Independence Day parade to feature PGMA’s strong republic
This year’s 112th Independence Day celebration on June 12 will restore the pomp and significance of the civic-military parade at the Rizal Park Grandstand (Luneta) in
“For the last two years, we have been focusing on major programs and projects of the government and did away with the usual civic military parade. This time, we are returning the parade to showcase the achievements of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo especially before she bows out on June 30,” said Ludovico Badoy, executive director of the National Historical Institute (NHI), which was designated the lead agency for this year’s Independence Day celebration.
This year’s parade will feature 10 floats highlighting the 10-point agenda during the nine-year term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. An eleventh float will honor the country’s modern-day heroes, particularly those who have made names for themselves here and abroad in their respective fields of endeavor.
Badoy will flesh out the details for the Independence Day celebration and the coming Flag Awareness Day on May 28 during this afternoon’s meeting of the Technical Working Group, which he chairs.
The Independence Day festivities will be launched on May 28, with Education Secretary Mona Valisno as the guest of honor and speaker in an event in
Flag will be simultaneous raised nationwide at 8 a.m. To give homage to the flag, NHI will ensure that the Philippine flags are prominently placed in all major thoroughfares.
Badoy also urged both the public and the private sectors to proudly display the flag not just outside their offices but also outside their homes.
On Independence Day, “we expect the President to be there at 6:45 a.m. and lead the flag raising simultaneously with other local government officials all over the country,” Badoy added.
There will be the usual simultaneous flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremonies at 7 a.m. at the Rizal monument.
The parade will take place in the afternoon. There will be a fireworks display immediately after the parade.
To help Metro Manila residents celebrate Independence Day, the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) may give free train rides (for rapid transit systems like MRT-2, MRT-3 and Light Rail Transit). (PND)
PGMA successor to inherit a stable bureaucracy -- Palace
Malacañang today expressed confidence that the next administration will inherit a government in good state and with stable bureaucracy.
Presidential Management Staff Director-General Maria Elena Bautista-Horn said that the blueprint for next month’s turnover includes a situationer on the state of government that the next administration is going to inherit.
“I can look them straight in the eye with all pride that we delivered the bureaucracy in good condition to the next president,” Bautista-Horn said.
She said that the Malacañang transition plan that covers the different functions of the offices in the bureaucracy and the assets and resources that will be transferred to the next administration was presented in cabinet meeting Tuesday and was approved.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said that if President Arroyo’s successor so desires, Malacañang is willing to walk him through the Palace grounds and offices just like what outgoing US President George W. Bush did to his successor Barack Obama at the White House in November 2008.
“We are open to that (walk-through visit). As a matter of fact, that is part of the preparations we are doing,” said
Bautista also said during the briefing that the Arroyo administration will be turning over to the incoming administration a little over 1,000 unfilled middle to high level positions.
“We did not fill the vacancies up because these are positions which had been vacated by those who were promoted and which we did not touch anymore,” said Bautista.
For the co-terminus appointees, we have 67 vacancies of which 25 are plantilla posts and 42 are non plantilla posts (or positions that automatically gets dissolved when President steps down).
The 67 does not include heads of agencies and the attached bureaus of the 21 line departments, 181 bureaus and attached agencies under the Office of the President which will all be vacated since most of them are co terminus with the President.
On whether they would give the incoming administration any advise or suggestion on how to fill up these positions, Bautista said “we are not in a position to give unsolicited advise but we are here to oversee the smooth turnover of the bureaucracy to the next administration.”
Definitely the career officials will be staying on and the Civil Service made it that way “because you need an institutional memory to ensure the continuation of services to the people,” she said. (OPS)
DepEd: No need to ban “jejemon”
Despite concerns over “Jejemon”, or text messaging that distorts the use of English language and spelling, the Department of Education (DepEd) is not inclined to ban its practice among schoolchildren.
Education Secretary Mona Valisno said during a press briefing in Malacanang that instead of resorting to a policy banning “jejemon”, she just called the attention of the teachers on the need to inculcate proper values, including communication skills on the young as these are necessary for them in high school and even college.
“We want to maintain our dominance in communication skills, which has made our country very attractive to investors in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector because our people have very good communication skills and are easily trainable,” Valisno said.
“But I will not go to the extent of banning it in elementary schools or high schools. I am just urging the teachers to ensure that proper communication skills and values are continuously imparted to the students. We do not need to issue a memorandum or impose penalty for such practice,” Valisno stressed.
“I only became aware of ‘jejemon’ from media. I only order the teachers not to allow wrong English, wrong spelling and wrong grammar. Even when my grandchildren text me in wrong grammar or wrong spelling, I never reply,” Valisno said.
“We would like to encourage our children to text in the correct way, correct construction of sentence, correct English, grammar and spelling because they would need this practice in their higher years,” Valisno said.
“Practice makes perfect. So if you resort to wrong practice, then the outcome is also wrong. Just like in piano if you resort to wrong finger dexterity, you can’t correct that anymore,” Valisno added.
Meanwhile, Valisno said with the bigger population, the expected school enrollment this year will increase to 23.43 million, with about 20.17 million in public schools and 3.26 million in the private schools.
We will do all we can to accommodate all of them in school but we can not refuse anyone who come to our public school system, Valisno stated.
Valisno said they are also strictly monitoring public schools that are exacting or collecting contributions from the students or their parents, adding “we will also not tolerate mandatory school uniforms and books.”
