SEN. Sherwin T. Gatchalian pressed Malacañang on Tuesday to tackle the long-drawn education crisis brewing way before the Covid-19 pandemic, even as he commended the Duterte administration’s economic recovery initiatives to generate jobs to mitigate the crippling impact of the coronavirus contagion.
Citing President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) before a joint session of Congress on Monday, Gatchalian, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, reiterated the Chief Executive’s plea for Congress to pass priority measures listing the proposed Foreign Investments Act, Public Services Act, and Retail Trade Liberalization Act.
The lawmaker listed the pending bills on the proposed National Employment Recovery Strategy aiming to “generate more jobs, ensure upscaling of workers and increasing their employability” and the benefit of the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso program of the
administration to assist struggling small entrepreneurs.
Sharing President Duterte’s desire, Gatchalian filed enabling bills seeking to “cut red tape and streamline government processes,” including the “Full Digital Transformation Act of 2020” crafted to provide full, integrated E-Government (eGov) services to the public by the end of 2022.
“With just a year left in office,” Gatchalian acknowledged “there is still a load of work that needs to be accomplished and with perseverance and strong resolve to get back to our feet and bring back a semblance of normalcy in our lives,” even as he added: “I believe it can be realized.”
The senator affirmed that while he is one with the President in lauding the early enactment of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education or the Free Tuition Law, Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, is also
pressing to address the “crisis” in the basic education sector rooted from “the struggle of learners to master basic competencies and their poor performance in international large-scale assessments.”
Gatchalian confirmed he is poised to file other bills to support learning recovery and the strengthening of the basic education sector, adding that in order “to address the learning losses resulting from a year of school closures,” he intends to file a bill that would put a “catch-up” plan in place. He added that in the remaining months of the current administration, they would focus efforts to recover and strengthen the education sector to bounce back from the pandemic.