SESUCA, ELVIS NICHOLAI, S.

BSMLS-2B
Activity 4- TCW

Knowledge/Education- 4.5/10
Rationale:
Although education is extremely valued to a tee here in the Philippines. It does
not often translate to actual “improvement or achievement”. Certain statistics show that
the Philippines has recently reached a slump and scored one of the lowest in the
ASEAN with regards to mathematics and science in the past few years and has
heightened since the pandemic happened. Another sad event was during a recent
survey where it showed that Grade 5 students’ reading, math and science skills ranked
at second worst among South East Asian students.
There are plenty of contributing factors towards these depressing facts. One of
which is the culture around learning and the Philippine System itself where we are
taught to value ranks over that of learning. Another of which is the lack of financial
capability in many Filipino families which prompts their children from having actual focus
at school due to lack of money where some children would even have to find work to
make ends meet. Adding to that, the Philippine educational system has only been
modernized so recently that it may contribute to a transition period. Finally, the
pandemic slowed down many learners due to the lack of proper “school time” and it
prompted a lot of students to move up their respective grade levels despite their
incapability to learn in that level.
References:
https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2021/06/29/379015/addressing-the-philippine-
education-crisis-2/
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1721616/southeast-asia-rank-ph-2nd-to-worst-in-grade-5-
students-reading-math-skills
https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?
primaryCountry=PHL&treshold=5&topic=PI
https://www.bworldonline.com/infographics/2022/10/17/480929/philippine-education-at-
moderate-risk/
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country

Healthcare- 7.5/10
Rationale:
Despite the Philippine healthcare not being as perfect as a country like
Singapore. Ours is a very capable healthcare system. There are insurances such as
that of the PhilHealth and now the Universal Healthcare act which aims to provide free
healthcare for all Filipino citizens. Despite this, we cannot argue that our system isn’t
flawed. In-fact, due to the lack of stable financial incentives, a lot of Filipino healthcare
workers choose to migrate towards greener pastured prompting deficiency amongst
healthcare service workers in certain localities which in turn causes dilemmas of lack of
workers during trying times such as when the pandemic hit. Another problem is that
private hospitals provide overall care to the population as most public hospitals only
contribute to primary care thus prompting the thought that “healthcare is expensive in
the Philippines. Finally, the hardest part is that the Philippines lack the necessary
modern healthcare facilities and material and it was evident especially during the
pandemic.

Reference:
https://www.allianzcare.com/en/support/health-and-wellness/national-healthcare-
systems/healthcare-in-philippines.html#:~:text=Overall%2C%20the%20healthcare
%20system%20in,end%20US%20or%20European%20hospitals.
https://news.medhyve.com/2021/08/15/problems-plaguing-the-philippines-medical-care/
https://www.who.int/philippines/news/detail/04-04-2019-3-out-of-10-health-care-
facilities-in-the-philippines-lack-access-to-clean-toilets
https://pids.gov.ph/details/news/in-the-news/system-needs-to-change-to-improve-
health-quality-in-ph-hospitals-study-shows
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/274579/9789290226734-eng.pdf
https://www.rvo.nl/sites/default/files/2021/06/Healthcare-in-The-Philippines.pdf
Standard of Living- 5/10
Due to the regional nature of our country, it is hard to find if the standard of living
is equal amongst all regions. For example, Region I consistently ranks as one of the
lowest compared to other parts of the country. As per the national average way back in
2021, around 23.7% of Filipinos registered as poor. The problem with our country is the
lack of opportunity for work. A globalized economy like that of the current day world
needs to have proper set laws to attend to the interests of investors, that said, the
Philippines has a 60-40 law restricting the full capacity of revenue for investors thus
lowering foreign direct investment therefore the lower folk suffer due to the lack of
opportunities. Another problem is that of food security, despite living in an agricultural
nation, the Philippines tends to have low technology for cultivation thus an over reliance
towards imports happen, and when imports suffer problems it would cause the supply
chain to break and result to hyperinflation.

References:
https://www.duranschulze.com/the-60-40-equity-rule-on-owning-a-business-in-
the-philippines/
https://www.bworldonline.com/economy/2022/09/13/474392/lawyers-say-
constitution-should-not-set-specific-restrictions-on-foreign-ownership/
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_865256/lang--en/
index.htm
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/linked-documents/41076-048-sprss.pdf
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Philippines
https://www.brittany.com.ph/blogs/the-cost-of-living-in-the-philippines/
#:~:text=Compare%20cost%20calculates%20the%20living,512.39)%20for%20a
%20single%20person.
https://neda.gov.ph/inflation-eases-in-feb-2023-govt-to-recalibrate-mitigating-
strategies-neda/#:~:text=The%20Philippine%20Statistics%20Authority
%20reported,food%20commodities%20and%20energy%20eased.
https://psa.gov.ph/poverty-press-releases/nid/165535