Kapihan sa Manila Bay with Marichu Villanueva

09/09/2024

Hello Monday 😍

12 years of fighting cybercrimes

On September 12 is the 12th anniversary of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or Republic Act (RA) 10175. As the chief implementor of this law, Dep’t of Information & Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Alexander Ramos, concurrently head of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center will update us on the government’s efforts in fighting Cybercrime.
Leading global trust company Gogolook Country Head Mel Migrino will present their report and share one year data for PH on the text numbers reported on their Whoscall Anti-scam platform and will turn over their data to the DICT and to Jocel de Guzman, Convenor of Scam Watch Pilipinas.
On the eve of the observance of the Anti-Cybercrime Act, let's hear our featured guests in this week’s news forum on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.
Join us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay breakfast news forum from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Cafe Adriatico in Malate.
We are also livestreaming in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay page.
See you!

04/09/2024

Since the declared banning of Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) firms in the country by the end of this year, residents of the Multinational Village in Paranaque City were among those who rejoiced to this official announcement by the government. The official policy to ban POGOs was declared no less by President Ferdinand “B**gb**g” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) that was roundly applauded during his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the joint opening sessions of the 19th Congress in late July 24.
Julio Templonuevo, president of the Multinational Village Homeowner’s Association Inc. (MVHAI) told us today at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum that PBBM’s order to ban the POGO operations, whether legal or illegal, has “partially solved” the problems of their gated village, particularly in peace and order. Composed of about 2,500 households from high and middle income families, Templonuevo echoed the relief of his fellow residents on the impact of the announcement of the POGO ban even before it takes effect yet on Dec.31 this year.
According to Templonuevo, as many as 30 to 40 POGOs have been operating inside their village since 2018 under the previous leadership of the MVHAI. As it turned out, the POGOs entered into lease contracts with residential homeowners even those outside the designated commercial areas inside the village.
The POGOs rented, he cited, especially those residence that have either two or three floors. that were turned into either as POGO hubs or dormitories for the POGO workers, mostly foreign nationals from China and Vietnam.
He learned later these POGO operators paid as much as P500,000 per month as rental and many paid in cash and advanced payments were even made. However, the village paid a high price for allowing thiS kind of arrangements approved by the previous MVHAI president.
The residents were disturbed by the “unusual” flurry of activities of crowd of mostly Chinese and Filipino youngsters smoking and drinking at late nights in front of fully-lighted houses and the frequency of vans driving in and out of the four gates of their village.
Worse, garbage are left behind littered in their village roads, Templonuevo rued. He also mentioned the frequent breakdown of power transformers inside their village apparently of overloaded electricity consumption of these POGOs. And even erratic internet connection allegedly caused by their “heavy” internet usage of POGO online activities, he added.
These were the “red flags,” according to Templonuevo, that drove residents to remove their past MVHAI president whom they accused of allegedly abetted these POGOs to proliferate in “guerilla” operations. After their investigations, he disclosed, these POGOs inside their village were not licensed by the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (PAGCOR).
After the SONA, Templonuevo noted, these houses and residences allegedly used for POGO turned suddenly deserted and unusually quiet. “Mga 2 buwan walang laman ang mga bahay, nagtakbuhan,” Templonueve recalled.
For more details of our conversations with the MVHAI president, please read my Commonsense column this Friday at The Philippine Star.

📸 B**g Son

04/09/2024

POGO inside Metro Manila Villages with Multinational Village Association President Julio Templonuevo and Legal Officer Atty. Philip Elgo with PAOCC Usec. Gilbert Cruz.

03/09/2024

Be safe everyone!

POGO inside Metro Manila villages
Julio Templonuevo and Atty.Philip Elgo, president and counsel, respectively of the Multinational Homeowners Association Inc.
have denounced the operations of a POGO hub inside their residential area.
We are still waiting for the confirmation of PAOCC executive director Usec.Gilbert Cruz to join as our featured guests in this week’s news forum on Weds., Sept.4, 2024.
Join us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay breakfast news forum from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Cafe Adriatico in Malate.
We are also livestreaming in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay page.

