It’s too early but we are now hearing certain names being dropped as possible “presidentiables” in 2022. Astute politicians who like to hitch their wagon to the star have now been heard endorsing names with the expectation that their bread would be buttered when the opportune time comes. For those who are truly serious in pursuing the Holy Grail, I suggest that they read the compelling book, All’s Fair: Love, War and Running for President, an insider account of the 1992 presidential campaign of incumbent President George H. W. Bush and Governor Bill Clinton written by the two foremost political operatives on opposite sides of the political divide, Democrat James Carville and Republican Mary Matalin. The book covers the political strategies, power plays, and maneuvers by the competing camps to get their candidate elected. No book about the contest for presidency can provide more valuable insights and learning into the making of a president than this New York Times National Bookseller. Presidentiables and their political henchmen should now make a beeline for a copy of this book, but I believe it is no longer in circulation. After a grueling electoral bout, Clinton won over Bush but the couple, Carville and Matalin, emerged the real winners – they fell in love and they were married on Thanksgiving Day of 1993.
* * *
No one has said it better than our Ambassador to Japan, Jose Laurel V, who stressed the strategic importance of the Philippines in the movement of ships and commerce in the region, particularly to Japan and South Korea. The West Philippine Sea is a critical sea lane that opens up to the South and East Asia, the Indian Continent, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The volume of trade that passes through it is worth trillions of US dollars a year, which will be jeopardized if free and safe passage is restricted. The broiling maritime disputes between China and some countries in the region, as well as the threat of piracy, present a disconcerting outlook. In light of this, Japan has given us the assurance that it is ready to provide our country with its security needs to keep the South China Sea open to navigation and ensure the free passage of goods and commerce. I hope we can also count on the US to support us in securing this valuable sea lane against any unlawful incursion. Foreign military assistance to be extended to us by friendly countries coupled by our own efforts to build up our naval assets and defense capability should also embolden us to deal with any external threat with dignity. Thus, we have every right to ask China and demand from it an immediate answer: “Why claim the whole South China Sea?”
* * *
Classes in basic education officially opened on Monday and an estimated 23 million students from kindergarten to secondary levels in public schools alone trooped to their classes. The school opening highlights once more the need to improve the plight of our public school teachers. They should receive a salary that is commensurate to the value of their contributions to our society. The government should honor its commitment to increase the pay of our teachers after it had upgraded significantly the pay of soldiers and policemen last year. The current monthly base pay for teachers of P20,179 is hardly enough to meet the basic expenses of a family with five members. If we want to raise the quality of education, the government should give priority to our teachers. No public servant has sacrificed so much to serve our people. Aside from teaching our children, teachers are also tasked to do other community services such as serving as poll officials, census enumerators, civic leaders and coordinators of various government programs. I was once a public school teacher in a far-flung barrio handling multi-grade classes being a solo teacher in a community school five decades ago. I walked seven kilometers, crossing rivers and creeks, just to reach my teaching assignment. It’s not the pay that motivates a teacher to report to her classroom everyday of her life. The greatest reward is hearing a 7-year-old child read a sentence correctly for the first time. Mr. President, your beloved mother was a teacher herself. Increasing our teachers’ pay now is the greatest way to honor her memory.
* * *
It’s sad to note that some sectors claim that we cannot afford to hike the teachers’ compensation. Education accounts for the biggest share in our national budget. Last year, the DepEd’s appropriation was P527 billion, of which P350 billion went to teachers’ pay. Let’s not count the cost when the welfare of our youth is at stake. As one educator has said: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”