REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES Senat:e Pasay City Journal SESSION NO. 32 Wednesday, October 6, 2010 FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST REGULAR SESSION SESSION NO. 32 Wednesday, October 6, 2010 CALL TO ORDER paan upang sabay-sabay naming gabayan ang aming bansa tungo sa daan ng At 3:41 p.m., the Senate President, Hon. Juan kaunlaran, kaginhawaan at pagkakaisa. Ponce Enrile, called the session to order. Panginoong Maykapal, Usa lamang PRAYER ang pintig ng aming puso, ang mapag­ lingkuran Kayo nang tapat sa pama­ magitan ng paglilingkod namin sa aming Sen. Gregorio B. Honasan read the prayer of Inang Bayan at sa sambayanang Pilipino. Sen. Lito Lapid, to wit: Ang lahat ng ito ay hiniling namin sa Atin pong ituon ang ating mga sarili pangalan ng Inyong mahal na Anak na si sa Panginoon. Hesus. Pinakamamahal na Panginoon, ang Siya nawa. Inyong abang lingkod, sampu ng aking mga kasamahan dito sa Senado, ay nag­ ROLL CALL susumamo na nawa ay dinggin Mo ang aming mga panalangin na magampanan Upon direction of the Chair, the Secretary of namin nang tapat ang aming sagradong the Senate, Atty. Emma Lirio-Reyes, called the roll, tungkulin bUang Inyong mga mamba­ to which the following senators responded: batas sa Kapulungang ito. Biyayaan Ninyo Po kami ng Inyong Arroyo, J. P. Legarda, L. Drilon, F. M. Banal na Espiritu upang mabigyan ng Osmefia III, S. R. kaliwanagan ang aming mga puso at Ejercito Estrada, 1. Recto, R. G. Enrile, 1. P. diwa upang makapagbalangkas kami ng Sotto III, V. C. mga panukalang batas na alinsunod sa Escudero, F. J. G. Villar, M. Inyong dakilang kagustuhan at kalooban. Guingona III, T. D. Zubiri, J. M. F. Honasan, G. B. Idinadasal Po namin na sana ay tuluyang manatili sa Kapulungang ito With 13 senators present, the Chair declared the ang Inyong Banal na Espiritu ng kapaya- presence of a quorum. , ~ 630 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6,2010 Senators Cayetano (A) and Lapid arrived after I must voice the sentiments of those whom I the roll call. heard about the issue and whose views I share. I oppose the addition of two years to basic Senators Cayetano (P), Marcos and Pangilinan education. were on official mission abroad. First, there is no clear benefit to adding Senator Defensor Santiago was on sick leave. two years to basic education. The second-year college student today is as unemployed as the high school graduate, not because of any lack of Senators Angara, Lacson and Revilla were absent. inteHigence or skill, but because our economy cannot generate enough jobs as there are job­ Senator Trillanes was unable to attend the session seekers. as he was under detention. Second, the already burdened parents who At this juncture, Senate President Enrile cannot, even now, afford to bring their children relinquished the Chair to Senate President Pro to high school will have a harder problem with the approval of K+l2. More years in school Tempore Fijercito Estrada. translate to more expenses for two more years. Lalong magiging mahirap masambit ng mga APPROVAL OF THE magulang ang mga katagang, "Kahit papaano, JOURNAL OF SESSION NO. 31 napagtapos ko ang aking mga anak ng high school." Upon motion of Senator Sotto, there being no objection, the Body dispensed with the reading of the Third, our national budget is unable to fund the present numbers of years in basic education. lournal of Session No. 31 (October 5, 2010) and Dadagdagan pa natin? Adding two years to considered it approved. basic education will further increase our budget deficit. We need quality education, not quantity ACKNOWLEDGMENT of years in education. We need more schools, OF THE PRESENCE OF GUESTS not more years in school. Finally, in a way, we already have K+12. Senator Sotto acknowledged the presence in It is common knowledge that preschool has been the gallery of councilors from the city of San Juan a fact of life this past decade. Our children have headed by former Vice Mayor Leonardo Celles and entered school so much earlier than usual such students from San Juan de Dios Educational that before reaching kindergarten, for some, they Foundation Inc. have already gone to preschool of two years. In a way, we have had our own version already of Senate President Pro Tempore Ejercito Estrada K+ 12, without institutionalizing it. welcomed the guests to the Senate. This proposal to add two years may be borne out of a perception that we are not as good as PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF SENATOR SOTTO others. We are again in self-flagellation mode with regard to our educational system. Napag­ Availing himself of the privilege hour, Senator iiwanan na raw tayo. And yet, tens of thousands Sotto voiced his objection to the proposal of the of South Koreans come to our shores to learn and Department of Education to add two more years to study English and other courses, as we ourselves basic education. veer away from English in basic education. Foreign students compete with our students for The foll text of his speech