31/08/2024

HAVE A BLESSED BER MONTHS, EVERYONE! 🙏♥️🙏

28/08/2024

Since he assumed the leadership at the Upper Chamber last May, Senate president Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero proudly chalked up the approval of four administration-endorsed priority bills. The printed enrolled copies of the four bills have been transmitted this week to Malacanang for the signing into law by President Ferdinand “B**gb**g” Marcos Jr. (PBBM). And just this week, Escudero cited, the Senate approved n second reading four international treaties entered into by the Philippines with various countries.
In today’s Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum, Escudero reported the four enrolled bills were earlier ratified by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. All of which went through the bicameral conference committees that reconciled the Senate and House versions of the consolidated legislative measures. The four bills are, namely: Climate Change Loss and Damage bill; the Seafarer’s bill; the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling bill; and the Value Added Tax on Digital Services. Before it goes to the President for his approval and signing into law, all the four bills are still going through the review and vetting process at the Office of the Executive Secretary.
On the other hand, Escudero foresees the ratification soon of four new treaties that were approved on second reading by the Senate. The treaties include as follow: the establishment of international offices or agencies in the Philippines; international Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 81 on Labor Inspection; Agriculture Cooperation; eliminating double taxation; and, a prisoner swap or exchange. Once the Senate ratify them, the instruments of the four treaties will be turned over to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to transmit the same to the concerned international bodies and country-signatories to the same treaties.
Escudero believes several more priority bills in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) agenda that are already in advanced stages of the legislative mills of the Senate will be approved before the 19th Congress takes its one month recess this coming Sept.28.
Although just freshly installed as the country’s third highest elected official of the land, Escudero has already earned very high trust rating at 67 percent based from the July survey done by Octa Research. In fact, Escudero scored higher than Vice President Sara Duterte who got 65 percent trust rating. This is considering the survey period took place less than two months after Escudero took over the Senate after a successful ouster plot against erstwhile Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Wearing a shiny diamond stud on his left ear lobe, the new Senate president could not care less if his critics find his lifestyle seemingly influenced by his celebrity wife Heart Evangelista. The former actress, known for her walking the international fashion ramps, is now serving as the president of the Senate Spouse Charity Foundation. Turning 55 years old this coming October, Escudero revealed he has already completely stopped his smoking cigarette after an episode of hypertension.
For more details of our conversations with SP Chiz, please read my Commonsense column this Friday at The Philippine Star.

📷 B**g Son

28/08/2024

Say Chiz at the Senate with the Senate President Francis Escudero

26/08/2024

Let's all start this week with a positive mind and grateful & loving 🥰 heart.

Say Chiz at the Senate

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero faces us for the first time in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay since he took over the leadership in the Upper Chamber.
The Senate Chief is our featured guest in our weekly news forum this Wednesday , August 28, 2024.
Our weekly breakfast news forum is from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Cafe Adriatico in Malate.
Join us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay that is also livestreaming in our page.
See you!

