Education is good politics

TODAY'S event also affirmed what UP professor and Synergeia trustee Solita Monsod told local execs years back: education is good politics.

One reason why LSBs in the Philippines are largely unutilized is that many mayors, governors and village officials believe public education is primarily the responsibility of the Department of Education (DepEd). Consequently, they would rather put their effort into "safer" programs like scholarships, public school facilities improvement and the likes.

But the stories shared by the Synergeia mayors, like graduating mayors Jett Roxas of Ajuy (who emphasized the need for self reliance), Lowell Arban of Lemery and Pedro Alarcon of Batad, Iloilo, showed otherwise. All credit their deeper involvement in public education as key to their successful reelection bids. Together with neighboring Negros Occidential, Iloilo has in fact emerged as Synergeia's most successful arena for scaling up reforms, now covering 10 towns who are sharing among themselves their expertise, experiences and resources under the leadership of Concepcion Mayor Raul Banias, the country's most outstanding municipal mayor.

The experience shared by Talisay City Mayor Eric Saratan (Negros Occidental) also underscored the role of mayors as the the most effective champions of education governance reform at the local level. Thrust into the office by natural succession last year, Mayor Saratan (a general surgeon by profession) decided to join in after hearing two fellow Negrense mayors speak passionately about their respective education reform efforts in two separate occasions. "Why do smaller towns have such a program and our city doesn't?" he asked. Today, he has successfully completed a citywide Education Reform Summit.

The LSB reinvention effort we began in Naga six years ago has indeed gone great lengths. The emergence of local success stories and localized innovations based on our experience -- like Upi, Barira and Siasi in the ARMM -- affirms its promise. But our journey has a long, long way to go.