Historico-legal and Philosophical

Bases of the Philippine Education

A PowerPoint Presentation
of
Mr. Kenneth June S. Potot
English Teacher
G. Jurado Foundation School Inc.

From a historical standpoint, the Philippine

educational system has been regarded as a hybrid,
reflecting the countrys cultural and colonial
history. Education laws and policies that have
been enacted and implemented throughout
history are testaments to this.

Observably, Philippine culture and society value

education as a means to an end. This is probably
the reason why the Philippines has one of the
highest literacy rates in Asia and in the world.

In this chapter, the Philippine educational system

is presented within the context of history, law, and
philosophy across the timeline of Philippine
history.

Pre-historic and early education

history

The discovery of Laguna Copperplate Inscription

dated 900AD highlighted the cultural links
present between the Tagalog-speaking people this
time and the various contemporary civilizations in
Asia, most notably the middle kingdoms of India,
and the Srivijaya empire.

For emphasis, 900AD is now the recognized date

when the first surviving written record that came
from the Philippines was inscribed. The plate has
an inscribed date of Saka era 822, corresponding
to April 21, 900 AD. Written in the Kavi script, the
plate contains many words from Sanskrit, old
Javanese, old Malay, and old Tagalog.

In this document, the places of Tondo, Pila and

Pulian in the area around Manila Bay and Medan
(the Javanese Kingdom of Medang in Indonesia)
were mentioned, apparently as sites of trade or
business during that time.

When Spanish came in 1521, they noticed that the

Filipino natives could read and write with
common scripts in Baybayin, the pre-Spanish
Filipino alphabet.

Colonial, revolutionary, and

commonwealth periods
Spanish Colonial Period

The Spanish conquest started in 1521 with the

arrival of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand
Magellan, and ended in 1898. Tribal tutors this
time were replaced by Christian missionaries. The
education system was basically Catholic and elite
based. Education was then a privilege that was
never made available to the indios.

Compulsory public education was initiated and

implemented through the enactment of
Educational Decree of 1863. The decree mandated
a system of free, compulsory primary education. It
also initiated the establishment of primary schools
for boys and girls in each town under the
responsibility of the municipal government; and a
normal school for male teachers under the
tutelage of the Jesuits. It included the compulsory
teaching of the Spanish language.

This system benefited largely the illustrados who

could afford to send their children to the limited
number of secondary and tertiary schools
(colegios) open to non-Spaniards.

Citing a Joint Congressional Committee on

Education Report in 1949, Elevaso & Elevaso
(1995) point out the underlying philosophical
concerns of education during the Spanish period:

 The development of knowledge of the Christian

faith and ethics in preparation for the afterlife
The ability to read, write, and count, which are
the fundamental tools of knowledge.
The practice of allegiance to the colonial rule of
Spain
The acquisition of vocational skills in agriculture
and trade
The ability to sing and read music primarily for
participation in religious activities and
secondarily for leisure.

Colonial, revolutionary, and

commonwealth periods
The First Philippine Republic

Article XXII of the provisional Constitution

written in Biak-na-Bato contained a provision on
education: Religious liberty, the right of
association, the freedom of education, the freedom
of the press, as well as the freedom in the exercise
of professions, arts, trades, and industries are
established.

The Revolutionary Government pursued

remarkable efforts to promote the education of the
people after its establishment on June 12, 1898. It
created a position of director of public instruction
under the Secretario de Fomento, to handle
education matters.

Spanish built institutions that were closed for

three centuries were reopened, and the medium of
instruction focused primarily on the development
of Filipino citizenship and nationalism. The
philosophy of education during the revolutionary
period was centered on freedom and love of
country within the context of love of God.

Colonial, revolutionary, and

commonwealth periods
American Colonization Period

The Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898 which

ended the Spanish-American War, marked the
beginning of another colonial regime in the
Philippines. The US-sponsored military
government in the Philippines used the First
Philippine Commission as its instrumentality to
impose an American type of colonial governance
in the country. It promulgated legal policies
affecting all aspects of Filipino lives, including
education.

With the mandate of then President William

McKinley, the Commission was instructed to
institute an adequate secularized and free public
school system during the first decade of American
rule to enable the people to become a civilized
community. The free primary instruction covered
primarily the teaching of the duties of citizenship,
simple livelihood, and vocation as mandated by
the Taft Commission. Chaplains and noncommissioned officers were assigned to serve as
teachers in the country, with English as the
medium of instruction.