24/08/2024

🙏♥️🙏

23/08/2024

22/08/2024

TGIF! LONG WEEKEND! 🙏❤️ 🙏

21/08/2024

The biggest driver of economic growth in the Philippines is definitely government spending. This was seen in the growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.3 percent in the second quarter of this year. It jumped by this much from 4.3 percent in the same period last year. This robust growth was attributed greatly from the infrastructure sector and higher investments in the Build Better More (BBM) program pursued by President Ferdinand “B**gb**g” Marcos Jr. (PBBM).
This is why Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman has been breathing down the necks of the respective heads of various government agencies to ramp up the spending of their present Congress-approved 2024 budget. Currently going through the scrutiny of the 19th Congress, a total of P6.352 trillion for next year’s budget has been endorsed by PBBM to Congress for approval.
To ensure this momentum of GDP growth, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), not the Department of Education (DepEd), is getting the lion share of the proposed budget for next year. An allocation of P898.9 billion for the DPWH was provided under proposed 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) bill.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum today, Pangandaman, however, hastened to clarify that the education as one sector actually have the biggest allocation in the 2025 GAA bill. Added together, Pangandaman cited, the total allocations for the education sector amount to a total of 977.6 billion. In compliance with the country’s 1987 Constitution, Pangandaman pointed out the budgets for DepEd and education-related agencies of the government as lumped together got the biggest budget under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) of the government. Lumped for education sector annual budget allocation are namely, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED); the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); and state colleges and universities (SUCs).
At the breakfast news foru, the DBM chief was asked if this allocation for education sector included the controversial P10 million procurement of Isang Kaibigan books in the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP). “No, it is not,” the DBM chief replied tersely. Intended for distribution to public school children, Vice President Sara Duterte requested to fund the book she supposedly authored, with her portrait and short bionote under the OVP’s P2.037 billion budget for next year.
Pangandaman is obviously still smarting from the complaint of VP Sara on “mishandling” of the 2024 budget was one of the “long list of reasons” why the latter resigned as DepEd Secretary earlier this year. In defense of the BBM administration, the DBM Secretary reiterated the position of the Executive Branch to “respect the wisdom of Congress if they want to make adjustments in the budget.”
Now, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros vowed to push for the realignment of the P10 million funds requested along with about P100 million in the OVP budget for 2025 for projects duplicated in other departments, including those at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on financial assistance for those confined at the hospitals and burial aids to bereaved indigent families.
For more details of our conversations today with the DBM Secretary, please read my Commonsense column this Friday at The Philippine Star.

📷 b**g son

21/08/2024

2024 GAA to 2025 BUDGET BILL with our guest Secretary Amenah Pangandaman of the Department of Budget and Management.

19/08/2024

Magandang Lunes sa Lahat! 💕

2024 GAA to 2025 budget bill


This week’s guest at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 is
Department of Budget & Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.

Our weekly breakfast news forum is from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Cafe Adriatico in Malate.

Join us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay that is also livestreaming in our page.

See you all!

15/08/2024

Happy happy birthday 🎁🎉🎂 @ B**g Son

14/08/2024

While facing a lot of other pressing concerns, not to mention controversial issues, the on-going preparations for the holding of the national and local elections (NLE) on May 12, 2025 remain on track. This was the 100 percent guarantee issued by Commission on Election (Comelec) chairman George Erwin Garcia as the head of the seven-man poll body. With NLE to be officially ushered in by the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) taking place two months from now, Garcia himself has been fighting off last-ditch attempts to derail the adoption of our country’s newest automated election system (AES) in next year’s polls.
The embattled Comelec chairman could only heave a sigh of relief and gratitude following the formal indictment on the bribery and money-laundering charges against three top executives of Smartmatic. The three Smartmatic executives along with former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista were indicted by a grand jury in Florida last week in the federal case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States (US).
Garcia believes the former automatic election service provider of Comelec has been behind the obvious “fake news” campaign against him. Garcia cited the paper trail of his supposed secret bank accounts in Cayman Islands that turned out to have been opened up by one of Smartmatic’s top executives. Complying with the Philippine-US Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAT), Garcia admitted the Comelec, through our own DOJ and the Department of Foreign Affairs, provided some of the documents requested by the US federal authorities.
Despite these attempts to smear his name and integrity-- and the entire Comelec for that matter— Garcia declared that such distractions will not delay nor derail the holding of the 2025 NLE. In fact, Garcia vowed the Filipino voters they can look forward to a more credible AES using the Miru System of South Korea as Comelec ‘s new service provider. Garcia cited the Comelec is deploying 110,000 units of Miru and each city nationwide will have one unit before election day next year.
Under a lease contract, Miru replaced the existing vote counting machines (VCMs) acquired previously by the Comelec under the alleged “rigged bidding” that came out in the Federal indictment of the Smartmatic, Bautista, et.al.
Speaking in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum today, Garcia reassured the public the focus and attention of the Comelec have been geared to meet the various deadlines of the poll body’s approved schedule of activities for the conduct of the 2025 NLE. In fact, Garcia just flew back to Manila after he personally supervised the conduct of voters registration for members of the former Muslim separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) members and demonstration of the new Miru machine in Sulu last Tuesday.
Garcia, accompanied by newly installed 11th Infantry Alakdan Division and Joint Task Force Orion (JTF-P) chief Brig. Gen. Leonardo Peña, went to the camp of erstwhile MNLF chairman Nur Misuari at the latter’s last Tuesday and the other camp headed by Jikiri. Under the Comelec's Special Registration Anywhere Program, the Comelec chief braved going to the camps to oversee the registration former MNLF rebels as new voters in Camp Astana, at Mt. Dragon, Barangay Kagay, Indanan town.
With their registration as voters, the rebel returnees will be able to participate in the first parliament election in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM),
The province of Sulu is one of the five component provinces of the BARMM. Following the formal signing of peace agreement in March 2014, the BARMM replaced the defunct ARMM that had Misuari as its first appointed Governor.
For more details of our conversations with the Comelec chief, please read my Commonsense column this Friday at The Philippine Star.

