THEO-PHILO-HISTORICAL REFLECTION ON THE OUTCOMES BASED

EDUCATION AND EVANGELIZATION’500 IN THE PHILIPPINES: A REFLECTION.

First year undergraduate student Felicia Fran K. Aldana of 1 COM-1
Faculty of Arts and Letters - Bachelor of Arts Major in Communication
University of Santo Tomas - Manila, Philippines
Presented to Prof. Hermegildo C. Ceniza

After reading and analyzing the 39-paged paper, I present four main insights. Firstly,

Poverty in the Philippines may be a preferential option. Faithful Filipinos may say that because

they believe in the Catholic Social Teachings. The term "preferential option for the poor" was

coined during the Puebla Conference called upon the Catholic Church. In their description, the

bishops stated that "this option does not imply exclusion of anyone, but it does imply a

preference for the poor and a drawing closer to them". Secondly, the 21% of the poverty line in

the Philippines is not just a consequence of unemployment and social stratification, and a

consequence of overpopulation, as what some political leaders say, but also because of bad

governance and poor education system. Bad governance and poor education system may result in

illiteracy in terms of having little or no knowledge about sex education and general education.

According to the article Southeast Asian Affairs, the Philippine presidents following dictator

Ferdinand Marcos have their respective claims to fame (Ferrer, 2000). This is evident with the

current and previous government administrations. Meaning they have their own political and

social agendas that mostly mean caring for their own welfare and safety that could care less

about the masses particularly the people on the poverty line. The unemployment rate of 5.4

percent as of 2019 continues to rise in 2020 due to the pandemic outbreak lockdown resulting in

closing of businesses and bankruptcy. I think the government should give job opportunities to

those who got unemployed for the country’s economy to stay afloat. About the issue with
ABS-CBN, the denial of their franchise for another 25 years due to the apparent violations of

Laws was lacking in evidence by a claim of an issue of violations by the oligarchs against the

existing laws of the land which Duterte wishes to abolish probably thinking that the government

is pure from oligarchy. Thirdly, on the existing RH Law (RA 10354) to control population

growth, it is no surprise for me to note that the Philippine population has continued to surge from

100 million in 2015 to 109 million in 2020 according to the National Statistics Survey especially

during the quarantine lockdown when COVID-19 struck. This is because of what was mentioned

earlier, the lack of sex education. This is because the topic is considered taboo in the Philippines

which should not be the case. There is also the mindset of some Filipinos wherein “children will

lift the parents/family from poverty”. This mindset is wrong but I do not blame them considering

people with this mindset usually did not have education and or dropped schooling because of

lack of access and or privilege and lack of opportunities in regards to accessing education.

Poverty in the Philippines is a question of a political philosophy indeed. Dr. Jose Rizal’s

annotation of Antonio de Morga’s “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas”, commented that political

motivation was behind the evangelization, the conversion of the infidels. It seems that from the

very beginning of evangelization in the Philippines, there was already “corruption” in the manner

of dishonesty or impurity of intention in some religious activities of some religious missionaries.

Today, what registers automatically in the minds of many young Filipinos upon pondering this

philosophical question, is the existence of corruption in almost all government agencies. The

question “Is the implementation of moral and political principles the solution to Philippine

poverty?” remains. Personally, these principles could be a factor to help alleviate poverty,

however, it does not guarantee success or abolition of poverty because there are many other
factors causing the problem and solutions for this are theoretical, each has its pros and cons. The

writer of this reflection, my professor, stated that the right solution to alleviate poverty in the

country is far-fetched and beyond our reach. This is because of the bad attitude, laziness,

greediness, and lack of discipline of some Filipinos. I would like to point out the fact that

Filipinos can be hard-working, disciplined, courteous, and generous when abroad. It is not the

Filipinos who’s the problem, it is the system. The implementation of laws in the country are not

that effective therefore poorly implemented. A nation without laws to follow would be a chaotic

anarchy indeed however a nation with laws to follow but having these laws ineffective and

poorly implemented is no different. Jose Rizal’s “The Indolence of the Filipino” pointed out that

even before the colonizers came, Filipinos in general were industrious and hard-working. This

means Filipinos are not as indolent as they seem. Fourthly, President Rodrigo Duterte’s

administration has done a lot of good when he was mayor up until he is seated as the 16th

Philippine president. His governance is both moral and immoral. He means well but his ways are

neither good and evil. One example for this is the accidental involvement of the innocent

resulting in over 5,000 death-toll from his War-on-Drugs, all within his administration. As for

Senator Pacquiao, he may have become a man of his profession and vocation, but the State and

the Church should be separated. From a historical perspective, the principle of separation of

Church and State was a reaction to the union of Church and state which was expressed in

Patronato Real. This was operative in Europe and in the Philippines for 3 centuries under

Spanish colonial rule. The Church needed the patronage of the state to carry out her mission. In

exchange, the state gained the right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Church. Though, it is

undeniable that public servants should have good intentions and a good attitude, namely: strong
faith in God and in his human capacity with self-discipline and determination. It is just that their

decisions should not heavily rely and be heavily influenced by the Church but rather let the

Church serve as the lawmakers’ guide in governing a country. Hope with action from the people

is the nation’s hope to progress towards a better governance and a better country.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Nairn, Thomas. Roman Catholic Ethics and the Preferential Option for the Poor. Medicine and
Society, Journal of Ethics. 2007.
2. Sinding, Steven. Population, Poverty, and Economic Development. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B
Bio Sci. 2009.
3. Cummins, J. Antonio De Morga and his Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas. University of Cambridge,
Journal of Southeast Asian History. 1969.
4. Ferrer, Miriam. The Philippines: Governance Issues Come to the Fore. ISEAS-Yusof Ishak
Institute. 2000.
5. Hutchcroft, Paul. Oligarchs and Cronies in the Philippine State: the Politics of Patrimonial
Plunder. Cambridge University Press. 1991
6. Silecchia, Lucia. The Preferential Option for the Poor: “An Opportunity and a Challenge for
Environmental Decision-Making”. University of St. Thomas Law Journal. 2008.
7. Picardal, Amado. Opinion on Understanding Separation of Church and State. Rappler. 2019.
8. Giles, Christopher & Johnson, Howard. Philippine Drug War: Do we know how many have
died?. BBC News. 2019.