Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong (PPAB)

As far as Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong is concerned, there is nothing to fear when it comes to preserving Philippine nationalism once the education sector is opened to foreign investors.

“We should not underestimate the sense of nationalism of our students and our kabataan (youth)…na kapag may pumasok na dito na dayuhan at mag open up tayo ng mga schools natin (that when a foreigner enters here and we open up our schools) automatically it’s easier for us to just turned back from our own culture and embrace a new one,” Adiong said in a press conference on Thursday, March 7.

“That’s underestimating the sense of nationalism ng ating mga kabataan, tayong lahat (of our youth, all of us),” he said.

Adiong, representative of Lanao del Sur 1st district, said the government shall remain in charge and will enact the rules that foreigners will follow.

The Mindanao lawmaker is referring to one of the proposed economic amendments in the 1987 Constitution, which is to ease the “restrictive” provisions and allow the entry of renowned international schools into the country.

“Should there be any foreign companies willing to put up their foreign capital here in the country on these three specific industries, tayo naman po ang magdi-dictate sa kanila eh (we will dictate to them), we will still be calling the rules of the game, they have to follow,” he explained.

Aside from education, the proposed economic Charter change (Cha-cha) also intends to ease restrictions on public utilities and advertising.

“Ang sa atin lang is para may (What we want is the) exchange of globally standardized information, technology, sharing of globalized standard data and study that would also help our teachers and faculties in higher education. Also to be able to [be] at par with the caliber of our neighboring countries in terms of quality of teaching in their country,” added Adiong.

While this proposal was mostly met with approval from invited resource persons during the Committee of the Whole deliberations, the Department of Education (DepEd) expressed strong opposition against economic Cha-cha.

DepEd noted that allowing foreign entities into the education sector will pose a threat to the students' nationalism and endanger the country’s national security.

But Adiong said these “unfounded” statements were mere speculation and fear-mongering.

He went on to challenge critics of this proposal to prove lawmakers wrong about the benefits of economic Cha-cha.

“Please prove us wrong…then I will return back the challenge. I will prove you wrong that the status quo is not really working the way we want it to be,” he stressed.