A champion for education in Congress

Renato Tibon . 

“All men by nature desire to know.” -Metaphysics – Aristotle, 350 B.C.E.

MAN, aside from being born with natural senses, is a rational animal capable of keeping memory out of a single or multiple experiences. These experiences are the end result of the knowledge he consciously seeks and acquires through formal or informal education or some with a bit of pure luck. Making use of his knowledge and experience, man goes on to perform and his success or failure is directly proportional to the amount of work he pours into the undertaking. He gets more out of sheer hard work and tenacity while achieving less for passivity. This is where men are separated from the boys. They have what it takes or they shouldn’t get involved. Let’s take the case of our congressional district representatives.

A job in Congress does not stop with the title senator or congressman. Among other duties, a representative of a district introduces bills and resolutions, files amendments to existing laws and serves on committees. Nominal congressmen, composing the “silent committee” who don’t have the balls to stand up and introduce their resolutions or bills or much less deliver privilege speeches, may prefer the passive arrangement reasoning perhaps, that listening to debates and participating in committee work are enough to justify the millions that representatives expected to earn.

They have a lot to learn from Mr. Performance himself, Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez. A member of Congress from 2007-2016, representing the second district of Cagayan de Oro City, he outperformed many of his colleagues not only by his perfect attendance in congressional sessions but by the sheer volume of bills he authored which were passed into laws: Consider the following enactments related to education, among the many bills which he authored and actively pursued until they became national laws:

REPUBLIC ACT 10650 – AN ACT EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATIONAL SERVICES BY INSTITUTIONALIZING OPEN DISTANCE LEARNING IN LEVELS OF TERTIARY EDUCATION AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR. The new law, covering public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) and post-secondary schools in the country, intends to implement distance education as an appropriate, efficient and effective system of delivering quality higher and technical educational services in the country. This law will allow many undergraduates to pursue studies at their own pace and time, without attending regular school, through home study or correspondence courses.

REPUBLIC ACT 10687 – AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE AND UNIFIED STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM FOR TERTIARY EDUCATION (UniFAST) THEREBY RATIONALIZING ACCESS THERETO, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. This law intends to increase the participation rate among all socio-economic classes in Tertiary Education especially the poor but academically able and highly motivated students. The existing publicly-funded national government programs for Scholarships, Grants-in-Aid and Student Loans for Tertiary Education are unified and harmonized to improve their efficiency and to ensure that deserving Filipinos are given equitable access to educational opportunities.

REPUBLIC ACT 10919 – AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES (USTP), PROVIDING FOR THE PURPOSE THE AMALGAMATION OF THE MINDANAO UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (MUST) AND THE MISAMIS ORIENTAL STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY (MOSCAT) AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR. This law gave birth to the establishment of USTP, a premier university with paramount focus on research and development for science and technology in the country. 

Aside from these achievements as a legislator, Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez was able to secure a total of P1.2 billion from the Department of Education, Public-Private Partnerships, Filipino-Chinese Federation of Commerce and Industry, Aboitiz Company, Smart Company, Amosup, Pagcor, Owwa, and Rotary Club for his education projects and initiatives. More than 600 elementary and high-school classrooms in the Barangays of Bugo, Puerto, Balubal, Agusan, Tablon, Cugman, FS Catanico, Gusa, Lapasan, Macabalan, Puntod, Brgy 22, Consolacion, Camaman-an, Naareth, Macasandig, Indahag, South City and City Central were constructed and repaired. A total of P80 million was secured from congressional funds and Ched scholarships and financial assistance to college students. He was likewise able to give scholarships and financial assistance to a total of 11,250 college students during his terms of office. This is his way to help parents in CDO have the children fulfill their dreams. As Daddy RR to his scholars, he will make sure that CDO’s youth will have a chance to become professionals.

Clearly, Cagayan de Oro City needs a singularly sustained focus of a legislator and a representative that truly reflects the sentiments and aspirations of its citizens. The alternatives are dire and disquieting.

As Kagayanons love to say, “Ang buhat maoy pasultihon, dili ang sulti maoy pabuhaton.”

Let’s put him back to where he rightfully belongs, our champion for education in Congress: Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez.

(Renato Gica Tibon is a fellow of the Fellowship of the 300, an elite organization under Centrist Democracy Political Institute  [CDPI] with focus on political technocracy. He  holds both position as political action officer and program manager of the Institute. He is the former regional chairman for Region 10 and vice president for Mindanao of the Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines [CDP].)