Teresa T.

Ancit
MAE- ENG
ED 106
ICT in the Philippines
Being called by a rapid pace of change for development on the 21 st century , all
of us have no choice but to embrace the change and this is the birth and continuous
growth of technology. As what I have observed, technology has really turned nights into
days, difficult things to easy, hard labor to a more convenient task. So who would still
wish then to go back to the old practices that we used to have before? Definitely none.
In this age of modernization of the educational system in the Philippines, the
Department of Education and the Commission of Higher Education introduce modern
facilities especially in the field of Information and Communication Technology inorder to
make a difference to the life of the people and to show the world that Philippines is also
capable of doing something great.
Technology nowadays has already been a part of our lives treated like one of our
basic needs, and that we can no longer survive without it. I have heard from one of our
professors that Philippines is one of the biggest mobile users in the world.
One of the countrys ultimate goal under the Aquino Administration is to become
and Information Technology Hub that will promote a sustainable development, and
improve quality life for all. Philippines is indeed a country of talented, skilful,

and

trainable people who are capable of building a strong workforce in the field of ICT.
because today, in this world, people have already become a global village and have
become more mobile both physically and electronically( Crystal,2003). Thus the country
would also like to compete with other countries as far as economic development is
concern. I like the idea of building a strong Information and communication technology
in the country because with this we can also access and be accessible to other
countries because this is one way of connecting to others and to the world.

According to (Crystal,2003 ), technology brings together international business,

and it is not really impossible in fact Philippines had even overtaken India , as the
worlds number one country for BPOs and shared services (New Zealand Trade and
Enterprise, 2012 ). That is why Philippines has really the potential of becoming the
leading country in terms of Business Process Outsourcing, so why not give a shot?
However according to( Caizares, 2012), ICT Roadmap of the Philippines is far
from other countrys vision especially from that of Japan and Singapore since ours
mirrors the primary problem of the Philippines- the unemployment but theirs are only
focused on maintaining and/ or upgrading their current technology

and far less

disturbing than the Philippines.

Just like any other non- government offices, the Philippine government seeks to
use ICT to become more productive and efficient in responding the needs of the citizen
in terms of their services.
More importantly ICT will lead into a more transparent government transactions and
processes , increases accountability and reduce losses from graft, corruption and other
unhealthy duties and malfunctions.
There is nothing wrong with the dream of reaching the targets in the Philippine
ICT Roadmap, at least everyone will have a chance to come across with ICT, know
about its importance, and connect to the world, and everyone will now have an access
to the different basic government services, information and quality education, only there
are points that the country has to polish first : and this is the overall country image. Most
of us surely knew that Philippines is one of the countries known for graft and corruption
and I guess that is the first thing that the administration must focus on because it can
affects investments, capitals and other resources coming from investors and other
private business agencies because they might be hesitant to invest.
ICT can be a good foundation of the Philippines future economic progress. The
country must use (ICT) to reach into the new level of economy. It is an advantage to
the country since Philippines is an English speaking and highly educated country.
Aside from that, Philippines is rich with human resources which are helpful both on

hands on and planning. ICT can also promote business progress and can improve and
modernize government operations for greater productivity.
One advantage of having ICT in the Philippines is that, Philippines has been a
strong ( I f not, the strongest) private sector ally or partner of the Philippine government
and I guess it can be a good starting point since establishing a good partnership
between the government and private sectors will not be a problem anymore. In other
words , the implementation of ICT may succeed and prosper.
Another advantage is that the government will now have an immediate respond
to problems and issues and how to resolve them easily and quickly. With ICT, the
organizations set of goals, plans and ways and means in achieving it will be properly
outlined. And because of this, persons involved in different agencies with respective
responsibilities will be properly guided and monitored.
Aside from the ones I mentioned above, ICT can also be a tool in developing the
Filipinos to be more skilful and competitive that will ensure perfect job opportunities after
graduation. Actually there are so much to mention when we will be talking about the
advantages of ICT, however these advantages can also lead to some points of
disadvantages or should I say every advantage has also a corresponding disadvantage
that might go with it.
As for the Philippine setting, I can say that the country itself is not yet ready for
the implementation of this industry considering that there are still issues and concern
that the country is facing like cleaning the negative image of the country because if the
country will really pursue to the implementation of this global competition without
resolving first the issue especially on graft and corruption, then there might be an issue
when recruiting clients. Aside from that the country has to resolve first the political
issues and justice as well.
Another disadvantage which I found to be an issue when it comes to ICT is the
question on mastery and skills of an individual, considering that ICT jobs require
mastery and skills and not all of us have fully mastered the manipulation of the said
technologies. Yes, I have mentioned that Filipinos are skilful, and trainable but trainings
involving technologies demands quality time and resources. Will the government

