WHY THE K TO 12 LAW IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

WHY IS THE K TO 12 LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL? It was put into effect in 2012 by Secretary Luistro when there was no enabling legislation yet for the implementation of its new curriculum and the corresponding two (2) additional years of senior high school. This was a clear usurpation of legislative power, in utter disregard of the will of the people, which has vested said power in the Congress of the Philippines only.

K to 12 Law is Unconstitutional

URGENT CALL TO JOIN THE NOVEMBER 13, 2015 PROTEST ACTION (2PM) AT THE SUPREME COURT, TO URGE OUR HONORABLE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES TO STOP THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL K TO 12 LAW, THUS ALLOW OUR GRADE TEN STUDENTS (AND THOSE WHO WILL FOLLOW THEM) TO ENTER COLLEGE BEGINNING NEXT SCHOOL YEAR.

We have supposedly ended dictatorship and restored democracy with its principle of separation of powers as a result of the February People Power Revolution. Most sadly, an equally reprehensible virtual dictatorship exists today. Instead of checks and balances, we witness the collusion between the executive and legislative departments in the implementation of the unconstitutional K to 12 Basic Education Program.

It was put into effect in 2012 by Secretary Luistro when there was no enabling legislation yet for the implementation of its new curriculum and the corresponding two (2) additional years of senior high school. This was a clear usurpation of legislative power, in utter disregard of the will of the people, which has vested said power in the Congress of the Philippines only.

The law was eventually passed in 2013. The law itself however required DepEd to formulate the enhanced basic education curriculum, in consultation with national students organizations, national teachers organizations and parents-teachers associations. DepEd however, in utter disregard of the law, which it was supposed to enforce and administer only, continued to encroach on the power of the legislature, in violation of the principle of separation of powers, by persisting to implement the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum as well as Senior High School, which by its own admission, was formulated in consultation only with what it calls a pool of experts.

These actions of Secretary Luistro, which are clearly violative of the Constitution and thus are void are all over the papers. Yet, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives, ever registered any protest, over the encroachment of their constitutional prerogatives by the executive department. We have never imagined that such tyranny of the executive and legislative departments, which evidently are in collusion with each other, in perpetrating the grave injustice which the Filipino youth are being subjected to, would still befall us, many years after this country, in the words of a Chief Justice, has experienced “the wrenching pain of dictatorship” and has supposedly returned already to democracy.

The dictatorship at least exerted efforts to function under a cloak of legitimacy, no thanks to a Supreme Court then which in the words of a Chief Justice , did not have the moral courage to remind the dictator of his mortality and the inevitable historical damnation of despots and tyrants. Secretary Luistro however, perhaps certain that he can get away with it without any protest from the Legislature, in a most brazen and arrogant manifestation of abuse of power, proceeded to blatantly violate the Constitution, by implementing his K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum, without waiting for the law to be passed and persisted in implementing it in contravention of the very law he was supposed to merely enforce.

But even if DepEd eventually complies with the consultation requirement of the law, its implementation cannot apply to the current Grade Ten Students. This is for the reason that their right to complete only four (4) years of high school, has already been vested, since that was the law in place when they started their high school in 2012. Thus, to impose on them the added burden of going through two (2) additional years of senior high school is to divest them of said right and in effect apply the law retroactively (which is unconstitutional). Such in fact is contrary to the very intent of the law which adopts for the very first time not only an entirely new education program which begins with kindergarten and ends with six (6) years of high school, in that sequence but also a new teaching methodology (the spiral progression approach) where knowledge and skills are mastered after each level. That sequence and spiral, most evidently, cannot start at the end with senior high school but must start with those who were in kindergarten in 2013 when the law came into effect.

In fact, the assailed Law cannot be implemented at all as it is per se unconstitutional, for being violative of substantive due process. The  objective  of  the   law is  to  decongest  the  basic  education curriculum and at the same time lengthen the basic education cycle for the purpose of giving students more time to master the desired learning competencies. Studies, like that of the Senate Economic Planning Office, however show that lengthening the learning time did not necessarily lead to better performance. In fact, some countries with short cycles have high scores in science and mathematics while other countries that have long education cycles have low scores. The K to 12 Law thus fails to consider other factors, like poverty, lack of teachers, classrooms and books. Given adequate instruction, armed with sufficient books and a conducive learning environment, the Filipino student does not need at all two (2) additional years of senior high school. Hence, it is not reasonably necessary to add two (2) years of senior high school to accomplish the objective of improving student performance and thus is violative of the right of the Filipino student to substantive due process.