The American period was known for the

establishment of a highly centralized public school
system by virtue of Act No. 74, enacted by the
Philippine Commission in 1901. The Americans
patterned the Philippine public school system
after their system of education.

Philippine public schools used American

textbooks and reading materials to teach reading,
writing, arithmetic, language, gardening, domestic
science, American history, and Philippine history.
Vocational education was limited to gardening,
carpentry, sewing, lace-making, and almost
everything that would civilize the uncivilized
Filipino.

The implementation of Act No. 74 caused heavy

shortage of teachers in the country. Because of
this, between 1901 and 1902, the Philippine
Commission authorized the secretary of public
instruction to bring to the Philippines more than
1,600 teachers from the US, popularly called the
Thomasites.

Colonial, revolutionary, and

commonwealth periods
Commonwealth Period

From 1935-1946, a commonwealth system of

government prevailed in the Philippines. Prior to
this period, the status of the Philippines was
virtually undefined as some called it an insular
territory with non-commonwealth status.

The creation of the Philippine Commonwealth was

envisioned under the Philippine Independence
Act, also known as the Tydings-McDuffie Act. It
was a self-governing, although foreign policies and
military affairs remained under the responsibility
of the US, and the passage of law by the legislature
affecting immigration, foreign trade, and the
currency system had to be approved by the US
president.

Meanwhile, the 1935 Constitution provided the

framework and philosophy for public education
system in the Philippines. Section 5, Article XIV
thereof provides that:
SEC 5. All educational institutions shall be under
the supervision of and subject to regulation of the
state. All schools shall aim to develop moral
character, personal discipline, civic conscience,
and vocational efficiency, and to teach the duties
of citizenship.

Considering the foregoing constitutional mandate,

Manuel L. Quezon, the elected president of the
Commonwealth, formulated a system of guiding
principles to serve as standards of behavior for the
Filipino people, especially the youth. He issued
Executive Order No. 217, now known as the
Quezon Code of Citizenship and Ethics, reciting
the foundational philosophy for the emerging
system of Philippine education.

It contains fundamental guidance on how to

develop moral character, personal discipline, civic
conscience, and the duties of citizenship. The first
two principles therein are about faith in Divine
Providence and love of country. The basic legal
guidelines that actually implemented the
constitutional provision on education were
embodied in Commonwealth Act No. 586, which
was enacted to substantially reform the public
school system along the following principles:

1. To simplify, shorten, and render more practical

and economical both the primary and
intermediate courses of instruction so as to
place the same within the reach of the largest
possible number of school children;
2. To afford every child of school age adequate
facilities to commence and complete at least
the primary course of instruction;

3. To give every child completing the primary

course an adequate working knowledge of reading
and writing, the fundamentals of arithmetic,
geography, Philippine history and government,
and character and civic training; and
4. To ensure that all children attending the
elementary schools shall literate and become
useful, upright, and patriotic citizens.

Colonial, revolutionary, and

commonwealth periods
Japanese Colonial Period

When the Japanese Imperial Forces invaded the

Philippines in 1942, the war-time educational
objectives and philosophies were pronounced on
February 17, 1942 by its commander-in-chief,
thus:

 To make people understand the position of the

Philippines as a member of the East Asia Coprosperity Sphere, the true meaning of the
establishment of a New Order in the sphere and
the share which the Philippines should take for
the realization of the New Order, and thus to
promote friendly relations between Japan and
the Philippines to the furthest extent.
To eradicate the old idea of reliance upon the
Western nations, especially the US and Great
Britain, and to foster a new Filipino culture
based on the self-consciousness of people as
Orientals;

 To endeavour to elevate the morals of the

people, giving up the overemphasis on
materialism;
To strive for the diffusion of the Japanese
language in the Philippines and to terminate the
use of English in due course;
To put an importance to the diffusion of
elementary education and to the promotion of
vocational education; and
To inspire the people with the spirit to love
labor.

During this period (1942-45), the Philippine

Executive Commission established the
Commission of Education, Health and Public
Welfare. Schools were reopened in June 1942.
The Japanese military administration immediately
conducted re-orientation and re-training of
Filipino prewar teachers for the attainment of the
aforementioned objectives.