support such needs? I have observed that only young people of this time are really into
technologies and they are really learning so easily especially those children belonging
to a higher level of family status because they can afford. But what about those who
dont have the resources and skills.
Another is the capability and determination of the government to really put up
such connections to the farthest flung areas and even to those part of the country which
even remained un touched and remained uncivilized up to this time. Will the
government ever have the nerve to spent billions just to allow those people to have
access on this ICT and become one of the recipients and beneficiaries that this ICT will
provide ? Because I used to watch GMAs Issue in Mindanao and I found out that
despite the advances of technology enjoyed by everyone in the city or even in rural
areas nowadays, it so sad to note that there are still a lot of Filipinos who have not
come across with this kind of inventions and these people are our brothers and sisters
in the remotest part of the country.
Based on my own observation , I can see that the ICT development in the Philippines in
relation to language learning and teaching might be effective because everything that a
person wanted to know is in the internet. In fact in a publication produced by COC
Phinma , featured an item which says a child may no longer go to school as long as he
is into internet, still he will learn everything he wanted to learn. Programs like the Center
for Applied Special Technology's (CAST) "thinking reader" (Rose & Dalton, 2008)
embed within the text different levels of strategic supports that students may call on as
needed, such as models that guide them in summarizing what they read. In this way,
technology can help scaffold understanding (Dalton & Proctor, 2008).
However it may not also be as effective and productive as what their program is
expecting. Considering that not all are expert in manipulating the ICT. Not all can have
the access to it since not all can afford to have these technologies. Mastery , skills and
resources will really matter. Good if the government will provide everything in free such
as education, trainings and of course facilities but that is impossible. So in the long run
the system will still be affected because a lot of people will still be left behind and in the
end unemployment will remain a problem.

Though the Kto12 curriculum is now on its leap of developing and integrating
technology in learning and teaching. However not all schools have enough facilities that
will cater this kind of need. Even others have facilities ,but are just limited in number
and users. Other schools dont even allow also all their students to use computers. Like
in City High School, only students in the Science and Technology Curriculum are
allowed to use the computers. For instance, in the Cagayan de Oro National High
School, which had close to 4,000 student population, the PCR was 1:95
( CDONHS,2014 ) If we are going to calculate that one, it only comprises more or less
6.0 % of the total population of the school , and the Science and Technology students
from grade 7-10 used to be more or less 260 only. So what will happen to those who
were deprived with that rare opportunity of using ICT? as a result, they will graduate
less skilled on the ICT manipulation in fact their NAT result can tell. So no agency will
probably hire them.
I agree with what Koree Monteloyola- Caizares has mentioned that as long as
the status of the government will be stable, it would surely bear good fruits for its people
especially in business sector, and if people who are going to manage the different
departments in the future are highly qualified, competent and honest enough to handle
funds.

References
Dalton, B., & Proctor, C. P. (2008). The changing landscape of text and
comprehension in the age of new literacies. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, &
D. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 297324). Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Rose, D., & Dalton, B. (2008). Learning in the digital age. In K. W. Fisher & T.
Katzir (Eds.), Building usable knowledge in mind, brain, and education. Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.

