, the competency of Filipinos in English placed 27th in the global proficiency index compared to last year. According to Education First, an international company, the Philippines was ranked seven spots lower in its global English Proficiency Index. The country garnered a score of 562 out of 700, with the Netherlands, the highest-ranking country, scoring 652.
In Asia, the Philippines ranked second to Singapore which is ranked 10th on the overall global index and garnered a score of 611. Historically, over 3 years from 2016 to 2018, the country out of 88 countries managed to rank in the index's top 15, placing 13, 15th, and 14th, respectively. In 2019, the country's rank fell to the 20th spot out of 100 countries in the index.
However, the "Proficiency Band," of the Philippines which is based on the score rather than rank, has consistently remained at "high" from 2016 to 2020. The proficiency bands range from "very low proficiency to very high." According to Education First, those with a high proficiency band can accomplish the following tasks: "Make a presentation at work"; "Understand TV shows, and "Read a newspaper." The company Education First said it came up with the index by "administering its English Standard Test to over 2.2 million individuals across 100 countries and regions, 54% of whom were female and 46% of whom were male and the median age of English test-takers was 26 years old and 94% of them are below the age of 60 years old." "Bakit kaya ganito ang nangyayari sa atin at pahina ng pahina? Dati, ipinag-mamalaki natin na tayo ay isa sa mga bansang magaling sa Inglis. May kakulangan ba ang ating pag-aaral o dahil sa ating pag-gamit at pananalita ng halong English at Filipino o aaminin natin na talagang na-hihigitan na tayo ng ibang bansa sa mundo na dating mahihina sa English, isang hiram na banyagang wika ? Ano ang "say you"?"
COVID-19 TESTING : President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered to set a price range for COVID-19 testing that is “just, equitable, and sensitive to all stakeholders”Last November 25, the Department of Health, and the Department of Trade and Industry, following the Executive Order, have set the price ceiling for COVID-19 testing in the country.
The joint administrative order set the price range "to prevent exorbitant costs of coronavirus testing, which is crucial in managing the pandemic" and "to respond to the needs of the public—the poor, the middle class, and those who are well-off.” The order sets the price range that private hospitals and laboratories can charge, that is, from Php 4,500 to Php 5,000 for RT-PCR(real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) testing. I don't know what that is, maybe testing simply for coronavirus. Government facilities are permitted only to charge Php 3,800 ( or about C$ 100)) for the test. The price range includes all costs associated with RT-PCR testing, the DOH and DOTI said so.
Currently, there are 177 licensed testing laboratories in the country. At least 5.2 million individuals have been so far tested for coronavirus in the Philippines Health Secretary Duque urged laboratories "not to use the pandemic as an opportunity to take advantage of the people who want to avail the vital service. The Health Secretary said private laboratories are allowed to charge lower than the set floor price but they cannot exceed the price cap even if they have faster turnaround time. Failure by hospitals and laboratories to comply with the set price will face suspensions and administrative fines. If found to have violated the measure 3 times, the existing license or accreditation will be revoked. The two departments will conduct a monthly review to ensure the price range remains fair and meets current developments. "Sana naman huwag ng tumaas ang bayad sa coronavirus testing at maging libre lalo na sa ating mahihirap na kababayan. Kasi, baka ang mangyari niyan, hindi na sila magpapa-swab test. Paano na rin kaya kung dumating pa ang therapeutic vaccines, may bayad din kaya? Abangan!"
DISASTER PRONE: It is a hard fact, that the Philippines is always visited every year by typhoons, floods, landslides, and other disasters or an annual average of 20 calamities. Typhoons Quinta, Rolly, Siony, and Ulysses entered and passed by during the "ber" months of October and November. Such frequency, range, and gravity of the natural calamities in our country are difficult to fathom and forget. Nature's wraths come, ravage, and leave devastating paths of disarray, destruction, and death.