There is another alternative and  a less intrusive way of accomplishing the objective of improving student performance.  Rather than funding private schools which will offer Grade 11 (the ones who are actually behind the drafting of the bill and lobbying for its passage, to advance their self-serving private interests and which is an admission that government is incapable of fulfilling its constitutional mandate of providing free public secondary education), said funds should be poured to better learning materials, better teachers (by increasing their salaries) and more classrooms and thus a more conducive learning environment for the Filipino student. After all, even with government funding, majority of the Filipino students will just the same not be able to afford private education and thus the mandate on the State to make education, particularly free public secondary education accessible to all will not really be accomplished. This is another reason why the law is unconstitutional as it violates the very purpose it seeks to achieve.  

In the face of this grave injustice, the Honorable Supreme Court is their only hope, “as the last bulwark of democracy being the administrator of justice and the legitimate recourse of their grievances. They  have  no  one  to  turn  to  and  seek aid from but from the Honorable Supreme Court. They thus implore and beseech the Honorable Supreme Court to come to their aid, pursuant to its solemn and sacred obligation under the Constitution. They implore and beseech the Honorable Supreme Court to forthwith and without further delay, immediately issue the Temporary Restraining Order they are praying for, so that the implementation of the K to 12 law be stopped, thus allowing the current Grade Ten students to take College Entrance Tests and eventually enter College next school year.

CONCERNED PARENTS OF MANILA SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL

MANILA SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL FACULTY & EMPLOYEES CLUB

Indeed "Never Again" but "The Struggle Continues"

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES (please help us enlighten the public on the unconstitutionality of the K to 12 Law)              

Indeed “Never Again” as the PDI editorial says. But should we not add, “The Struggle Continues”? Life under the Marcoses was not better but neither was life before his Martial Law. That is why some gave Marcos the benefit of the doubt that he will indeed reform that old corrupt society which was ruled by elitist politics and which did not truly serve the genuine interests of the people. Most sadly, it turned out that Marcos simply wanted to establish dictatorial rule in order to perpetuate himself in power. The hated Marcos dictatorship was toppled by the Filipino people at EDSA. Equally sad however is that it did not turn out to be the revolution that it was described to be but a mere restoration of the corrupt elitist politics of pre-martial law days.

We have supposedly restored democracy and its principle of separation of powers. But instead of checks and balances, we witness collusion between the executive and legislative branches of government. A case in point is the K to 12 Law. It was implemented in 2012 by Secretary Luistro when there was no enabling legislation yet for the implementation of its new curriculum and the corresponding two (2) additional years of senior high school. This was a clear usurpation of legislative power, in utter disregard of the will of the people, which has vested said power in the Congress of the Philippines only.

The law was eventually passed in 2013. It however required DepEd to formulate the enhanced basic education curriculum, in consultation with national students organizations, national teachers organizations and parents-teachers associations. DepEd however, in utter disregard of the law, which it was supposed to enforce and administer only, continued to encroach on the power of the legislature, in violation of the principle of separation of powers, by persisting to implement the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum and will implement Senior High School next year, which by its own admission, was formulated in consultation only with what it calls a pool of experts.

These actions of Secretary Luistro, which are clearly violative of the Constitution and thus are void are all over the papers. Yet, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives, ever registered any protest, over the encroachment of their constitutional prerogatives by the executive department. I have never imagined that such tyranny of the executive and legislative departments, which evidently are in collusion with each other, in perpetrating the grave injustice which the Filipino youth are being subjected to, would still befall us, many years after this country, in the words of a Chief Justice, has experienced “the wrenching pain of dictatorship” and has supposedly returned already to democracy.

