UNDERSTANDING CULTURE,

SOCIETY, AND POLITICS

Second Semester
Week 12

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

Division of Surigao del Sur
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 Competency: Examine the human responses to emerging challenges in
contemporary societies.

Objectives: At the end of the week, you shall have:

▪ identified emerging issues in Philippine contemporary society;
▪ written a reflective essay detailing an in-depth examination of the
government’s response to the challenges brought by emerging
social, economic, health, environment, and political issues; and
▪ created an advocacy campaign showing your support to the
government’s efforts and responses in addressing various social
issues.

Learner’s Tasks
• Use the learning activity sheet with care.
• Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of the LAS.
• Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the activities.

Lesson Overview

We are living in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world

where societies are confronted with an avalanche of issues/problems that brought
significant changes in the way people are behaving in the communities. This condition
stems because of various economic, political, social, environment, and health issues that
affected the way people are living today. The succeeding discussions provide a birds-
eye-view of these issues that are emerging and occurring in contemporary societies.

Emerging Challenges in Philippine Contemporary Society

Economic Issue
▪ Poverty – The proportion of Filipino families with income not sufficient to buy their
minimum basic food and non-food needs, was at an estimated 12.1% in 2018.
(Philippine Statistics Authority) The effects of the pandemic can be clearly seen in
SWS most recent hunger survey. The percentage of Filipinos who were involuntarily
hungry in May 2020 (16.7% or 4.2 million families) almost doubled since December
2019 (8.8% or around 2,1 families). This is the highest the number has been since
September 2014 (22.8 or 4.8 million families). The World Bank saw the poverty rate
in the Philippines further declining to 19.8 percent in 2020 and 18.7 percent in 2021.
(rappler)

▪ Inflation – The rate of increase in the prices of goods was steady at 4.5% in April
2021. The latest figure is unchanged from March 2021 rate and more than double
the 2.2% posted in April 2020. Year-to-date, inflation settled at 4.5 %, still beyond
the government’s target range of 2% to 4%. Food inflation slowed down to 4.8 %

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 in April compared to the 5.8% in March. However, meat continued to be
expensive, posting the highest increase of 22.1% (Philippine Statistics Authority).

▪ Unemployment – The unemployment rate went down to 7.1% in March 2021,

translating into some 3.44 million Filipinos with no jobs (Philippine Statistics
Authority). The latest unemployment figure in the labor force survey is lower than
the 8.8% recorded in February 2021, which was equivalent to 4.2 million Filipinos.
There were 45.33 million Filipinos with work during the period, translating into an
unemployment rate of 92.9%. This is higher than the 9.1% recordedin February,
which was equivalent to 43.2 million persons. (rapplerdotcom)
▪ Rural to urban migration – The Philippines is also among the world’s fastest
urbanizing countries, and overcrowded cities present their own challenges. With
some 47 percent of the population living in urban areas, compared with 31
percent in Thailand and 16 percent in Thailand and 16 percent in Cambodia, the
country has more than 200 urban areas that have populations of more than 50,
000, notes the country’s commission on population (POPCOM).
▪ Smuggling and piracy - The levels of piracy went as high as 53 percent in the 25-
24 age demographic, a new study of the online content viewing behavior of
Filipino consumers has found that 49 percent access streaming piracy websites or
torent sites (CNN Philippines).

Social Issue
▪ Drug addiction and proliferation – Around 1.67 million or two out of one hundred
Filipinos aged 10-69 are current users of drugs. Cannabis or marijuana (57 percent)
was found to be the most commonly abused dangerous drug followed by
methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu (35 percent) - Dangerous Drug Board
▪ Pornography/Prostitution – Prostitutions knows no Nationality. Philippine Offshore
Gaming Operators (POGO’s) brought in Chinese Prostitutes. POGO started as
Japanese and South Korean operations in the Philippines, despite the dramatic
claims of some politicians the industry generates very substantial economic
benefits – above Php 100 billion a year flowing into the economy, employing
countless Filipinos service providers, renting and buying from Filipino landlords and
purchasing Filipino goods (manilatimes.net)
▪ Gender issue (LGBTQ) - 73% of Filipinos think homosexuality should be accepted
by society. This month of June LGBTQ celebrates Pride 2021 online with
corresponding activities with its theme “Sulong, Vaklash! Sama-samang Pag –
aklas ang Ating Lunas,” aims to highlight calls for gender equality and
intersectional solidarity through initiatives during Pride month (rappler.com)
▪ Teenage pregnancy - The Philippines has recorded a 7% increase in births among
girls aged 15 and below in 2019, up from the figure on teenage pregnancies in
2018. PopCom cited the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority which
revealed that Filipino minors who gave birth in 2019 increased to 62,510 from 62,
341 I 2018 (CNN Philippines, February 8, 2021)
▪ Cyber security – Cyberthreats and a plethora of bad actors have leveraged on
the response to covid-19 to test an organization’s security operations, which were
made vulnerable by the extraordinary shift to remote work. According to the
United Nations, there was a 600-percent increase in malicious emails at the height
of pandemic. To address the increase in digital transactions amid the pandemic,
the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) encouraged financial institutions to use “zero
trust” cybersecurity systems (CNN Philippines).

