MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker is seeking a House of Representatives investigation on the creation and distribution of self-learning modules produced by the Department of Education (DepEd), where it included a “wrongful” portrayal of Igorots.
Nueva Vizcaya Lone District Rep. Luisa Lloren Cuaresma filed House Resolution No. 1601, which calls on the House committee on indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples and the basic education and culture panel to conduct an “inquiry in aid of legislation” on the matter.
“As an institution responsible for promoting and improving the quality of basic education, it is the responsibility of the Department of Education to generate greater awareness about the culture of the Igorots and the members of the indigenous cultural communities in general, in order to debunk any misconception about, and to eliminate prejudice and discrimination against them,” the resolution read.
“The Department of Education should establish and endeavor to provide strong mechanisms and to assure the quality of self-learning modules that are being distributed to the students in order to prevent learning module mishaps,” the resolution added.
The DepEd earlier said that the modules containing inaccurate information about Igorots were “mistakenly reproduced in good faith,” adding that it does not condone discrimination of any kind.
This, after Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, called on the DepEd to conduct a nationwide assessment of all learning materials produced by its divisions after the modules having discriminatory remarks of Igorots were found.