The dictatorship at least exerted efforts to function under a cloak of legitimacy, no thanks to a Supreme Court then which in the words of a Chief Justice , did not have “the moral courage to remind him steadfastly of his mortality and the inevitable historical damnation of despots and tyrants” . Respondent Luistro, perhaps certain that he can get away with it without any protest from the Legislature, in a most brazen and arrogant manifestation of abuse of power, proceeded to blatantly violate the Constitution, by implementing his K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum, without waiting for the law to be passed and persisted in implementing it in contravention of the very law he was supposed to merely enforce.

Yet, most sadly, we who are opposed to the K to 12 Basic Education Program are like voices shouting in the wilderness, which not even the PDI, my favorite newspaper gives attention to. As we should enlighten our youth of the evils of Martial Law and the Marcos dictatorship, we should likewise make them realize that the struggle continues against the unjust and exploitative social order which existed before Martial Law and which was simply restored after the dictator Marcos has been ousted from power.

Righteous Anger Against Injustice

Like Christ we should learn to weep as counselled by our Holy Father. But like Him we should learn also to get angry at the prevailing injustice in our society, no thanks to the Philippine clergy which hardly has been a Church of the Poor.

UST said the Pope’s meeting with the Youth is open to the public. It however also forewarned that the area reserved for them is limited and not everyone could be accommodated. Being instructed that the designated gates for the public will open at 4AM, I and my family woke up as early as 2AM during that morning of January 18, 2015 and had to walk distances considering that the roads were closed.

I like millions of Filipinos have been following the Holy Father wherever he goes on TV and on the streets for that chance even for a fleeting moment to see him as he passes by on his way to his different engagements. But  we hoped that we would have a better look of him that morning. I was specially interested to hear him as I and my wife have  five young people with us, our children whose ages range from 14 to 21. Surely I said to myself, my alma mater, after years of being away, will welcome me back and allow me to set foot on its hallowed grounds and give me and my family the opportunity to see and hear the Pope longer and closer.

When we arrived at the designated Dapitan gate at UST at about 4:15AM, we saw the faithful already lined up in the hundreds of thousands. Nobody and absolutely nobody from UST was there to give instructions. There was great confusion where to line up and many ended up finding out that they where in the wrong line, reserved only to participants with IDs. I was greatly perplexed why if the gates opened at 4AM, the line reserved for the public was not moving for hours.

Shortly before the Bishops arrived, the lines began to move  little, which gave us much hope that we will be able to pass through UST’s gates. But it suddenly stopped. I thus decided to inquire. After walking and passing so many of us still patiently waiting in our designated line, I reached the gate and asked who was in charge. Yet no one and absolutely no one was there at the gate who could give me a response. At that point, I began shouting in anger, “Who is in charge? Who is in charge? If you will not let us in, at least have the courtesy and Christian Charity to tell us so that we can just wait for the Holy Father along the streets on his way to UST.

But no one and absolutely no one inside UST had the compassion and mercy to attend to us and just abandoned us outside. Responsible people of my beloved alma mater knew many of us in the hundreds of thousands were waiting outside of the gates. Yet no one and absolutely no one among them had the compassion of a Good Samaritan to attend to us. When my wife saw the Bishops being allowed in, she asked, “Were they not able to meet the Pope already and even shook his hand twice? Had they not had their meeting with the Pope already at the Manila Cathedral? Yet there they are again, surely to be given choiced seats inside UST.

I saw a priest among them and said to myself that I could at least request him to ask who is in charge so that we may be given the courtesy of knowing if we can no longer go in. Yet the priest who was most undeserving of his sutana, concentrating on the anger I felt, did not even bother to give me any assistance and told even the police around to arrest me. That very moment I came to the realization what most of the Filipino clergy are to us. Like the Levite in the parable, most of the Filipino clergy and even our Bishops, have seen us millions of us poor, exploited and oppressed Filipino Christians and just passed on the other side of the road and even have been in complicity with our oppressors and exploiters, by blessing their alms, the scraps that fall from the table of the rich who treat us like Lazarus, promising them heaven, when what the poor need as the Holy Father has well said is to reform the unjust social structures which perpetuate our people’s poverty. For how does one explain after hundreds of years of being a Christian nation, no significant change has taken place in our coutry.

