Social Studies.

Forgive me.  Because I'm old, I still call this subject about current events and about Philippine society and government, in general, Social Studies.  I think it's known today as "Sibika."

"Sibika," popped into my mind early this morning because I was reminded of President Aquino's SONA(State of the Nation Address)  which I watched in its short entirety yesterday afternoon.

Aquino spoke in plain Tagalog, no fancy, eloquent words.  If he spoke in English, I guess it would have been more elegant, but less understood by the great masses of the Filipino people.

But it was a good speech.  It was clear and precise.  There were the usual critics who said the SONA was missing a lot of details and things.  

It was clear and precise.  Clear because it presented two things.  One, he presented the state of the Philippine nation - that it is deep in shit debt, some 197 billion in deficit.  What caused the deficit? The past administration spent more than it earned in taxes.

There's really nothing wrong if a government were to be in a deficit. Any government is not in power to make a profit or to earn surplus from the taxes it collects.  A government is elected to manage the affairs of its people - to oversee a rational tax collection and tax expenditure.

But any deficit should be manageable.  It should not overshoot.  I remember that before President Clinton was elected as U.S. President, the U.S government was in deficit, too, and it was Clinton who balanced the budget.

By presenting the real state of the nation, President Aquino was able to tell the Filipino people that in order for him to carry out his promises, foremost of which is curbing corruption, everyone should be able to make a sacrifice.

By sacrifice, I suppose he means, that government officials and employees should not expect any salary increases, to tighten government spending, etc.  And for private corporations and individuals, and all to not expect any earth-shaking "changes," such as an outright escalation of spending power.

But he did promise more jobs, better quality of education, health coverage for the poorest of poor, more infrastructures, and less wayward government spending.  He announced prosecution of criminals of all strife - from smugglers to tax evaders, to corrupt government officials, terrorists, and  media men murderers.  

Here, I wanted to hear more - that he restore general lawfulness in the Phiippine society fast.  That the law enforcement system act swiftly in going after petty and vicious criminals such as cell phone snatchers, laptop snatchers, bundol gang, car nappers, drug users who become criminals, and all other lawless elements.  These types of law violators are the ones that the general Filipino population abhor more than the "white collar or government" criminals, because their crimes are directly targeted to the general public.

The second point about the SONA that makes it precise and clear is that Aquino spelled out clearly some of the sins of the Arroyo administration, such as leaving almost no money for the present government to spend.  For instance, Arroyo earmarked tons of emergency money to her district in Pampanga seven months after the Ondoy calamity, and just before the May 2010 elections. Or how members of the Board of Trustees of the MWSS earmarked bonuses and incentives for themselves totalling to some 98 million pesos, before they even took care of the department's retirees' benefits. These two sins were chosen for effect because the country is just on the verge of the typhoon season and has just experienced water shortage. 

Aquino was precise - he was at ease pulling out those figures; his being an economist helped him.

There was a critic at ANC who said Aquino's SONA, was like him, dry. I didn't find it dry, at all.

I remember the speeches of Marcos - flamboyant.  But look where he took us. 

President Aquino is not a lawyer, so we can understand why his delivery is subdued - yet very human-like.  This kind of down-to-earth personality is what endears Aquino to the general Filipino populace. The people can relate to him.

Why Sibika?  

President Aquino mentioned an important aspect in his SONA.  That is to make the Philippine educational system at par with the rest of the world; to make the elementary and secondary levels a total of twelve years, instead of the present ten years.

In the U.S.A and Canada, twelve is the number. Six years in primary/elementary, two years in junior high, and four years in high school. 

In Canada, Filipino immigrants have a hard time qualifying for their professions (teachers, dentists, accountants, engineers, etc) because they would be lacking two years in education. The assessment requires a twelve-year primary/secondary education plus four years of university to be considered for a university degree.  So even if one has a University degree, during an assessment one's degree will be downgraded.

For instance, a Filipino teacher with just a Bachelor's degree, would lack the requisite four years of college degree and one year teacher's education.

If the Department of Education would ultimately enforce this two-year addition/change, I hope that the subjects to be taught would be relevant to today's global needs.  Not subjects like sex education, but more of science, math, languages, and civic studies.

Civic studies is a very important subject.  It should inculcate in the minds of the youth both the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.  It should inculcate civic values such as volunteerism, a watch-dog mentality for all levels of government and the environment, and moral values such as honesty and abhorrence for all forms of cheating, forthrightness so that each citizen can speak and act up.