The Philippine Agenda

I was watching THE PHILIPPINE AGENDA, a show in GMA-7 last night and I couldn't help but be sad at the state of Education in the Philippines.

There is so much that needs to be done: new classrooms, books, training and compensation for the teachers. Our whole national budget is not enough to pay for what needs to be done in this country, as far as education is concerned.

The classrooms they showed in Masbate and Lanao were so dilapidated. And the classrooms in Manila were so crowded (120 students in one classroom) and they don't even have enough chairs and tables. For those who studied in Private Schools this situation is unheard of, but when you see it visually like that, it really doesn't make sense. Those classrooms and situations are not conducive to learning.

There are students and pupils who need to wake up at 3 am just to walk to the nearest school (at least 8 kilometers of walking). By the time they get to school they'd be so tired and unable to concentrate.

Some pupils in Manila have to work to help augment the family income and have allowance in order to go to school.

The teachers are paid so poorly, they need to take second jobs. Plus they teach a class of 120 children...how can they not have tonsil problems? The former USEC of DECS said that if we only invest training on public teachers in say a private school, we need about Php500million just to train 10% of the teachers for one day in a private school. And that's just training budget. It doesn't even include the budget needed for other things.

Education is particularly important, because it is a tool for the upliftment of the lives of many Filipinos. It affords them dignity with a kind of wealth that does not get used up.

There are so many charities that about handing out clothes, food, children's parties, etc. A lot of celebrities like Deither Ocampo and Ara Mina putting up their own foundations. I don't know what their foundations are about, but consider education. How about using that money to rehabilitate a classroom? Or buy books so that a class of 40 children will not share one book for the entire class.

I remember Oprah saying in one show on why she decided to put up a learning center in Africa, she was aghast when she found out that in some parts of the world, people needed to pay to go to school. For her, it was ridiculous! School should be free. Somebody please send that GMA-7 tape to Oprah! If she sees it. She'd panic!

I panicked. I certainly did. There is so much that needs to be done. How can you not take these elections seriously when you are exposed to how deep our social and economic problems are?

We need serious leaders. We need leaders that have heart. Not only that, we need leaders who have the brains and the hands, plus the will to really do something.

I heard the TV Show will be a series and every week, they'll feature another topic. This week was education. I don't know what next week will be.

I suggest we all watch the shows.

What? No Eye Candy?

So the good singers on American Idol 6 are still in the running. But must all the female contenders be so unattractive?

You can judge me however which way you want but you can check out the contestants yourselves.

I know the purpose of American Idol is to find the best singers, but sometimes, it's not necessarily the best singers who sell. He/she has got to be the total package. Look at what happened to Fantasia. And of course, Taylor.

Fortunately for the girls, there are still some okay guys like Beatbox Boy and the Justin Timberlake look alike. But I just wished they had a Carrie Underwood or Katherine McPhee who can match the look with an acceptable voice.

Antonella "her hotness" Barba, has got the look, but she just couldn't sing. And Alaina"her cuteness" Alexander has that Sarah Michelle look and might have had the voice but no Ex Factor.



While it's nice to watch a show with people with beautiful voices singing, it would be nice to have it visually appealing as well. So who do I root now? Maybe the one that looks like Ugly Betty. She's got a good vocal range, she's young, she's different from the past winners: Kelly, Carrie and Katherine because she's somewhat Latina. Maybe I'll root for her, among the girls. I still like the beatbox guy though.

Meanwhile, I feel for Antonella. Sure she's not the purest Jersey girl, but I don't think she knew that these controversies would come her way. She's not even 21 yet. Anyway, here's what she's got to say about those naughty pictures that came out.



How hard was it to deal with all the controversy that was going on around you when you were on the show?

It was definitely difficult and it wasn’t how I intended things to go, but I tried to block it out as much as possible and stay focused on the competition. All that other stuff was completely irrelevant to the fact that I’m here to sing.

Visibility is important – does part of you feel that there’s no such thing as bad publicity?

Yes, it’s true that my name is more well-known because of it, but I’m not known for the things that I would like to be known for right now. I wanted to make a name for myself in singing. The pictures that have been released of me – the ones that actually are me – they were very personal and that is not how I intended to portray myself. I’d rather promote myself in a more classy way. And, again, that was private – that was not for the public eye.

Were you approached to pose in Playboy?

I heard about it but I was never approached.

Would you do it?

No. Right now I want to look at all the offers I get and sort out what’s best for me right now. I’m definitely not opposed to acting or modeling or something. I would definitely do pop music, but I would add my style to it – you know, a little R&B-ish pop music, maybe bluesy, jazzy.