Most sadly, the Philipine Church or at the very least, the dominant Philippine Church was never a Church of the poor. Cardinal Tagle has issued the call to go to the peripheries as our Holy Father has counselled us to do. But should not that have been done long time ago? Did not our Lord Jesus proclaim himself that it was his mission to preach the gospel to the poor, that he was sent to heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, recovering sight to the blind and setting at liberty them that are bruised?

Greatly frustrated, I and my family went to a friend’s house, nearby to wait again patiently in the street, so that we could at least see the Holy Father, even for a fleeting moment again as he goes back to the Apostolic Nunciature. It was at our friend’s house that I heard the Holy Father on TV speaking before our young people telling them that they have to learn to cry. Too bad, he has spoken too late. Had the people at UST heard him earlier, they would not have left us and abandoned us in the cold as it was beginning to drizzle already that early morning. Indeed, it is only with a compassionate heart that we shall see the sufferings of our brothers and be a Good Samaritan to them, taking care of them.

Indeed we should be like Christ who wept and was moved to compassion so many times. But as I exhibited that morning, we like Christ should learn also to get angry, like the righteous anger He exhibited when he overthrew the tables and drove the people out of the temple who transformed his Father’s house into a den of thieves. The Holy Father’s visit in Manila and Tacloban has shown the great faith of the Filipino Christian, that not even rain or storm could prevent them from hearing the Holy Father’s message of hope. Indeed Filipino Christians have great faith that the Lord Jesus will not abandon them and He is one with them in their sufferings. Sadly, this great faith, aggravated by the erroneous teaching of many of our priests for salvation only in the afterlife, has been exploited.

I however hope and pray that the Holy Father’s message will indeed sink deep and move us Filipino Christians not only to compassion but to righteous anger and collective action at the prevailing injustice in our society, which has kept the majority of our people  poor. We have the numbers and we can surely effect change. I hope and pray that Cardinal Tagle will lead us and put to realization the age old message of our Lord Jesus Christ which the Holy Father has challenged us to act on when he spoke at the Palace, to hear the voice of the poor, to "break the bonds of injustice and oppression which give rise to glaring, and indeed scandalous, social inequalities" and to reform "the social structures which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor".

Christian Mission

In a news item today January 12, 2015, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that the concern for the poor is the touchstone of the Christian faith. Indeed Christ himself proclaimed his mission as that of preaching the gospel to the poor, that he was sent to heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, recovering sight to the blind and setting at liberty them that are bruised. We who call ourselves Christians must have too the same mission, to whom, in the day of judgment, God will ask us, when I was hungry, did you give me food to eat; thirsty water to drink; naked and you clothe me.This however, we often understand to be simply almsgiving. While the poor, the victims of typhoon Yolanda, whom Pope Francis will meet when he arrives int Philippines, need immediate help, they will remain poor, hungry and naked, unless we Christians address the root causes of their hunger and poverty, the unjust social structures which perpetuate their dehumanizing conditions. If we Christians do not work for justice in our country, our almsgiving as exemplified by our politicians, will just be an instrument to perpetuate their unjust and dehumanizing condition, an opiate for them to forget their true condition, a means to cover their exploitation. Most sadly, we and our church leaders have utterly failed in this respect.  

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While Pope Francis challenges us to reform the social structures which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor, he qualifies it by saying that it first requires a conversion of mind and heart. The Christian then in his fight against injustice should not lose sight of the fact that man's misery caused by unjust social structures can be rooted further in the evil heart of man or sin. A call then to work for justice, to change the unjust social structures is a call for a change in the very heart of man; a call to conversion. Genuine conversion which to the Christian can only be brought about through Christ Jesus, who came to the world to save us from sin and in whose power we should put our trust on, means however that it must eventually affect our relations with others: not only that we live a life of service to others but that we hold firmly to our Christian faith and refuse to cooperate with injustice, by working for the transformation of society and its unjust social structures. Sadly after centuries of being a Christian nation, we Christians and our church and political leaders who calla themselves Christians have utterly failed, which is revealing of the kind of faith that we claim to hold.