follows: predous space in nursing and medicine courses. These are the problems worth looking into, Yesterday, we celebrated World Teachers' not adding two years of expenses to our Day. Yesterday, too, our Department of students and parents. It is a total waste of time, Education proposed to add two more years to effort and money. basic education, in a program dubbed as "K+12," or Kindergarten plus \2 years. They tell us, sir, that this is the world standard. As a matter of fact, I overheard the I know there have been studies made prior secretary of Education earlier in a radio interview to this announcement. I grant them good saying - and this is one of the reasons why intentions, but as a senator of the Republic, I was sparked to deliver this message - that IF (" WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010 631 countries like India and another country he REFERRAL OF SPEECH mentioned, when they added two more years TO COMMITTEE to their basic education, their GDP grew. It went up. In the first place, those countries did not Upon motion of Senator Satta, there being no have good basic education anyway. Kaya kung objection, the Chair referred his privilege speech to magdadagdag sila at pagagalingin nila ay the Committee on Education, Arts and Culture. okay talaga, unlike in the Philippines no talagang magaling ang edukasyon natin kung tutuusin. We can only look at the products REFERENCE OF BUSINESS of Philippine education: Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmefia, Juan Ponce Enrile, Joker Arroyo, The Secretary of the Senate read the following BIas Ople, Neptali Gonzales, Max Soliven and matters and the Chair made the corresponding many others. referrals: If the world standard does not suit our situation and culture, then let the world educate BILLS ON FmST READING its young the way it sees fit, and let us educate our young the way we see fit. Siguro oy Senate Bill No. 2554, entitled panahon na para tigilan na natin ang panggagaya sa iba. Mayroon namon tayong AN ACT PROHIBITING THE ACCESS sariling bait, sariling pang-unawa ng ating OF MINORS TO ALCOHOL AND kalagayan, sariling panuklas ng mga solusyon PENALIZING ESTABLISHMENTS ng ating mga problema. Ang kailangan natin ay ang ating angking talino at karunungan sa THAT FURNISH ALCOHOL TO mga bagay-bagay sa mundo. Kailangan natin MINORS maging mapayapang tao, maging masisipag na trabahador, maging tapat sa paghawak Introduced by Senator Defensor Santiago ng pera, maging tatoo sa wika, maging matulungin, at maging makatao. To the Committees on Health and Demo­ Education's aims are always twofold - graphy; Youth, Women and Family Relations; instruction about the world outside and and Finance formation of the person inside. Knowledge must be accompanied by character to equip one to Senate Bill No. 2555, entitled achieve his potential and prepare him to live in society with others. The most brilliant mind who AN ACT PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO kills for no reason will end up in jail, without THE HOMELESS much use of his intellect. The good person, even without outside formal education, can become an honest businessman and a gentleman, a good Introduced by Senator Defensor Santiago citizen and deserving child of his God. To the Committees on Urban Planning, The school is not the only educator. Parents, Housing and Resettlement; and Finauce the church, the community, and the totality of our culture educate and train our students to be good citizens. Let us not complicate matters; let Senate Bill No. 2556, entitled us not fix what is not broken. Magaling tayo, pero madalas, hindi taya AN ACT PROVIDING GRANTS TO bilib sa ating sarili. Blame it on centuries of ESTABLISH OBESITY TREATMENT subservience and colonization. We stumble to TRAINING FOR HEALTH PRACTI­ apologize, we own up to faults before we are TIONERS accused. raya lamang ang lahi Sa mundo na nakikiraan lamang ay yumuyuko pa. Other To the Committee on Health and Demo­ countries wage wars, kill millions and after 50 grapby years, it is so hard for them to apologize. It is time to believe in ourselves. Senate Bill No. 2557, entitled For these reasons, and for the Filipino people, I object to the addition of two years to AN ACT REQUIRING THE DEPARTMENT basic education. OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL JI' ~ 632 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010 RESOURCES TO DEVELOP AND To the Committees on Public Information IMPLEMENT A PROGRAM FOR THE and Mass Media; Ways and Means; and VOLUNTARY ASSESSMENT, VERI­ Finance FICATION, AND STANDARDIZED LABELING OF THE CARBON FOOT­ RESOLUTION PRINT OF CONSUMER PRODUCTS Proposed Senate Resolution No. 229, entitled Introduced by Senator Defensor Santiago RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE SENATE To the Committees on Environment and COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT Natural Resources; and Trade and Commerce CORPORATIONS AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND OTHER PERTI­ Senate Bill No.