Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday accused the Arroyo administration of depriving the youth of a brighter future by not prioritizing education as embodied in the Constitution.

Speaking before students of the Medina College in Ozamis City in Misamis Occidental, one of the legs in his "Lakbay Pasasalamat" (Tour of Thanks), the opposition leader said the current government has deliberately ignored the plight of today’s youth by focusing its energies on wrong priorities.

"I believe that when our youth are deprived of the proper education, they are being deprived of the better future

that should be theirs for the taking. And that is precisely what this present regime is doing when it does not prioritize education as mandated by our Constitution: It is robbing our youth of the better future they deserve," Estrada stressed.

He noted that it is on record that his government is the only administration in the history of the Philippines that gave the highest real per capita budget allocation to basic education, in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution.

But the current administration unfortunately has different budget priorities.

"It is even mandated under Section 5 of Article 14 (of the Constitution) that the State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education... Unfortunately, under this present regime, the priorities have become debt servicing ... and, sad to say, corruption," Estrada said, noting that while the budget for education has remained constant the past eight years, "our national debt has doubled, reaching almost P4 trillion in 2008 compared to P2 trillion in 2001."

"Wrong prioritization is the cause of poverty," Estrada added.

"While it is the duty of the government to protect the future of our youth, it is this incumbent government that is responsible for the sad plight of education in our country today. The deterioration of our educational system is the main cause of the increase in the number of poor families in the country today," he lamented.

Estrada also made recom-mendations for the following educational platform for the next president which included: the institutionalization of pre-school, kindergartens and Grade 7; increasing the number of classrooms and qualified teachers by increasing the budget for education; reducing the student-teacher ratio; re-training teachers in math, science and English;

Tripling the number of scholarship grants to poor but deserving youth, establishing an elementary and high school within one kilometer from barangay centers so that students will not have to walk three kilometers just to go to school; and addressing the mismatch of college courses and job vacancies to help curb unemployment for fresh graduates.

Estrada is visiting Misamis Occidental and Zamboanga del Sur this weekend for his Lakbay Pasasalamat where he personally thanks the Filipino people for continuing to support him in spite of his six-and-a-half years of incarceration.

Back to top

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
The Daily Tribune © 2006