On Monday, July 27, GMA is set to deliver her State of the Nation Address or SONA. Many would rather pass this one up given her utter lack of credibility now. But one thing is clear: this SONA will be her last. Otherwise, any Con-Ass for her term extension would plunge the country into chaos.
Nevertheless, the SONA is an opportunity for us to look deeper into our present so we can build a better future. For this, we look right at our own homeland, Bikol. And the hard reality facing us is that we've always been left behind in national development.
We only need to look at the sorry state of Quirino highway, which remains way behind the NLEX and SCTEX in Central Luzon.
Where are our Bikol leaders? Sadly in Bikol, we also see the same old faces in politics. 2010 can be our chance to elect new leaders and put an end to family dynasties.
But what we should be more concerned is the alarming state of education in Bikol. According to a May 2009 report of the National Statistical Coordination Board-Bikol, "(a) little more than half of first year entrants to the Region's (public) secondary school system are able to graduate. Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) show that Bicol Region registered a secondary school completion rate of 52.01 percent in School Year 2006-2007. The figure is 13.3 percentage points lower than the rate recorded four School Years before."
Worse, the NSCB adds, "results of the National Achievement Tests for secondary schools indicate, and more alarmingly, the deterioration of quality in the secondary schools system. The NAT results cover both public and private schools. On the average, not once in the three years of record, had the secondary schools in the region surpassed the cut-off (75 percent) for the said evaluation. Moreover, the underperformance is apparent in all the five subject areas of the achievement tests. Additionally, results in four of the five subject areas of the National Achievement Test (NAT) generally worsened between School Years 2004-2005 and 2006-2007. xxx On the average, the results of the NAT in the Bicol Region weakened by 2 percentage points within the period."
The NSCB then reminds us that "(h)uman resource is the most important resource of the country's economy. The quality of human resources that enter the labor force bears heavily on the economy's productive capacity. Education and other human capital are important in promoting economic growth and a strong position in international markets. Deterioration in an educational system can result to an inferior labor force affecting employability and productivity. Education can be viewed as an investment that equips individuals with the necessary skills for their optimum contribution to the country's economic and social well-being. Government and households therefore should invest in education with the expectation that higher benefits would accrue over time."
Indeed, that's the real SONA as we see it in Bikol.