PGMA's Speech during the 2nd National Conference on E-Learning

PGMA's Speech during the 2nd National Conference on E-Learning

Fiest Pavilion, Manila Hotel (07 August 2003)

Thank you, Brother Rolly Dizon.

Ambassador Romulo, Secretary Jimenez, Undersecretary Peña, Sir Anthony Cleaver, Mr. Hara. I have other officials who are present here also today including Secretary Alingod, fellow workers in government, guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Una sa lahat, salamat sa inyong lahat sa suporta sa akin noong July 27. I received encouragement from all of you. Maraming nagpadala sa akin ng suporta sa pamamagitan ng text, e-mail, information technology. Kaya talagang nasa mundo na tayo ng ICT.

And information and communications technology is one of the strongest galvanizers of our economy. And I am glad that today we have a distance learning program which we want to expand.

But I'm especially proud at the distance learning program -- that was explained earlier to you today -- utilizing mobile vans to provide basic education and specialty training courses.

This is a leapfrog solution to the lack of teachers in remote areas.

Through ICT, this strong republic school responds to the need of the remotest and most neglected barangays. They respond to the need as well for a holistic approach to insurgency in the remotest barangays of our country. They also respond to the need to eliminate the recruitment grounds for terrorism. They respond to the need for total justice.

We need to use all the tools of our century to fight terrorism including ICT to bring knowledge, education to the remote areas, to the poorest areas where the terrorists do their recruitment. Terror does not knock before it strikes. The Jakarta event could have happened anytime and anywhere in the region. We must not be distracted. We must apply our full attention to this renewed threat. One way is the preemptive way by using education to prevent the recruitment grounds from becoming larger, in fact, to make them smaller.

Once more, however, I must stress that our best defense lies in the vigilance of each and every citizen. We've stepped up intelligence gathering and sharing of information with our neighboring countries. The hunt for terrorists must involve all communities and territories across borders.

Just yesterday, I was with the Asean Finance Ministers, and I thank them for their confidence in our national stability. I assured them that business continues as usual in the Philippines despite the Makati crisis. Our economy is stabilizing and bouncing back, as uncertainty turns to confidence. Our resiliency must reinforce the continuity of vital policies and programs including our program on E-learning. We must reset our sights on the battle against terrorism and poverty.

I am for total justice including total justice that deals with justice in the countryside, justice for the poor who need to have access to education. I am for total justice based on due process. The secondary aim of the Oakwood mutineers, if they did not succeed in toppling the government, is to weaken the national leadership. We shall prove them wrong. We shall seek the maximum penalty for those who planned, led and executed this misadventure. The people cry out for full retribution among the leaders, although we're prepared to deal with those who are proven to have been simply misled or deceived, we're prepared to deal with them with greater understanding. The wheels of justice will not stop until it has disposed of the full breadth of this conspiracy. Once and for all, we are resolved to end military adventurism and its root causes.

There's no need to play hide and seek for propaganda mileage. We're not a nation of barbarians. Senator Honasan will be prosecuted by the very constitution he allegedly wanted to destroy. This government is strong enough to guarantee due process for everyone, weak or strong. This will be observed in all institutional hearings and investigations. The courts are ready to receive evidence. The independent commission has assured a speedy pace of work. Congress is determined to assiduously seek legislative solutions. As a nation, we shall consolidate and tie up all the executive, legislative and judicial actions that will bear upon this threat and resolve it once and for all.

The root cause of insurgency, the breeding ground of terrorism, in fact, even the misleading and deceiving of hapless soldiers. All these can be traced one way or another to the gap between the rich and the poor. This is where distance learning comes in.

The strong republic school that was presented before you today aims to provide a communication infrastructure which can be used for TV broadcasting and internet access. Direct TV will be the primary medium to deliver distance learning programs.

These programs presently use video, radio and print media for delivery. A strong republic school will assist in translating the standard education programs for broadcasting.

I have directed that the strong republic school should be mainstreamed through at least 400 remote barangays of our country.

Most of these barangays lack teachers. These barangays are also likely to be considered insurgency-critical.

But there must be a clear path to educational relevance. It is of critical importance that we continue through e-learning and other means to improve the teaching of english in schools, whether traditional or online. The ability to communicate in english has always been our strongest selling point, and we don't want to take that for granted. Our literacy in english must not be allowed to deteriorate.

We must also continue to upgrade math and science teaching in basic education. We've already increased learning hours for mathematics and laboratory hours for science in the current schoolyear. And we must continue to do that.

The meta consultancy group recently upgraded our country's ICT rating from underdeveloped to "developing with high potential for rapid evolution." congratulations to ITECC. we're the only country in the Asia-pacific region to improve by two notches, not one notch, two notches in this latest survey of ICT development across the region.

Yesterday, too, I met with other in the e-service industries. And I pointed out that before I became president, just before I became president, there are 1,500 call center seats in our country. In about a year's time, we will have 60,000 seats. We have, in fact, about... How many seats today? 20,000 seats today. And because it's growing exponentially, we will have 60,000 seats in a year's time. Compared that to a hundred thousand seats in India with its one billion population. And we have 60,000 seats in our population of 80 million.

The Philippines also topped the knowledge jobs category in the global new e-economy index. This G.N.E.I. is a technological competitiveness index that determines I.T. readiness and I.T. capability. Indeed, therefore, we have much to hope for in information technology.

I have declared, in fact, that technology is the foundation of future economic development. And that is why we must have technology not only as the subject matter of our curriculum but as the medium of the message. However, we must not neglect our values. In my dialogues with parents and teachers, there's a clamor to restore "good manners and right conduct" in the school curriculum, and I agree. We are not in the business of producing robots, but enterprising human beings.

I therefore call for a deeper inculcation of moral, social and cultural values through our basic education system. Knowledge without character is not acceptable. Critical thinkers are better citizens.

We shall pursue this vision unswervingly because to do otherwise will only breed more poverty, more social injustice, more conflict.

And so, members of the educational community, members of the e-community, may we wed e-commerce, ICT, and learning together through E-learning.

May all our insights in this conference bring us closer to the dream of a strong and vibrant nation empowered by education and enabled by information and communication technology.

Thank you.

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