PAGBABAGO
Two legislative acts – EDCOM II or the Second Congressional Commission in Education, and the Creative Industry Development Act which became law in May 2022, are of great significance to the future of the country. They demand priority attention from the public which should monitor their progress. Because unless the public and the media combine their forces in ensuring that the necessary policy action needed to ensure quick, efficient and effective implementation such as the provision of adequate budgets and support structures, they may face similar fates like others before them.
EDCOM II was created because of the dismal performance of our education system. It is tasked to undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the Philippine educational system.
Composed of 10 lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is guided by an advisory council composed of eight members from the academe, government, and local government and two from civil society organizations. The council is assisted by the technical secretariat under the direction of Dr. Karl Mark Yee. It is has four standing committees – Early Childhood and Basic Education which will be concerned with malnutrition gaps in educational infrastructure, parental perspectives, and textbook development; Higher Education and Development with concerns on alignment of the Commission on Higher Education, the Philippine Regulatory Commission, and the Department of Education; Technical and Vocational Authority, which is concerned with connecting supply of workers and skills with industry; and Governance and Finance which would focus on the complementarity between public and private education and the decentralization of governance.
In the next three years EDCOM II shall have formulated priorities, discover educational benchmarks, synthesize insights, and propose legislative bills and policies to help uplift the Philippine education sector.
The new Creative Industries Law was authored by Rep. Christopher de Venecia, a former child actor and congressman of the 4th district of Pangasinan who said the new law boosts the Philippines’ chance as top creative industry hub in Asia. The law mandates the promotion and development of Philippine creative industries by protecting and strengthening the rights and capacities of creative firms’ artists, artisans, creative workers, indigenous cultural communities, content providers, and similar stakeholders. It called for the establishment of the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council under the Department of Trade and Industry. The law provides centralized state support to creative industries unlike the current system where state support is sporadic.
Creative industries include among others, domains such as audiovisual media (TV, films, animations, digital interactive media, video games, creative content, creative services, design (fashion, toy making, footwear making), creative research , textile development, urban landscaping, jewelry-making, publishing and printed media, performing arts (theater, opera, puppetry, visual arts, painting, photographs, cultural sites (museums, cultural exhibitions)
At his State of the Nation Address, President Marcos Jr. said the workers in the creative industries are the ones who give soul to the Filipino identity and therefore, need protection.
The media and the public are asked to set up a system of monitoring progress of both programs, and establish sustainable mechanisms for public dialogue and participation in the evaluation of progress.
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