Post-liberation Philippine
education

The discussion of post-liberation period covers

from Japan to the pre-Martial Law period. With
the termination of World War II and the
restoration of the Philippine independence on
July 4, 1946, the philosophy of Philippine
education to foster faith in democracy as a way of
life was reinstated.

One important piece of legislation during this

period was R.A. No. 896 otherwise known as the
Elementary Education Act of 1953. It made
compulsory the enrolment of a child the next
school year following his/her seventh birthday
and the requirement for him/her to remain in
school until he/she completed elementary
education, subject to the same exceptions
provided under Commonwealth Act No. 586 and
the said Act. It also restored Grade VII, provided
that the pupils who were in Grade VI at the time of
its implementation were no longer required to
complete the seventh grade to be eligible for first
year high school.

Notably, the right to education has been

universally recognized since the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Article 26
of the Declaration proclaims that Everyone has
the right education. For instance, recognizing the
right to education as a basic human right, Article 2
of the first Protocol to the European Convention
on Human Rights (1952) obliges all signatory
parties to guarantee the right to education. The
United Nations International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR,
1966) guarantees this right.

Add this


Post EDSA educational system

After President Aquino assumed the presidency, the

1987 Constitution was approved on February 2, 1987,
replacing the 1973 Constitution ratified during the
dictatorial government of President Marcos. Section
3, Article XIV of the new Constitution contains the 10
fundamental aims of education in the Philippines.
Prior thereto, President Aquino issued E. O. No. 117,
reorganizing the Ministry of Education, Culture, and
Sports; and in the process, renaming the Bureau of
Sports Development as the Bureau of Sports
Development as the Bureau of Physical Education and
School Sports, and the Bureau of Continuing
Education as the Bureau of Non-formal Education.
The structure of DECS as embodied in E.O. No.117
remained practically unchanged until 1994.

The duties of all educational institutions in

relation to this mandate are clearly stated in Art.
XIV, Sec.3 (par.2) of the 1987 Constitution, thus:
They shall inculcate patriotism and nationalism,
foster love of humanity, respect of human rights,
appreciation of the role of national heroes in the
historical development of the country, teach the
rights and duties of citizenship, strengthen ethical
and spiritual values, develop moral character and
personal discipline, encourage critical and creative
thinking, broaden scientific and technological
knowledge, and promote vocational efficiency.

Art. II, Section 17 of the 1987 Constitution states

that: The State shall give priority to education,
science and technology, arts, culture, and sports to
foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate
social progress, and promote total human
liberation and development.

The trifocal system of education in the Philippines

had its impetus on the Congressional Commission
on Education (EDCOM) Report dated December
28, 1991, entitled Making Philippines Education
Work: An Agenda for Reform, specifically
recommending the division of DECS into three
agencies because of its findings on the declining
state of the Philippine education system brought
about by poor public governance, among other
reasons. It found out that the quality of Philippine
education was declining continuously as
evidenced by the following:

 Elementary and high schools are failing to teach

the competence the average citizen needs to
become responsible, productive, and selffulfilling;
Colleges and technical/vocational schools were
not producing manpower needed to develop our
economy; and
Graduate education was mediocre. It was not
generating the researched-based knowledge
needed to create more jobs and to raise the value
of production.

According to the EDCOM Report, the two main

reasons for the decline of Philippine education
were:
Not enough investment in the educational
system; and
Poorly managed educational establishments.

In line with this, the trifocal system of education

was put in place through various legislations.

First, Congress passed on May 18, 1994 R.A. No.

7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994,
creating CHED, which assumed the functions of
the Bureau of Higher Education and the
supervision of tertiary degree programs.

Second, Congress passed on August 25, 1994 R.A.

No. 7796 known as the Technical Education and
Skills Development Act of 1994, which created
the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA), which absorbed the Bureau of
Technical Vocational Education plus the National
Manpower and Youth Council. While TESDA was
to supervise non-degree, technical-vocational
programs, DECS, on the other hand, retained
responsibility for all elementary and secondary
education.

Third, in August 2001, Congress passed R.A. No.

9155, otherwise called the Governance of Basic
Education Act of 2001, which renamed DECS as
the Department of Education (DepEd) and refined
the role of its field offices (regional offices,
division offices, district offices, and schools).

Thank you for your indulgence