MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Many baby boomer Filipinos grew up living with typhoons and other calamities without any suspension or cancellation of school classes.

But today, classes are suspended left and right for mere forecasts of bad weather and other natural occurrences such volcanic activity or man-made occurrences like transportation strikes or international events being held in the country.

Now, many parents are demanding a  refund of their children’s tuition fees for every day schools remain closed due to the “#WalangPasok” phenomenon. 

Citing the unforeseen inconvenience of having their little angels at home, parents argue that they should only pay for days when their offspring are professionally supervised.

One disgruntled parent quipped, “If my child isn’t studying with a teacher, I should get a discount. It’s not like I can teach them calculus!” 

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Quezon City Bureau) – This September 21, the Filipino nation ‘celebrates’ the 51st anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by the late Ferdinand E. Marcos.

The University of the Philippines wants to take the lead in the celebration, but a memorandum from the student regent addressed to the university president says a lot about the sorry state of the taxpayer-funded educational institution today.

1. It seems the Iskolar ng Bayan are not being taught correct grammar and sentence construction. The memo talks about the “the commemoration of a commemoration.” Isn’t that akin to a repetitive repetition?
2. Speaking of repetition, is the student regent’s memory already failing her that she wants a “reiteration” of an existing proclamation?
3. And there they go again, U.P. wants to waste taxpayer money by cancelling classes on September 1. The U.P. Town Center mall must be applauding in excitement for an expected boost in business!
4. The student regent wants to honor the U.P. “martyrs.” The oblation should then be replaced with a statue depicting all the U.P. martyrs so the public may know exactly who they are, and how many.
5. To add insult to injury, self-proclaimed investigative writer re-posts the memorandum, taking pride in her alma mater who trained her to be an imaginative writer and top-notch gossip blogger.

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Following in the footsteps of Japan where the education system trains children as world citizens instead of just Japanese, the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) has announced a revolutionary K-12 curriculum focusing on just three subjects.

(The Japanese curriculum only has 5 subjects: corporate arithmetic, reading, citizenship, computer science, and language. The result is that young people will speak  4 languages at age 18, know 4 cultures, and 4 alphabets.  They will be experts in using their computers and mobile phones as work tools, read 52 books a year, respect the law, ecology and coexistence and will handle business and finance arithmetic perfectly.)

The Philippine DepEd model will focus on just three subjects: smart phone etiquette,  intelligent choice of film and TV show patronage, and abiding by community standards set by social media platforms.

DepEd Secretary Vice President Sara Duterte told The Adobo Chronicles that the three identified learning modules will create a true sense of nationalism, respect for human rights and responsible citizenship among Filipinos.

The new curriculum will be launched beginning in school year 2024.