Mosende, Jappril L

THE EDUCATION PROGRAM IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF

CORAZON “Cory” AQUINO

Introduction

“I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.”- President

Corazon Aquino. Cory Aquino as widow turned opposition leader in 1986, a commander

in chief in 1990 and elder stateswoman in 2008. Who is Corazon Aquino? Maria

Corazon Cojuangco Aquino popularly called “Cory” was the 11th President and first

female president of the Republic of the Philippines from 1886 to 1992 and she was an

international icon of freedom. She was born on January 25, 1933 at Tarlac province

from a wealthy political family. Graduated, Bachelor’s degree in both French and

mathematics from the college of Mount St. Vincent in New York in 1953 then returned to

the Philippines to study law. She was married to the former senator Benigno “Ninoy”

Aquino Jr., and had five children. In 2008, she was diagnosed with colon cancer and

passed away on August 1, 2009.

After the long dictatorship of the administration of Ferdinand Marcos, Cory

Aquino restored the democracy. Aquino was the only former president that does not

have an experience in politics. She did not aspire to be a politician as they described

her just an ordinary housewife. Aquino became actively involved with politics
considering that she was from a political family and her husband affection. In February

1896, Ferdinand Marcos called new presidential election called it snap election.

After Benigno’s assassination, in 1985 she joined the United Nationalist

Democratic Organization and she stated that she hoped the party would find someone

else to run against Marcos. After her appearance, she had millions of petitions

requesting her to run and as she wanted to keep her husband’s political vision alive,

move her country out of social and financial problems, she did it. During Cory’s run for

president, Marcos derided her with sexist statements that she was just a woman and

her place was in bedroom. Marcos did not take the challenge of Aquino seriously and

after the election, Aquino wins the spot as the president of the Philippines. Aquino was

determined as “lead of example”. In her administration there is a lot of accomplishment

she achieved. As she was the first female president, she made a lot of programs for

women and not only for women but also she prioritized the education and one of this is

the Free Education.

Background

“Education makes a people easy to lead but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but

impossible to enslave”. – Peter Brougham. A good education is one of the most

important things that an individual can pursue. The importance of education in

accelerating social mobility and overall development is widely acknowledged by policy

makers and development practitioners (Orbeta, 2009). Barro & Lee (2010), using panel

data set on educational attainment of 146 countries from 1950 to 2010, showed that

schooling has a significant positive effect on aggregate output. Education confers

benefits to individual, firms, industries, and the aggregate economy as a whole. Thus,

many countries including the Philippines consider education-for-all initiative as an

important propelling force in achieving economic progress (Mesa, 2007). To improve the

education system, the Philippines has implemented various educational reforms over

the years. In 1988, the Congress of the Philippines approved the Republic Act (R.A.)

6655 entitled “An Act Establishing and providing for a Free Public Secondary Education

and for Other Purposes.” R.A. 6655 is by far the most important reform since the early

1900s. This act declares that the State shall provide for a free public secondary

education to all qualified citizens and promote quality education at all levels (Free Public

Secondary Education Act of 1988).

The Act tells about the policy of the State to provide for a free public secondary

education to all qualified citizens and to promote quality education at all levels in the

whole country. As we have noticed, some of our fellows Filipinos suffer from poverty

and they can even hardly send their children to school. The significance of this act it is

an opportunity to every Filipinos, especially to the young ones, to be educated and be

taught about basic instructions and lifelong learning that are being taught and done

during elementary years and most especially during secondary or high-school years. If

the student or the adolescent will be exposed to many different encounters it will

enhance more and develop their skills. The school plays a vital role in developing an

individual. It will help our society to be productive, because it is very difficult to prosper

financially when we lack education. The government is therefore right upon

implementing this republic act, because if not with this, there would still be many

Filipinos who will be suffering from poverty, indolence, and non-productiveness.

Naturally, we are raised to be competitive in all ways, and through education we are

being helped upon reaching our goals in life and to become competitive not just locally

but globally. Secondary education may be taken for granted by many but actually, it’s

somewhat the minimum requirement for a person to be hired in a job.

And at the administration of Cory Aquino, there are memorandums and

proclamation she had signed. In October 1989 she signed the Proclamation No. 480

“Declaring the Period 1990-1999 as the Decade of Education for All”. Later on the

Proclamation No. 841 “Reorganizing the National Committee on Education for All

Created Under Proclamation No. 480, Dated October 16, 1989” and In last December 4,

1991 the Memorandum Circular No. 141 “Adopting the Education for All: A Philippine

Plan of Action, 1991-2000 as a Major Social Development Policy and Program of the

Government.” The Education for All Program was formally launched by the President in

Malacañang.

Conclusion

The Act, memorandums and proclamations that was previously mentioned was

implemented at the administration of Corazon Aquino. And up to this time, these

implementations were continually improved. Aquino is an ordinary person as can be, yet

she was unwavering in her belief that she can change the country for better. Millions of

Filipinos pinned their hopes for a change on Cory Aquino’s administration. Even though

there are controversies and issues she had, and a lot of people are against her, she

never stop helping and serving the nation in spite of the fact that she already step out as

the president and suffering with her illness.

Recommendation

If I am to recommend more to this certain act, including the other fees such as

miscellaneous fees, would be much better. Other schools have to pay miscellaneous

fees. Even the tuition is free; some families can’t send their children to the school as

they need to afford the miscellaneous fees. Of course in attending school, not only the

tuition fee is the matter, the transportation, uniform, the child’s allowance and that

miscellaneous fee is a matter to the parent. That is reason why including the

miscellaneous fee in the R.A 6655 lessen the worry of the parent.

References:

Engel, Keri. “Corazon Aquino, revolutionary president of the Philippines.” December 29,

2011.

https://amazingwomeninhistory.com/corazon-aquino-revolutionary-president-

philippines/

Hays, Jeffrey. "Corazon Aquino and the Years after Marcos." Facts and Details.

June 2015. Accessed July 29, 2019.

http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6b/entry-3851.html

Ordinario, Cai. “Free public Education, Jobs Key to keeping kids in School” February

19, 2014.

https://www.pids.gov.ph/pids-in-the-news/650