📷 B**g Son

14/08/2024

COMELEC’s Extra-Election Battles with Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia.

12/08/2024

Magandang araw po sa lahat!

Comelec’s extra-election battles

This week’s guest at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Weds., Aug. 14, 2024 is Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia.
Our weekly breakfast news forum is from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Cafe Adriatico in Malate.
Join us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay that is also livestreaming in our page.

* PLEASE COME EARLY BECAUSE THE CHAIRMAN NEEDS TO LEAVE EARLY TO ATTEND 10:45 AM ENBANC MEETING AT THE COMELEC.

Thank you.

07/08/2024

As regularly done by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the agency comes out every first week of each month the outcome of its monitoring the country’s basic economic indicators. It was like a bad news, good news when the PSA headed by National Statistician Dennis Mapa presented the results of its monthly monitoring on inflation and employment one day after the other, respectively.
Measured in terms of the average consumer price index (CPI), the PSA announced inflation accelerated to 4.4 percent in July from 3.7 percent in June. The PSA conceded it was the highest level this year of the monthly inflation figures. It was traced mainly to faster increases in utility and food costs, the PSA noted. On the other hand, the PSA reported that the jobless rate declined significantly to 3.1 percent in July from 4.1 percent a month ago. The latest unemployment figure is the lowest reported this year and matches the record low set in December 2023, marking the lowest jobless rate in nearly two decades, the PSA noted.
“We must be doing something right,” quipped Department of Finance Secretary (DOF) Ralph G. Recto speaking in today’s Kapihan sa Manila Bay. Recto is one of the members of the socio-economic Cabinet cluster of President Ferdinand “B**gb**g” Marcos Jr. (PBBM).
Recto cite the PSA’s monthly Labor Force Survey (LFS) result for June 2024 showed the country posting its highest employment rate of 96.9%, equivalent to 50.3 million employed persons. This led to the significant drop in the country's unemployment rate to its lowest level to date, he pointed out.
Quoting from the PSA results, Recto explained, this translates to 707,000 fewer unemployed individuals on a year-on-year basis during the same month. While total unemployed persons in the country are recorded at only 1.6 million to date, he further noted.
Of the total employed individuals, Recto viewed them as these are the wage and salary workers who continue to account for the largest share at 63.8% or 32.1 million. Among wage and salary workers, 80.5% (or 25.8 million) are employed in private establishments, while 12.5% (or 4.0 million) are in the public sector.
The services sector continues to provide the most jobs for the month, accounting for 58.7% (29.5 million) of the employed population. This was followed by agriculture (21.1% or 10.6 million) and industry (20.2% or 10.1 million) sectors.
“This means a growing and stronger middle class,” Recto declared.
In the case of rising prices, the DOF chief maintained that the inflation uptick last month reflected the impact of the price of rice. As far as he sees it, Recto the rice-driven inflation will eventually taper off once the impact of the rice tariff cut becomes more pronounced.
So far, market monitoring on the local retail prices of rice only gradually decreased in July as traders are still unloading their inventories. This is because rice traders initially purchased their stocks at higher prices prior to the implementation of PBBM’s issuance of Executive Order (EO) 62. EO 62 slashed rice tariff to 15 percent from 35 percent in a bid to tame rice-driven inflation.
For more details of our conversations with Finance Sec. Recto, please read my Commonsense column this Friday at The Philippine Star.

