Q:  Hi sir. Sir, I understand na hindi po ito ‘yung first time niyong bumisita rito sa Sulu. Pero bilang Pangulo ng Pilipinas, first time niyo sir. Ano sir mga pagbabago, mga nakita niyo sa probinsya?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Tuloy-tuloy ang — maganda nga makita because tuloy-tuloy ang progreso dito. And really ang naging pundasyon niyan ay ‘yung peace and order. And that was the biggest achievement, the most important achievement na ginawa ng local government headed by Governor Sakur Tan.

Kaya naman, mga investors pumapasok, iba na ang tingin sa Sulu, iba na ang tingin sa probinsya at dahil mapayapa na ang Sulu ngayon.

So, that’s the biggest change and it is all based on the peace process and that is why we hold it so important.

So, patuloy pa rin. Maganda talaga naman dito. It has always been a favorite spot of mine. Malayo lang kaya hindi ko napupuntahan as much as I would like to. ‘Di bale nagkikita naman kami ni Gov. Sakur.

Q:  Good afternoon po, Mr. President. Can you provide an update on infrastructure projects in Sulu such as roads, bridges, and ports that are aimed at improving connectivity and accessibility?

 PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes, we just — let me start with the last, the connectivity and accessibility. We just released or we just earmarked a fund, a big fund for the connectivity for all of Mindanao but that will include the most important part of that system that we are putting together, is ‘yung tinatawag na last mile.

So, ‘yun ang pinakamahirap pero ang gagawin natin kapag island, kagaya island province kagaya ng Sulu, we will provide a satellite connectivity, kung ano ‘yung kailangan.

So, we’re working very hard on that dahil kung nais natin magdala ng investment, hindi maaaring papasok ang kahit na anong seryoso na negosyo ngayon na walang internet.

So, hinahanap talaga nila ‘yan. So, that’s what we are doing.

Q: Good afternoon, Mr. President. Will the appointment of Secretary Angara mean a policy shift in education like the K-12?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Maybe a little bit because the last time I spoke to him, just after we announced that he was going to be the next Secretary of DepEd, nag-usap kami and we are…  There are two elements that we paid attention to specifically. Number one was the employability.

If you remember, ginawa natin ‘yung K-12 dahil hinahanap ang years of training sa ating mga nag-a-apply at sinasabi dito sa Pilipinas, kulang dahil 10 years lang, kailangan 12 years.

Okay. So, that was the reason we did it para employable ‘yung mga graduate natin.

Pero kung titingnan natin ang naging resulta, hindi naging — hindi tumaas, hindi gumanda ang employability nila. So, we have to do something else.

Kaya’t ang — we were examining things like mini courses, ‘yung mga tatlong buwan, anim na buwan, one year, short courses para sa mga [specialty?].

But we have to coordinate with the private sector so that the private sector will have also be able to have a guaranteed supply of skilled workers that will be coming into their own industry.

So, ‘yung ganung klaseng coordination ay importante dahil kung minsan mayroon tayong mga livelihood project, naturuan nga ng livelihood pero wala namang trabaho pa rin.

So, tinitiyak namin na paglabas na may magandang pag-asa magkatrabaho, if not directly already [unclear]  an industry employer.

The second part that we are looking at, of course, are the results in the international objective test that we are getting, especially in the STEM subjects because that’s where we are falling behind and that is the area — that is most in demand right now because we’re getting more and more technical. Kaya’t ‘yun ang mga ano namin.

But I always — I reminded Senator Angara that the key to any successful program in the DepEd are the teachers.

So, I said, we have to take care of the teachers. We have to… Of course, financial to make sure that they can feed their families kasi we tend to forget sometimes that teachers have families.

We see them just as teachers. They have families and they have to take care of their families. And they cannot teach properly kung inaalala nila ‘yung lagay ng pamilya nila so we have to make sure that they are in good place so that the teachers can concentrate on actual teaching.

The other part of it is non-financial — is the retraining because ang bilis… We all know ang bilis ng development, lalo na sa technology, na within one year obsolete na, within two years obsolete na. Kailangan turuan natin ulit. So, that’s what we will do. We will beef up that part of it.

And then we — we are beefing up also the feeding program kasi ‘yung stunting problema pa rin sa mga eskuwela natin, sa mga estudyante natin.

So, DepEd has so many aspects to it. The one thing I asked of him was to please teach our children Philippine history because I have seen my children’s workbooks and there’s very little said about the history of the Philippines.

And that is so — for me, that is so important, for the simple reason that that is what will make a child understand what it means to be a Filipino.

Ito ang pinagdaanan ng aming lahi kaya kami nandito, kaya ganito kami, kaya ganyan ang ugali namin dahil sa aming kasaysayan. And that’s the one thing that I asked of him. That’s in the curriculum.

We will also simplify the curriculum so that it is — we go back to make sure that everybody understands the basics because marami pang hindi… Nasa Grade 5 na, nasa Grade 6 na, mahina magbasa, mabagal. Hindi naunawaan, hindi nakakasulat nang mabuti.

So, that’s… At saka iyong mga simple na mathematics na exam, hindi nila kayang gawin. So, ‘yun ang kailangan talaga basics. We have to go back to basics. So, that’s what we will do.

There’s a great deal more. But I could talk about this for a long time but that’s about the — those are the highlights of what is [unclear].

Q:  Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Salamat.

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