Ghost Books in the Philippines

I: Introduction

The article entitled “Strategic Dilemmas in Changing Contexts: G-Watch’s Experience in

the Philippine Education Sector” was written by Florencia Guerzovich and Steven Rosenzwweig
who are Program Officers in an organization named Transparency and Accountability Initiative.
In their article, they mentioned that Joy Aeron of the Philippines NGO Government Watch (G-
Watch) presented some of the strategic issues arising from her organization’s work in the education
sector. According to the article, in 2002 G-watch conducted an audit of textbook delivery in 32
school districts across the Philippines and it found major flaws. Forty percent of books scheduled
to be delivered to schools were unaccounted for and those that were delivered were often late or
did not meet official quality guidelines. She cited Chua (1999) claiming that there were ghost
books in the system. Many schools were not receiving the books they needed. On average, schools
had just one textbook for every six elementary students or one for every eight high school students.
This is a concrete example of corruption in the Department of Education which affects not only
the students or pupils but also the teachers who are the front liners in the school community.
II: Discussion

As a senior high school teacher, I absolutely agree with the issue of ghost books in the
department. When I started teaching in the senior high last school year, I was surprised because
there are no textbooks available for the teaching loads given to me. I was forced to teach four
subjects and the school has not provided me any reference book nor teaching guide. The curriculum
guide given to me was also incomplete. I had to spend my own money to photocopy private
school’s books and also to download references for I honestly did not know how to start. I asked
some of my colleagues why we do not have books and they cannot give a valid reason or
explanation.
The 1987 Constitution, Article XIV, Section 1 states that, the government should
establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant
to the needs of the people and society. In order to achieve this provision of the constitution, the
Department of Education issued numerous orders such as the D.O. No. 3, series of 2001
“Reiterating the Measures on the Prevention of Graft and Corruption”. It stated that in line with its
efforts to prevent graft and corruption, Deped reiterates the Creation of Anti-Graft and Corruption
Task Force/Committees at the Central and Field Offices and the Establishment of the Ombudsman
Junior Graftwatch Units (JGUs) in Public Secondary Schools and State Colleges and Universities
as announced in DECS Orders Nos. 3, s. 1997 and 43, s. 1996, respectively. The creation and
establishment of these measures aims to get rid of grafters and corrupt officials and employees in
DECS. The order even included in the school curriculum several steps to be undertaken by this
Office, to further address the problem of graft and corruption such as the integration of the concepts
and values specified in Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for
Public Officials and Employees such as honesty, nationalism, patriotism, and simple living, in the
different subjects for both elementary and secondary levels; development of graft and corruption
education modules for the elementary and secondary levels in coordination with the Office of the
Ombudsman, the main thrust of which is to awaken the consciousness of the Filipino youth
and to mold them to become responsive and participative citizenry in the battle against graft and
corruption; and Conduct of orientation program for principals on the use of these materials, as well
as the conduct of orientation program among teachers on the concepts/values and processes
adopted in the modules.
Those were in 2001 however, Under the General Appropriations Act of 2014, DepEd got
the biggest share in the national budget which includes the provision of textbooks for the learners.
How come until now, many schools are not yet provided with textbooks? Was there really
procurement of textbooks done? Or was the textbook budget realigned for another purpose? In
2014, it was reported online by PressReader that billions were lost in ghost deliveries at DepEd
during Lapuz term. Reports also revealed that there were some textbooks which are already
circulation but these are both poorly written and arbitrarily edited. These did not meet the “official
quality guidelines” which was mentioned in the article. Take the case of some history or social
studies books showing the pictures of the Banaue Rice Terraces but labeled as “Banana Rice
Tereces” and claimed that it is located in the Ilocos Region rather than in Ifugao. These wrong
information should have been fixed or edited by Professional Editors once the book pass through
the official quality guidelines. This only means one sure thing that the “ghostbook” and
substandard disease in DepEd is incurable and communicable. It has infected the system for it has
been there even during the 1990s and until now, it is still there. Even if the government is going to
pass more good laws on anti-graft and corruption but if there is conspiracy within the department
then our very good laws will be just good in writing and our children will suffer the result of this
unbearable practice in the system.
III: Recommendation
Considering the gravity of the impacts of the “ghostbook and substandard books in the
Department of Education, the government must create an independent committee that will work
with a non-government organization to strictly monitor or supervise the procurement of books
from the bidding process down to the delivery at the grassroots level. The government must also
strictly implement existing laws that will penalize those corrupt officials working in the department
who are in cahoots with anyone to purchase substandard books or deliver ghostbooks.

In addition, the parents and the teachers as stakeholders should also be engage to combat
the issue since they are directly affected. They should joint force and report to proper authorities
some issues related to the procurement of ghostbooks and substandard quality of books delivered
to their area.

Finally, the Commission on Audit should regularly conduct surprise inspection to find out
corrupt officials within the department. They should not inform the school heads or any authority
when they visit schools for auditing purposes.

Marivic P. Ramon, LPT

MAED-EM Student
IFSU Lamut Campus
3600 Lamut, Ifugao
Philippines