The Philippine Online Chronicles

Administration vice-presidential candidate Edu Manzano showcased last Friday his “skills and intelligence” (running mate Gibo Teodoro's slogan “Galing at Talino”) in what bloggers considered their “most revealing” talk so far with a candidate.

Manzano, a Philippine showbiz veteran, revealed his background as a “ballistic missile engineer,” to the surprise of the Blog Watch team. Manzano vowed to help upgrade Philippine education, science and technology, and sports if elected as vice president. His experience in local governance and law enforcement, he said, is his edge over other vice-presidential candidates.

'Be globally competitive'

Manzano lamented the dismal state of Philippine education, which must be “globally competitive” to meet the needs of the modern times.

To address this, he said the government “must take care of its teachers” by “training them to be globally competitive.” He added that such upgrades in the educational system must come from the local government and must be brought to the grassroots level.

Manzano plans to engage the private sector to help in improving Philippine education, considering budgetary constraints in the government. He will also encourage graduates, from undergraduate up to doctorate degree holders, to spend their time helping “the barrios and indigent communities” instead of going abroad.

He vowed to find creative ways to increase the national budget and to generate jobs for the youth other than jobs offered in call centers. “With the increase of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and the fact that our call center workers experience discrimination from [irate] American customers, we have to find ways for our college graduates to pursue their chosen careers,” Manzano said.

'Adopt China's sports program'

A former “national champion” judoka and former vice-chair of the Philippine Sports Commission, Manzano explained that the Philippines must “adopt China's program” in sports development.

“We must be determined in helping sports. We must send our athletes abroad, have them trained by foreign coaches, adopt foreign technology, but at the end of the day, bring them back here to compete for our country,” Manzano said.

Manzano strongly suggested that sports must be “included in primary education” and not treated as a mere physical education project.

“That's why in China and in Japan, kids are beginning to be competitive athletes at a very young age because of their educational program on sports,” he explained. “The government must be serious in helping sports in the pursuit of national development,” Manzano concluded.

Science and technology platfrom

When asked about his desired department if elected, Manzano said he will personally choose the Department of Science and Technology. He stressed government engagement with the private sector and businesses to improve science and technology education in general public schools, and not only in science high schools.

He also pointed out the more sophisticated means of pirating intellectual property as a problem.

“In the near future, CDs and DVDs will be phased out...Everything is now available through the Internet where many software have been developed to pirate patented materials. We have to develop a technology that will stop this,” Manzano said.

He also promised to find means, legal and technological, in combating child pornography, which has been made more accessible with the use of the Internet and modern telecommunications.

Blog Watch is an initiative by various bloggers to present the platforms and stands on issues of national candidates in the upcoming May elections.

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