Read Part 1: Only in RP: 10-year basic school cycle (06/09/08)

(Second of a series)

MANILA, Philippines—Students returning to school Tuesday will find the same error-filled textbooks that a self-styled crusader against “sick books” has been trying to get rid of the past several years, but sadly failed.

On May 19, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus decided to act on one set of textbooks that Antonio Calipjo Go has waged war on, issuing an order to bureau and regional directors, division and city superintendents and heads of private elementary schools.

“After a review and evaluation by the Instructional Materials Council Secretariat (IMCS) of the series Simply Science in the Next Century Grades 1 to 6 (reprint edition 2007) and Harnessing English Arts Today Grades 1 to 6 (Reprint Edition 2007) of Phoenix Publishing House Inc., the same were found to contain major errors (conceptual errors, factual errors, misleading or wrong illustrations, and insufficient discussion),” the order says.

“Accordingly and pursuant to the provisions of the 1987 Philippine constitution, existing laws, rules and regulations and as a matter of national concern and extreme urgency, all private educational institutions in basic education are hereby directed not to use the above-mentioned textbook series until the same are revised and passed the content evaluation by the Department of Education.”

One week before the opening of classes, the Lapus order had not been circulated to those who were supposed to receive it, according to Go, academic supervisor of Marian School of Quezon City. As far as he can tell, the books used in some 200 private schools have not been recalled and continue to be sold.

“There’s a hocus-pocus going on,” Go says, suspecting that in fact the directive never left Lapus’ office. His school, for one, has not received the order officially.

Go, who earlier mounted a campaign against textbooks in public schools, went on the warpath against the Phoenix textbooks in January 2005 after a sales representative offered them for use in his school.

He reviewed the 12 books, found them defective and forthwith called the attention of the publisher, who pretty much ignored him until media picked up the issue.

Criminal case dismissed

Phoenix president Alegria Sibal-Limjoco on June 17, 2005, issued a statement saying she had submitted the 12 textbooks to the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and that correction books were being distributed nationwide.

On Nov. 24, 2006, Phoenix filed a criminal case against Go for light threats, or extortion, and a civil suit seeking P3.5 million in damages for allegedly destroying its “good name and reputation.”

The criminal case was dismissed on Sept. 20, 2007. The civil action continues to drag on, but Go is confident that it will likewise be thrown out as well. Go wonders that two years after the cases were filed, Phoenix is seeking an amicable settlement, if only he would apologize, something he says he will never do.

But Go rues that nothing has been done by the NBDB on the case. He suspects that it was because Limjoco is a member of the board, which is headed by Dennis Gonzalez, son of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who for some reason had harassed Go for his crusade even when the father was still a congressman. Go thinks that this situation is highly irregular.

A shot in the dark

Go says that reprint of the books in 2007, cited in the Lapus order, contained much of the errors that he had exposed in a full-page newspaper ad, paid out of his own pocket, on June 22, 2005, titled, tongue in cheek, “These Are Not Errors.”

“Nearly hopeless, I wrote Secretary Lapus, asking him to intervene in behalf of the thousands of private school students who have been using these error-riddled textbooks,” he recounts. “It was a shot in the dark,” he says, using the term in Filipino “suntok sa buwan.”

Go was summoned to a meeting at the DepEd during which the IMCS, which investigated the issue he had raised, validated his findings—that the 12 Phoenix textbooks, first distributed in 2003, were shot through with errors.

Phoenix lawyers attended the meeting, but instead of mounting a defense, dredged up the extortion case that the court had dismissed in an attempt to denigrate Go.

Lapus says he did not wish to be drawn to the controversy. “My concern was that the books were erroneous,” Lapus says. This is why, he says, he issued the May 19 order.

Unfortunately, the order never saw the light of day, at least as far as Go is concerned. The Phoenix books have not been withdrawn from circulation.

And students going back to school will merrily find the same errors that have riled Go through the years.