Yes, we are used to them but we rise the following day and always determined to face the next one. We know that there are no other people that are as positive, predisposed, and resilient as our Filipino "kababayans" are. But we need to ask important questions that need answers, such as, How much of this suffering is avoidable? What can be done to minimize the recurrent loss of lives and damage to infrastructure, facilities, and property that typically accompany these disasters?
To respond to these questions, one newspaper columnist and social advocate suggested ways such as 1) Helping the most vulnerable in society to secure their basic necessity for safe dwellings, health care, food and nutrition, stable jobs, and functional education that would prevent destruction and deaths; 2) Government institutions and agencies, including the private sector, are supposed and expected to work, support and avoid attributing the tragedies to the impacted people for their stubbornness, ignorance, and defiance of authority ; 3) Weather scientists and disaster management experts should use easily understood language of warning people, especially those near dams, low-lying areas, river banks, and flood-prone villages; 4) Typhoon tracking and monitoring for up-to-the-minute reporting, warnings or alerts information must be given to prepare the citizenry; and 5) High priority be assigned to adequate and appropriate funding must be allocated to the national agency responsible for disaster risk reduction and management and not to rely heavily on the people's survival instincts and fending for themselves from natural disturbancies. "Pakiking-gan at susundin kaya ang mga ganitong puna at suhestiyon o iba-baon na naman sa limot. At maaaring sa susunod na dumating ulit ang sakuna ay balik sa salita at wala na namang ginagawang matino. Ay naku po!"
COMFORT ROOM: During a week in November, "World Toilet Day" was celebrated which calls for action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve the "sustainable development goal of water and sanitation for all by 2030." According to the Social Weather Statio survey, during the 4th quarter of 2019, "some over 10% of households in the Philippines had no access to a functional toilet or C.R.(comfort room) to many Filipinos, while the majority of households have access. The results suggest that "6% only have access to toilets shared with other households while four percent had no toilet access" at all. However, the Philippine Department of Health, says that "around 50.3 million Filipinos or about ten million families do not have access to "safely managed sanitation services." Adding, that "some 24 million Filipinos use limited or unimproved toilets or none at all."
The survey conducted face-to-face interviews with a sampling of 1,200 adult Filipinos in the country. Across basic demographics, the survey found, that "pour-flush or '"de buhos" is the most common type of toilet owned by households, followed distantly by flush toilets and others." While flush toilets are more common among the upper classes," the report shows, that most households or 67% to 85% across socio-economic class have pour-flush toilets . " Nakakahiya man at maayos sana ngunit malaking kahirapan talaga ito sa atin, lalo na sa mga mahihirap, dahil napaka-mahal ang tubig sa atin, bukod tanging mahal ang pagpapakabit at halaga ng "water flush toilet system". Naka-ugalian na kaya sa atin ito?"
READING COMPREHENSION: Reading competency is "essential for a wide variety of human activities - from following instructions in a manual; to finding out the who, what, when, where, and why of an event; to communicating with others for a specific purpose or transaction,” according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD). The Philippines scored lowest in reading comprehension among 79 countries in the 2019 study. PISA is a worldwide study that" examines students' knowledge in reading, mathematics, and science. The country, compared to the OECD average of 487, had an average reading score of 340 or more than 100 points less; placed the second-lowest in Mathematics(353/489) and in Science(357/483) categories.
The Philippines, the PISA study noted, has "the largest percentage of low performers in Reading ; the largest of average class sizes; the highest in the ratio of students to teaching staff in socio-economically disadvantaged schools." Philippine Education Secterary , according to a newspaper report, that "they are not expecting high marks" further noting the results of the National Achievement Test(NAT), Filipino students "showed low proficiency levels in Science, Mathematics, and English. "Ano o papaano na kaya ang dapat gagawin ng ating gobyerno, ng mga mamayan , ng mga mag-aaral at ng ga natuturo at nagpapalakad ng edukasyon sa ating bansa, kung ganito ang takbo sa kasalukuyan? Mayroon pa kayang pagasa at pagbabago ang lahat tungkol dito?'' ( Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired).