PHILIPPINE STAR/ MIGUEL DE GUZMAN
An outstanding classmate in college used to say “whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.” Truly, she adhered to her motto and topped the class. At the time, and even later, Singapore and Korea were backwoods countries, and the Philippines looked like the next candidate for getting into the First World.
Today, our grade school students are ranking at the bottom among almost a hundred tested countries in reading, science, and mathematics. Our government’s performance against the COVID-19 pandemic is pathetic compared to those of erstwhile less developed countries like Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, countries bordering China where the coronavirus originated. We have a police chief, the head of the law enforcement agency, violating pandemic protocols, being allowed to stay in office. A health secretary who has been exposed as having conflicts of interest as a government official doing business with the government while still in office. A Solic