Press Release
July 31, 2008

Use text messaging revenues to solve education woes once and for all - Gordon

As Malacanang continues to clarify issues regarding the reduction of cross system charges of telcos, Senator Richard Gordon pointed out that keeping text message costs at one peso could raise the country's public education to match first world standards.

"Are you happy with the education of your children today? Are you happy with the quality of teaching today? Maganda ba iyong eskwelahan nila? Maganda ba iyong mga libro nila? May mga computer ba sila? Kumakain ba sila ng tama sa eskwela? Based on that premise now, tanungin ko kayo tungkol sa bayad sa text na piso: Okay lang ba sa inyo kung piso pa rin ang singil pero bibigyan naman ang mga anak ninyo ng public education gaya ng makikita sa Amerika at iba pang first world countries?"

"Iyong pagtanggal ng pisong charge sa text, I am against that. There are 55 million Filipinos with cellphones today and with just one text message a day per cellphone user, that's 55 million pesos. What we can do is leave half of every peso to telcos and they can live with that. But the other 50 cents, let's put it in a program called Health and Education Acceleration Program (HEAP)," Gordon explained.

Senate Bill 2402 seeks to create the Health and Education Acceleration Program (HEAP) Corporation, which will be a government corporation that will spearhead the rehabilitation and acceleration of education and health infrastructure in the country. Under the HEAP, every commercial mobile service provider shall be required to remit to the HEAP fund half or 50% of its net revenue earnings arising from local text messages. Initial estimates place the amount to be generated at around P98.7 Billion a year, which will be a fund separate from the budget alloted by government for public education.

These funds shall be earmarked for the construction of classrooms, computer and science labroratories, clean cafeterias and school facilities. Funds will also be alloted for the acquisition of books, desks, chairs and instruction materials; the hiring of teachers, regular conduct of teacher training programs, the augmentation of teachers' and the provision of scholarship grants

"We'll be cutting down the massive profits of telcos by half, for sure, and telcos won't like it. But then again, would they go against a measure that will finally give our country with a public education system that will match the public education systems of developed nations? I don't think our telco companies are so hard hearted and so attached to their billions in profits that they won't see this as a direct way to lift millions of our people out of the cycle of poverty by providing them the best quality education possible. By lifting people out of poverty, it is not unlikely that the telcos will also be assured of not only continued demand for their services but also a higher demand for higher value services," said Gordon.

Beyond basic educational needs, the fund will establish school clinics with dental equipment and a regular staff nurse as well as support school feeding and vaccination programs.

"In its first year, HEAP can build all the classrooms and hire all the teachers we currently lack. That will be the end of our perpetual shortage in classrooms and teachers. Children will not only have free text books, we will be able to buy them the best textbooks in the market as well as give them computer and science labs. Our public school children will also be better fed, given vaccinations against diseases, and be given access to regular, free dental services. By having enough teachers, we can expect our educators to focus their energies on teaching better and have more time to avail of free training to improve their skills," said Gordon.

"With this law, Deped will be completely focused on academic concerns and not be distracted by infrastructure and logistics," said Gordon.

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