Education
A key driver of growth
By Juan Miguel Luz
FOR SCHOOLS in Mindanao, Manila is too far away to be responsive to local situations. Concerns are likely to get lost in the competition for attention in the Department of Education (DepEd).
Local School Boards (LSB) are the key to making local decisions that meet local needs. LSBs were created by the Local Government Code to help fund public school needs through the Special Education Fund. But LSBs can do much more than that.
The Davao City LSB is a case in point. More than just funding shortfalls, it has focused on interventions that, in my view, provide system-wide solutions for the entire system.
Over the past nine years, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who sees education as a key driver of growth, and councilor Mabel Sunga Acosta, who has managed the city’s education agenda as chair of the committee on education, have led the Davao City LSB.
Three very able superintendents have co-chaired the LSB in that period: Dr. Susana Estigoy (now regional director for Southern Mindanao), Dr. Gloria Labor (who retired mid-2007) and Dr. Helen Paguican. Other members include the city treasurer, the president of the Sangguniang Kabataan, the president of the city federation of Parents-Teachers Associations, the representative of teachers’ organizations and the representative of non-academic personnel of public schools.
Davao City has a significant Muslim population, both indigenous (Kalagan and Sama) and from across Mindanao (Maguindanaoan, Maranao, Badjao), a sizeable indigenous Lumad populace and migrants from the Visayas and Luzon. As the largest city in Mindanao, Davao City has 286 public elementary and 69 public high schools with over 250,000 students and 6,671 teachers (SY 2009-2010). Because of the city’s ethno-linguistic diversity, it is one of the most complex school systems in the country.
Over the past two years, the Davao City LSB has worked with an annual budget of P177 million (2008) and P204 million (2009) to fund:
Salaries of locally funded public school teachers (123 elementary and 178 secondary) to help fill the teacher shortage;
School health and nutrition, including bio-intensive gardens in 50 elementary schools for school feeding;
School-building construction and furniture;
Workbooks, materials and supplies;
Payment of water and electricity for public schools;
School sports.
These expenditures are common for LSBs nationwide. However, the Davao City LSB has pioneered in four specific areas where the potential of LSBs can best be realized.
First, it has become the venue for reviewing school and teacher performance. To succeed, these reviews have to be fair and critical. The Davao City LSB has taken politics out of teacher appointments and promotions by subjecting these to a multi-stakeholder process.
Second, in late 2002, Acosta (in her first term) brought to the attention of DepEd the issue of teacher payroll as a teacher welfare concern. With salaries paid by central office checks, she argued that because of the distance, local teachers found it very difficult to deal with the DepEd central office regarding salary discrepancies like underpayment and over-deduction. The LSB solution: regional payroll servicing.
In 2004, Region XI was the first region to decentralize teacher payroll. All teacher payroll was subsequently decentralized to regional offices nationwide by 2005.
Third, in early 2005, Davao City became one of the first three cities to set up a Library Hub to provide public schools more access to books as a way to bring up the low reading rates of elementary pupils. This was a partnership between Dole Asia, a private company that provided the seed fund, the city government which helped with the venue (an old warehouse near city hall), and DepEd. Today, over 200 Library Hubs have been set up nationwide.
The most innovative program of the Davao City LSB, however, has been its support for Madaris education as far back as 2001, even before the DepEd moved on this. An ALIVE (Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education) curriculum was developed with the DepEd to help Muslim Filipino children acquire a deeper appreciation of their culture as well as give them better learning opportunities in English, science and math.
Today, the Davao City LSB supports ALIVE in 30 public elementary schools and funds an ALIVE coordinator who supervises 104 asatidz (learned teachers) who handle the two subjects.
Finally, under the management of Acosta and Paguican, the LSB has set up a Davao City School Board Data Bank System that tracks school-by-school performance, a GIS-based school location map (to locate high schools and feeder elementary schools and match this with schooling indicators) and a joint program with the Institute of Indigenous People’s Education (IIPE) to provide a more responsive education experience for the city’s Lumad population.
Muslims, Christians and Lumads converge in Mindanao. Peace and stability in that region rests on the people’s ability to live in harmony. Local School Boards know the local situation best and are critical to building this peace through better education. Davao City, through Duterte and Acosta, has built a strong Local School Board over the past decade that could serve as a model for other cities.