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 ▪ Human trafficking – The Philippines has become the global epicenter of live stream
sexual abuse, based on the study by the United Nations International Children’s
Education fund (UNICEF). Findings showed that 80% (8 out 10) of children in the
Philippines are vulnerable to being victims of online sexual abuse or bullying. It was
also found that 2.5 % of children in the country had their nude bodies or sexual
activities shown on the internet or on a cellphone.

Health Issue
▪ Proliferation of diseases and viruses (Covid-19) – There have been 175, 686, 814
confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3, 803, 592 deaths. As of June 9, 2021, a
total of 2,156,550,767 vaccine doses have been administered (World Health
Organization).

Environmental Issue
▪ Global warming and climate change – Climate change is happening now in the
Philippines. The most recent scientific evidences assessments have confirmed that
this warming of the climate system since the mid-20th century is most likely to be
due to human activities; and thus, is due to the observed increase in greenhouse
gas concentrations from human activities, such as of fossil fuels and land use
change. In 2009, Congress passed the climate change act creating the CCC to
develop policies and government programs on climate change. The CCC in turn
developed the national climate change action plan that serves a road map for
all climate change programs in the Philippines.
▪ Energy shortage – The Philippines is facing a mounting energy crisis as the
Malampaya gas fields deplete, supplying 30% of Luzon’s energy consumption, are
expected to be depleted by 2024. In the Philippines, we have yet to fully ditch
coal, but gradual change has taken place. In 2018, the Department of Energy
reported that 23% of the country’s generated electricity comes from renewal
energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydro power).

Political Issue
▪ Vote buying and clientelism/patronage, Terrorism (local and national) – The
Philippine National Police has formed 105 teams tasked to address suspected
vote-buying incidents nationwide, several arrests have so far been made a in
relation to the 2019 midterm elections. (rappler.com)

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Part II. Human Responses to Societal Issues/Challenges

Economic Response
▪ Social amelioration program in a form of Cash grants and subsidies (i.e., 4Ps,
Pamana, etc.)
▪ Partnership and Multi-sectoral involvement (i.e., NGOs)
▪ Build-build-build Program
▪ Price regulation and deregulation
▪ Public-Private Partnership

Environment Response
▪ “Plant-Based Solutions for Climate Change” campaign
▪ Biotechnology
▪ Project NOAH National Greening Program
▪ Disaster Risk Management
▪ Enhanced Biodiversity Conservation

Health Response
▪ Universal healthcare law/system
▪ Frontline workers compensation
▪ Health Programs of the Government Health Facility Enhancement Program DOH
Complete Treatment Pack (COMPACK) Program
▪ Waste Management and Disposal
▪ National TB Control Program National HIV/AIDS and STI Prevention and Control
Program

Social Response
▪ Anti-trafficking in Persons Act
▪ Responsible Parenthood, Freedom of Information

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Activity 1: DO YOU KNOW ME?
Directions: Match the column A (emerging issues in the contemporary society) with its
corresponding description in Column B. Write on the letter of the correct answer.

COLUMN A COLUMN A

1. SOCIAL ISSUE A. representation of issues related to

health.