Teresa T. Ancit
MAE-ENG
ED 106
DEEP READING
(Reflection)
Our mind is so powerful this is one of the famous lines of Ptr/Dr. Eun Chul Seo,
Immanuel Mission International School President, which I always bring with me. He
always points out during his homilies that our mind has power, whatever we think might
come true or might happen. That is why he always tells us never to think that we are
poor because if we will always think that we are poor, then we will forever be poor.
Instead let us always think that we are rich, and we will just wake up one day being rich.
That idea really propelled me to pursue my post-graduate education. I had hesitation at
first that I might have a genius classmates and that I might get intimidated by their
intelligence but then I believe that I can do it, and it happened, even the one I had
thought first did happen too.
I knew I had that kind of feelings because for almost 7 years of teaching both in
private and public institution, I admit, I dont read a lot. I only read when there is
necessity like if my lesson will be about literature. This made me hesitant of sharing my
ideas before a group of professionals. It was only then when I remembered Dr. Soes
line and gave me a nerve to speak before them. It was also only then when Dr. Labial
was our professor in one of our major subjects who stresses the importance of reading,
not just a few readings but a lot of readings because according to her , we cannot speak
if we dont read, we cannot share what we do not know, and definitely she is right. It was
only that time then that I realized to really do a lot of readings this time. Since reading
can empower our minds with knowledge and can make all the things we think possible.
Reading can be learned. Human beings were not born to read, we were born to
see, move, speak and think ( Wolf, 2007 ). However as we get matured our speaking
and thinking can already be influenced by what we read. As the expert reading brain

emerges over time, the original reading route changes to a set of pathways that are
streamlined for decoding and that can now incorporate ever more sophisticated
semantic and syntactic processes (Sandak, Mencl, Frost, & Pugh, 2004). This the
reason why adults are more logical thinkers that those of the youngs because adults
thinking have already been developed .
Speaking and thinking must go together. In other words when speaking, let us
remember always to analyse first critically and reflect every word that is in our thought
before uttering them to ensure that nobody gets hurt and to avoid conflict as well.
Through deep reading, we readers can interact with the author. I was really touched by
the message of Aristotle that we really lack contemplation. Im really into this idea of
him because what is happening recently is a strong manifestation of unreflective way of
life. I for one dont really engage into reflection because of so many excuses, work,
family and others. Sometimes we immediately reacts to things

without hesitation

especially if we are blinded with anger, envy, jealousy and hatred. Most of us for sure ,
young and adult have done so many things already that contributed misery for others.
We have done something that broke the silence and peace of others, but have we
asked ourselves, what have I done that will at least lessen the problems, issues, wars
and disputes in this world or something that will make a difference or uplift the spirit of
others? This question demands reflection, And all these things can only be possible
through deep reading. Humans by nature are intelligent. In fact I am really amazed of
the human intelligence to be able to come up with a lot of excellent, unique and
extraordinary inventions which we are enjoying right now.
"Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of
many generations, produced by enthusiastic effort and infinite labor in every country of
the world. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may
receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it to your children.." - Albert
Einstein
According to Birkerts (Gutenberg Elegies, 1994), the search for truth requires
deep reading and deep thinking. If a person really wants to understand things or
phenomenon, he has to engage into deep reading because it is only through this that
we can hear or listen to our inner self, inner thoughts, how do we respond to the text we

are reading and how do we process them. Will it lead us to a positive response or a
negative one.
Basically in reading, we are free to choose

what type of material to read

because reading materials can do both good and bad to the readers depending on how
the readers respond to it. That is why in life , like deep reading, we should also think
deeply and plan meaningfully and accordingly the things that will make our life
worthwhile that at the end of the day you can always say that you had a well spent
life.
However, deep reading is now threatened by the use of digital text because it
drives the readers interest

away from thinking logically and analysing critically the

things that require skills because every time they have questions ,they will just seek for
an answer in just a click of the mouse. Online reading can really be useful in developing
ones mind to become adept in finding, analysing, evaluating and responding to different
kinds of information via internet. But then again in the case of young children they must
be well guided in using such technology because chances are, more applications they
might encounter that will really influence them badly and might shake their personality.
Since online reading is now calling the readers attention, the reader is now
challenged to maximize his understanding to the point that he will be able to use
everything an online reading can offer in making good decisions that will make his life
worth living.
Communication and understanding I guess this time does not rely anymore on a
direct encounter with somebody but rather on a wired machine. However I can still say
that nothing really compares to the printed materials as a source of knowledge and
understanding as far as literacy is concern.

References
Sandak, R., Mencl, W. E., Frost, S. J., & Pugh, K. R. (2004). The neurological
basis of skilled and impaired reading: Recent findings and new directions. Scientific
Studies of Reading, 8(3), 273292
Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading
brain. New York: HarperCollins.