📷 b**g son

07/08/2024

FINANCE MATTERS! With Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto

04/08/2024

Finance matters

This week’s guest at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Weds., Aug.7, 2024 is Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto.
Our weekly breakfast news forum is from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Cafe Adriatico in Malate.
Join us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay that is also livestreaming in our page.

28/07/2024

Hi to all our Kapihan sa Manila Bay collegues & friends.

It was unfortunate we had to cancel last week our Kapihan sa Manila Bay due to “Carina” flooding in our venue at Cafe Adriatico in Malate along with other areas in Metro Manila.

We are again NOT HOLDING THIS WEEK our Kapihan sa Manila Bay because I ( Mam Ichu )will be flying to Sydney, Australia to attend the Information Integrity Forum 2024.

We will resume our breakfast news forum the week after (Aug.7, 2024) with the biggest newsmakers. See you then back at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay.

23/07/2024

Good morning to everyone!

We are canceling today’s Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum with our guest BARMM Cabinet Secretary Mohd Asnin K. Pendatun.

Malate Area is heavily flooded as of 5:45am

Be safe everyone. Thank you.

22/07/2024

BARMM in transition

BARMM Cabinet Secretary Mohd Asnin K. Pendatun will be our featured guest at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay this Weds., July 24 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at Cafe Adriatico in Remedios Circle.
The first ever elections for the members of the regional political and sectoral representatives of the BARMM Parliament are synchronized with the coming national and local polls in May, 2025. Sec. Pendatun will talk about the accomplishments at the BARMM during these past years of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority who were all appointive officials and many of them represented the former Muslim secessionists groups.
Since then after having forged peace pacts with the government, several of these former rebels from the MNLF and the M**F are now, in fact, registered as political parties and several of them are among those set to file their candidacies in the coming BARMM elections.
We are also livestreaming in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay page.
Come and join us.

17/07/2024

The induction of First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos into the auxiliary services of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) speaks volume. Mrs. Marcos was appointed as honorary vice admiral, a three-star rank, of the PCG-Auxiliary’s Executive Squadron. The 64-year-old wife of President Ferdinand “B**gb**g” Marcos Jr. was commissioned by PCG Commandant Ronnie Gil Gavan. Assisted by the First Couple’s second eldest son William Vincent, the PCG chief pinned to Mrs. Marcos’ shoulders the honorary rank.
The PCG is considered as a civilian agency of the government directly attached at the Department of Transportations (DOTr). Thus, DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista stood witness at the pinning ceremony to the First Lady as the latest recruit of the PCG auxiliary services. The rites held last Tuesday was symbolically held on board the BRP (Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas) Gabriela Silang, highly regarded as one of the brave heroines during the revolt against the Spanish rule in our country.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum today, PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela and retired senior associate justice Antonio Carpio welcomed Mrs. Marcos into their ranks. Tarriela is the official spokesman for the PCG in the National Task Force – West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS). Carpio, on the other hand, is not only a dedicated advocate supporting the Philippine sovereign claims of the WPS but himself is also a one-star rank honorary commodore of the PCG auxiliary services.
“Seeing the First Lady wear the same uniform that we wear is something that can boost the morale of our Coast Guard sailors deployed in the West Philippine Sea,” Tariella beamed proudly. Speaking for the men and women of the PCG, Tarriela sees Mrs. Marcos’ joining their ranks “as support from the First Family, recognizing our role (in the PCG) as we perform our patriotic duty” in the WPS.

