Is the system the problem?

Is the system the problem? | Daily Tribune

DepEd funds and Sara’s reckoning

Vice President Sara Duterte cannot have it both ways.

If you hold public office, you hold public trust. And when public money, especially confidential funds, is involved, the burden of explanation becomes heavier.

These were funds of the Department of Education (DepEd), the same agency grappling with classroom shortages, learning gaps, and stretched resources. In that context, every allocation carries weight.

The defense insists that disclosure is limited. That audit findings are under appeal. That DepEd even received credit notices for certain quarters. All valid points in a legal playbook. But impeachment is not just about technical compliance. It is about public confidence.

Confidential funds are not a magic shield. “Confidential” does not mean unquestioned. When P125 million is reportedly spent in 11 days, when audit observations surface, when acknowledgement receipts become national punchlines, the issue stops being purely procedural.

It becomes political. And credibility becomes the currency.

Yes, there is a process at the Commission on Audit. Yes, there are legal remedies. But process alone does not suspend accountability at the highest levels of power.

Sara Duterte built her brand on decisiveness and strength. Now she faces a test of transparency.

Impeachment is harsh. It is disruptive. It is unforgiving. But it exists for moments exactly like this, when doubt over stewardship of public funds refuses to fade.

Every peso matters. And so does the explanation.

— Jason Mago

Weak leader, weak kids

Robin Padilla said kids today are “weak.” Crybabies. Too sensitive. “Noong panahon namin” (In our time), he says.

Mr. Robin, isn’t the goal to give children a better life than you had? I refuse to believe that when your own child cries, you tell her, “Stop crying. Don’t be weak.”

Depression did not suddenly appear with social media. In a BBC article, Dr. Carl Nassar, a mental health professional, explained that older generations were taught to repress emotions, while younger generations are encouraged to express them. That difference creates a perception gap — older adults mistake vulnerability for weakness because they were trained to hide it.

So no, Senator. Depression existed. Your generation just buried it better.

As a lawmaker, your mandate is to improve education and child welfare — not shame the young. Instead, we get lectures about toughness and proposals to lower the criminal age to 10.

If kids are struggling, look at what the system raising them has to deal with: classroom shortages, overworked teachers, scarce mental health services.

Our forefathers fought for peace so their children wouldn’t have to be hardened by fear.

Calling them weak is easy.

Building a country where they don’t have to be “strong” all the time — that’s leadership.

— Carl Magadia

20 years later, my mother still writes grades by hand

I sat at the dinner table across from her. In front of me was a plate of food. In front of her were stacks of report cards, transcripts of records, and a basic calculator.

She was writing numbers by hand — 85, 89, 86 — filling in column after column.

Twenty years in the service and she is still manually computing and transcribing grades — work she had been doing long before I learned how to read and write.

Traffic and ordinance violation fees can be paid online — as well as taxes that God only knows where they go — so why is a grade submission still not fully digitalized?

When corruption is discussed, all eyes turn to infrastructure, customs, internal revenue, and military procurement. But keep your eyes on the blackboard. Look at the classrooms.

Education receives the lion’s share of the national budget, as mandated. This year, it got P1.34 trillion — the highest education budget in Philippine history. Education also carries the lion’s share of the people’s hopes, invested in the belief that it will build a better country.

When students struggle, people are quick to blame teachers. They say students are becoming dull, that education standards are declining. But few ask: what kind of system are teachers working under?

The DepEd should be investigated — its budget, its bidding system, its leadership.

How can a system teach children to reject corruption when it tolerates practices that have long existed within its own ranks?

This is in Parañaque, by the way, if anyone feels triggered.

— Vivienne Angeles