I would like my blog to steer clear of politics and other heartbreaking news I hear overseas but I love my motherland so much I just can't sit down, read local news and simply watch something that is so wrong and the best way for me to get it off my chest is to share it.
Having no TFC (The Filipino Channel) in my household, the news reached me through Twitter - thanks to my friend @WanderlustWeng, a Philippine senatorial candidate is now being feasted on social networking sites about her response to why a number of schools offering nursing courses were ordered by the chairman on higher education to shut them down because of supposedly substandard education producing students who perform poorly in licensure exams. This woman opposed the move that happened in 2004 where she cited that nursing school owners have already made their investment to these facilities.
Here is an excerpt of the transcript of the exchange between Villar and one of the debate's hosts, Professor Winnie Monsod:
WINNIE MONSOD: Can you reconcile itong seeming disconnect between your desire to help the poor at pagpanig niyo sa mga may-ari ng education institution na gustong isara ng technical nursing committee at ng CHED (Commission on Higher Education)? (Can you reconcile this seeming disconnect between your desire to help the poor and side with the owners of the education institution which was ordered to shut down by technical nursing committee and CHED (Commission on Higher Education)?)
CYNTHIA VILLAR: Hindi naman ganoon ang istorya noon. Ang nangyari noon ay binigyan nila ng permit 'yung mga schools to open ng CHED. Tapos gusto nilang ipasara. Nag-invest na 'yung mga may-ari ng schools sa kanilang facilities. And then, sinasabi nila na kaya nila gusto ipasara dahil walang tertiary hospital where they can train. Ang sabi naman namin noon na hindi kami kumukontra sa CHED. Ang sinasabi namin kasi, tiningnan namin 'yung syllabus at courses na kukunin nila at nakita namin na after lang sa third year kailangan nila 'yung tertiary hospital so ni-request namin na hindi isara 'yung pre-nursing schools. (That is not really the story. What happened was they gave them permit by CHED to open the schools then they wanted to close down. The owners already invested their facilities. And then they were telling us that the reason they want them close is because they do not have tertiary hospital where they can train. And we told them we are not against CHED what we were saying, we checked the syllabus and courses that they can take and we found out that after only their third year that they needed to practice in tertiary hospital so we requested not to close the nursing schools.)
WINNIE MONSOD: Bakit bumaba pa ang nurses na na-employ sa abroad, kasi hindi sila qualified? Bakit nag-resign ang Technical Education Committee after 7 months in office? (Why was the employment for nurses abroad became low is it because they are not qualified? Why did the Technical Committee resign after 7 months in office?)
CYNTHIA VILLAR: ‘Yung pagre-resign po ni [Fr. Rolando V. De la Rosa] is a personal quarrel with the owner of the school. Medyo personal po iyon. Pero 'yung amin po, 'yung sinasabi po namin sa kanila na actually hindi naman kailangan ang nurse ay matapos ng BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) kasi itong ating mga nurses ay gusto lang nila maging room nurse, o sa Amerika o sa other countries, ay mag-aalaga lang sila. Hindi naman kailangan na ganoon sila kagaling. (The resignation of [Fr. Rolando V. De la Rosa] is a personal quarrel with the owner of the school. That's a bit personal. But for us that we told them that a nurse does not need to finish a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) because our nurses just wanted to become room nurse or in America or in other countries, they will just provide care. They do not need to be really that good.)
Thus my open letter to Mrs. Cynthia Villar:
Dear Ms. Cynthia,
The last set of words you said pushed all the right buttons. As a mother, did you ever say those words to your children,"You don't really need to be that good?" When you sided with the school owners who invested their time and money were the Filipino youths also on your mind? See, this is clearly the reason why a third world country remains to be in the same shit everyday, every month, every year, every election day and so on. People like you, Mrs. Cynthia Villar, who are seated in power (and I'm pretty sure under the present administration you are just one of the many) is treacherous to the society, a poison to the innocent minds of the youths of this generation whose dream is to reach their goals and make their future happen. Let me ask you this where do you expect the students to be later on in life with that kind of low mentality?
Be it nursing courses or any other programs, we all wanted to be known as a country with high standard of education and produce graduates who can compete well globally. Remember the spoof from one of the 2007 episodes of Desperate Housewives where Susan said she wanted to check if the diplomas were not from some med school in the Philippines? A mere entertainment or not these are the things that we try to avoid because it hurt us, we are talking about dignity of work. Yes we are sensitive individuals (I don't know about you, you probably don't really care anyway) and one of the things that we could be so proud of is education. And for your information, many Filipino-Americans send their children to the Philippines for college education - most of them in medical school.
So please, keep all the negative aura to yourself. I feel so ashamed already to my neighbors who are all praises to Filipinos they know who earned college degrees in the Philippines and now enjoy success all over the world. Moms like me is frightened to have a leader like you who is supposed to be leading the young Filipinos to success, do their best in their chosen field, and be proud of their hard work instead of rescuing the businessmen who invested their time and money to schools - which by the way were you ever part of their committee? Seemed to me you pity them more than the quality of education they offer.
And lastly, as a fellow mom I admire your courage to apologize on this issue. It takes a lot of audacity to admit a creepy mistake when people are still hurting. Please bear with them. If you are truly sincere to serve your constituents you must first treat them like your own family. You should know that. You're a mother.
Sincerely,
Filipina at heart, full-time homemaker
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