It was the first time that a First Lady joined the PCG’s auxiliary service. The PCG auxiliary service is the unarmed, voluntary non-government organization that assists the PCG in promoting safety of life and property at sea, protection of the marine a=environment and engage in other humanitarian missions.
The First Lady was quoted saying she chose to join the auxiliary unit of the PCG to “inspire” them to fulfill their duties in the service of the Filipino nation. Mrs. Marcos is a lawyer by profession and a part-time law professor while doing her pet projects as the First Lady of the land.
A day after being commissioned at the PCG, Mrs. Marcos rendered her first salute to PBBM as Commander-in-chief. In full uniform and regalia as PCG Vice Admiral, Mrs. Marcos posted a photo at Malacanang Palace laughing and hugging each other after her salute to PBBM. She captioned the photos with “an officer and a gentleman,” adding the Philippine flag and heart emojis.
Asked if the First Lady would be asked to join PCG operations particularly in the WPS, Tarriela pointed out PCG auxiliary members serve as only volunteers, supporting in causes such as coastal clean-up. Despite being conferred with honorary ranks, Carpio jokingly dismissed such scenario they will join the PCG patrol ships at the WPS. “Sabi nga ni Commodore Tarriela sa clean-up lang kami,” Carpio quipped and guffawed.
For more details of our conversations with Tarriela and Carpio, please read my Commonsense column this Friday at The Philippine Star.

📷 b**g son

17/07/2024

The Arbitral Ruling 8 Years After with Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela

15/07/2024

The Arbitral Ruling, 8 years after

Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Carpio & Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela who is the official spokesman on West Philippine Sea matters are our featured guests at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay this Wednesday, July 17 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at Cafe Adriatico in Remedios Circle.

We are also livestreaming in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay page.

Come and join us.

10/07/2024

Education is everybody’s business.” Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) president Chito Salazar declared this with conviction in PBEd’s advocating education reforms to address the “learning crisis” affecting the 28 million Filipino schoolchildren. A non-profit organization, PBEd was founded in 2006 by chief executive officers (CEOs) on the country’s biggest companies as the business community's corporate social responsibility.
After all, through these reforms in education will result to greater employability of Filipinos as the main source of the manpower and work forces of these companies once they graduate.
Thus, the PBEd welcomed the immediate appointment last week of new Secretary of Department of Education (DepEd) following the resignation from the Cabinet of Vice President Duterte. President Ferdinand “B**gb**g” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) named outgoing Senator Sonny Angara to take over from VP Duterte who held this Cabinet post in concurrent capacity. Angara, however, will assume DepEd post on July 20 yet, or a day after VP Duterte’s resignation takes effect.
After accepting to become the new DepEd Secretary, Angara declared he plans to continue the good programs of his immediate predecessor, including the PBEd’s inputs of reviewing the K-to-12 program. Under the watch of VP Duterte, the PBEd welcomed the DepEd review initially the K-to10 and pilot-tested them in 40 public schools nationwide. This is now implemented as the Matatag curriculum that, among other things, decongested the previous curriculum of subjects taken up from Grades 1 to 10.
Salazar bared the results of the PBEd-commissioned research and survey called the 2024 Jobs Outlook Study to closely examine the inclination of businesses to hire senior high school (SHS) graduates. It covered the second batch of graduates under DepEd’s K-to-12 curriculum. The study involved 299 companies nationwide, including micro-medium-small enterprises (MSMEs).
According to Justine Raagas, executive director of the PBEd, this study is a follow-up of their 2018 study that looked into the first batch of SHS graduates under the K-to-12 who entered the workforce. These studies were intended to make real progress in our country’s labor market “to make the K-to-12 promise of employability a reality.”
Salazar and Raagas, along with PBEd deputy executive director Diane Fajardo presented to us today at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum the results of their latest study showing a growing openness and willingness among employers to hire K-to-12 graduates. Based from the results of the 2024 survey of their PBed respondents, four out of five companies willing to hire and two out of five ready with policies in place to hire them.
“Things are looking up for senior high school graduates compared to five years ago, but there's still much to do. Looking at how the K-12 program is being put into practice, our study confirms what we have been saying all along: the problem with K-12 is not by design, but in its implementation,” Raagas pointed out.
The current basic education system in the Philippines, implemented on April 24, 2012 as part of the 9-year K–12 implementation process from May 20, 2008 to June 5, 2017, comprises kindergarten and 12 years of primary and secondary education, where Grades 11 and 12 are called SHS. K-to-12, also known as Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, or Republic Act (RA) No. 10533, was signed into law by the late president Benigno Simeon Aquino lll on May 15, 2013.
For more details of our conversations with the top PBEd executives, please read my Commonsense column this Friday at The Philippine Star.

📷 B**g Son