2. ECONOMIC ISSUE B. harmful effects to earth and its natural

systems due to the actions of humans

3. HEALTH ISSUE C. deals with how power is distributed

and how it operates within social
organization and how people think about
and engage in the wider world on matter
that affect their lives

4. POLITICAL ISSUE D. recognizes by society as a problem

that is preventing society from
functioning at an optimal level

5. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE E. include prospects for growth, inflation,

energy and the environment, inequality,
and the impact of technologies.

Activity 2: Reflect It!

Directions: Write a reflective essay on the government’s response to changes brought by
social, health, environment, economic and political issues. Choose only one from the
given issues stated below.

Responsible Parenthood Conditional Cash Transfer (4P's)

HIV, AIDS and STI Vote Buying and clientelism
Unemployment Drug Addiction
Rotational brown outs brought about by the shortage of energy

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 Rubric

Skills 5 4 3 2 1
Demonstrate Demonstration Demonstrate a Demonstrate a Demonstrate
Depth of a conscious a thoughtful basic limited a little or no
Reflection and through understanding understanding understanding understanding
understanding of the subject of the subject of the subject of the subject
of the subject matter matter matter. matter.
matter
Use of Use specific Use relevant Use example Use incomplete No examples
Textual and examples from from the text to or vaguely from the text
evidence convincing the text support most developed to are used and
examples studied to claims in your only partially claims made
from the text support claims writing. support claims in your own
studied to in your with no writing are
support claims understanding. connections unsupported
in your own between texts. and irrelevant
writing. to the topic.
Demonstrate Demonstrate Demonstrate Demonstrate Demonstrate
Conventions control of the control of the partial control control of the little of no
conventions conventions of the conventions control of the
with exhibiting conventions, exhibiting conventions
essentially no occasional exhibiting frequent errors
errors, even errors occasional that make
with errors that do comprehension
sophisticated not hinder difficult
language. comprehension

Activity 3: I Support!
Directions: Create an advocacy campaign expressing your support to the government’s
response in addressing social issues. You may choose one from the given activities below
to express your ideas or views.
▪ Brochure
▪ Jingle
▪ Leaflets
▪ Poster making
▪ Slogan
▪ Spoken poetry
▪ Video Presentation

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 Criteria 5 3 1
The output displays Some of the contents in The contents in the
Creativity authentic or original the output displays an output are not
work in expressing authentic or original authentic or original
views relevant to the work in expressing views work in expressing
government’s relevant to the views relevant to the
response in government’s response government’s
addressing social in addressing social response in addressing
issues. issues. social issues.
The output expresses The output lacks focus in The output has no
Relevance clear focus relevant expressing views focus in expressing
to the to the government’s relevant to the views relevant to the
Theme response in government’s response government’s
addressing social in addressing social response in addressing
issues. issues. social issues.

Formative Test

Direction: Read each item carefully and select the letter of the correct answer.

1. Which of the following statements is an opinion?

A. Past climate change was caused to change.
B. Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change.
C. Humans are dominant force in the changes in the environment.
D. There are external forces that cause the planet’s energy balance to change
which also forces the Earth’s climate to change.

2. People relocate to other places or countries in the hope of finding greener pasture
and employment opportunities.
A. True
B. False
C. Opinionated
D. Unverifiable

3. Why is gender equality important?

A. to get the same rights
B. to be accepted in the society
C. to receive good treatment inside and outside the house
D. men and women are able to receive the opportunities, rights and obligations
in all spheres of life

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 4. As a senior high school student, how are you going to respond to different social
issues?
A. being vigilant at all times
B. staying positive at all times
C. by promoting peace and order in the society
D. by being active citizen in my locality, keeping in mind the possibility helping
others and the country

5. Citizen’s participation in the different government processes has its advantages

and disadvantages. The statements below are some of the advantages of
participation except:
A. effective management of local public goods
B. reduces the instability of a nation’s economic performance
C. helps in providing basic services to the members of the society
D. rise of community limitations because members of the community have their
individual differences

Answer Key

Activity 1.

1. D
2. E
3, A
4. C
5. B

Activity 2 - 3

Answer may vary

References

Works Cited
Balena, Ederlina D. Understanding Culture, Sociey and Politics . 2016.

Alternative Learning Modality, Understanding Culture, Society and Politics, edition 2020

Online source

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/6/17/covid-19-social-inequality.html
https://www.rappler.com/
https://cnnphilippines.com/
https://psa.gov.ph/