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Br. Gus joins over 100 education leaders in supporting the Leni Robredo and Kiko Pangilinan tandem

March 8, 2022 | 10:40 am

Br Gus is among over 100 former and current presidents of schools and HEIs in a statement declaring support for the candidacies of incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Kiko Pangilinan who are currently running for president and vice president, respectively, for the upcoming May 9, 2022 national elections.

In part, the collective statement of support says “We, the undersigned current and former heads of our respective schools, colleges, and universities, in our own personal capacity, express our unequivocal support to the candidacy of Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo for President and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan for Vice President. We make this determination following scrutiny of the various candidates’ track record as servant leaders, their proposed plans for education, and more importantly, their character as individuals.”

In the same statement, the country’s education leaders brought attention to the pervading challenges in education that the country faces, evidenced by the dismal performance of the country in both the 2018 and 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), an international comparative study conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) to measure trends in mathematics and science achievement of 4th and 8th grade students.

“Such a wide gap between the performance of Filipino learners and the prevailing learning standards is made even more pressing by the disruption caused by the prolonged closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolution of labor market demands in light of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and the onslaught of disinformation, revisionism, and alternative realities,” the statement says.

According to these leaders, they believe that Vice President Robredo has shown that it is her brand of leadership that can find solutions to these ills that besiege the education sector and urged her and her running mate, Senator Pangilinan, to prioritize 11 specific areas of concern for the education sector which includes increasing the funding for education to 6% of the country’s GDP and investing heavily in improving teacher quality.

While the signatories emphasized that they are making the stand in their own personal capacity, they expressed hope that the stakeholders within their academic communities would carefully discern and that their eventual choice in the coming elections will help “in selecting a competent and conscientious government that our country truly deserves, in the interest of future generations of Filipinos.”

“The realities of our time calls on all of us to make a stand and to speak about it. More so for those of us in the academe because we should be the defender of truth and stalwarts against historical revisionism. At the same time, we will continue to respect the rights of each member of our community to make a free choice on who to vote for. But it is my prayer and hope that each of us here at DLSMHSI will be enlightened by the lessons of the Gospel in this every important decision,” says Br. Gus.

Aside from Br. Gus, other Lasallian leaders who signed the statement of support are: Br. Armin Luistro FSC, Former President of De La Salle University and Former Secretary of the Department of Education; Mr. Edgar Chua, President, De La Salle Philippines; Br. Raymundo Suplido FSC, former president of De La Salle University; Br. Narciso Erquiza Jr. FSC, former president of De La Salle University and former president of Catholic Eeducational Association of the Philippines (CEAP); Br. Ricky Laguda FSC, former president of De La Salle University; Br Joaquin S Martinez FSC, president of University of St. La Salle; Br Jose Mari L Jimenez FSC, president of La Salle University-Ozamiz, and Br Dennis Magbanua FSC, former president of De La Salle College of St. Benilde.

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