MAYOR
1 Buezon, Rodrigo, Sr.
2 Duterte, Sara
3 Marcellones, Magdaleno
4 Nograles, Prospero
5 Sulamin, Rodrigo Jomoc
VICE MAYOR
1 De Guzman, Benjamin
2 Duterte, Rodrigo
3 Macaraeg, Roberto
CONGRESSIONAL
1st District
1 Acosta, Maria Belen
2 Custodio, Bernard
3 Duterte, Jocelyn
4 Millendez, Anacleto
5 Nograles, Karlo
6 Olan-Olan Robert Elnar
7 Zamora, Juan
2nd District
1 Alcebar, Dexter
2 Bian, Joji Ilagan
3 Dayanghirang, Danny
4 Garcia, Mylene
5 Mahipus, Diosdado
3rd District
1 Advincula, Victorio, Sr.
2 Al-ag, Wilberto
3 Braganza, Gerardo
4 Cañada, Gregorio
5 Lopez, Ruy Elias
6 Ungab, Isidro
COUNCILORS
1st District
1 Abellera, Nilo, Jr.
2 Andolana, Domingo
3 Antolin, Rodolfo Farma
4 Avila, Lester Lawrence
5 Avisado, Wendel
6 Bonguyan, Jo Anne
7 Bornea, Inocentes, Jr Ripdos
8 Braga, Pilar
9 Cirilo, Carlos
10 Delos Reyes, Hector
11 Dolor, Shane
12 Fuentes, Eddie
13 Galicia, Emmanuel
14 Galido, Arlex
15 Gonzaga, Edwin
16 Ho, Jeff
17 Ibuyan, Edgar
18 Laviña, Evelyn
19 Leonar, Ranoelo Carillo
20 Librado, Leah
21 Lim, Christian
22 Lu, Ferdinand Carabuena
23 Macasaet, Ernesto, Jr.
24 Magandia, Mangompora
25 Manding, Amil Bangsa
26 Militar, Napoleon
27 Mojica, Prospero
28 Paconia, Rogelio
29 Parilla, Pablito
30 Ponteras, Randy
31 Quitain, J. Melchor
32 Ramirez, William
33 Reyes, Stella Marissa
34 Rivera, Benjamin
35 Santos, Joel
36 Tabelo, Michael
37 Vergara, Antonio
38 Villarente, Rene
39 Virador, Joel
40 Yap, Alberto
41 Yap, Jocelyn
2nd District
1 Alcebar, Richard
2 Alejandre, Alryan
3 Alterado, Ernie
4 Alterado, Senforiano, Jr.
5 Amban, Jose
6 Aportadera, Angelo
7 Aportadera, Michael
8 Apostol, Dante
9 Aquino, Leonardo
10 Bangoy, Gerald
11 Bonguyan, Louie John
12 Cabling, Arnolfo
13 Cagatin, Leopoldo
14 Casilao, Ariel
15 Dayap, April Marie
16 Dureza, Jimmy
17 Galido, Dino Ferdinand
18 Lapitan, Lito
19 Lumanog, Joji Jude
20 Monteverde, Tomas IV
21 Noriega, Rhoda
22 Orcullo, Bethoven
23 Orcullo, Nenita
24 Pichon, Anthony
25 Rodriguez, Luis, Jr.
26 Salvador-Abella, Marissa Pacaldo
27 Saucejo, Joseph
28 Sederiosa, Elvira
29 Unla, Richard
3rd District
1 Aballe, Lyndon
2 Adalin, Magno
3 Advincula, Victorio, Jr.
4 Al-ag, Bernard
5 Baluran, Conrado
6 Bantiles, Rogelio
7 Bello, Karlo
8 Caingles, Salvador
9 Casumpa, Genaro
10 Dalodo, Domingo
11 Dalodo-Ortiz, Myrna
12 Dolor, Allan
13 Gerodias, Ernesto
14 Guillen, Daniel
15 Gutierez, Lucio
16 Lasay, Samuel
17 Layao, Aldion
18 Lopez, Rene Elias
19 Mata-Marañon, Teresita
20 Manaois, Cecilio, Jr.
21 Montajes, Rogelio
22 Pantig, Gregorio
23 Reyes, Reynaldo
24 Saberon, Caminero
25 Santander, Angelico
26 Sucayre, Lolito
27 Sumandang, Allan Joy
28 Trinidad, Eduard
29 Villafuerte, Jose Louie
30 Zozobrado, Rachel
