ENGLISH will return as "main" medium of instruction from pre-school to senior high school in public schools starting school year 2020-2021, a CDN story on Tuesday (December 17) said.

The announcement was apparently made by Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia, who "blamed the current setup" for the low rating of Filipino students on reading comprehension, per survey conducted by an international group.

What readers still don't know are (1) the nature of the changes, how much in English and how much in Pilipino and in what grades, and (2) who approved the changes.

The current policy is bilingual: English and Pilipino, with the mix specified by Decs Order #52, series of 1987. Has the formula been changed since then and which agency authorized the change? Public schools have been getting orders from Decs or the National Board of Education.

The local school board reportedly agreed with the changes. Functions of the provincial school board, as specified in Republic Act #5447 of 1968, are mainly about setting the budget for operation and maintenance of public schools, claiming its share of the fund from real property tax and duty on imported cigarettes, authorizing the spending of its money for purposes specified by law, and such "other duties" as may be given it by the Bureau of Public Schools or Vocational Education. Do those other duties include revising the curriculum and language to use?

The last order publicized about medium of instruction in public schools was Decs Order #52, series of 1987. Perhaps there's some other order that vests in the local school board the authority to change the language of instruction.

Party under each tent

Cebu City Hall's Christmas party was "festively successful," as described by a City Government consultant.

There was a complaint though, made more in jest than anything else. "Nag ija-ija, with each employees of each department restricted to its tent. A dash of the Boholano in the mayor."

He didn't bother to check if previous Christmas celebrations at City Hall also used the same method.

93-1 'heroes'

Politicians had raced to solve the long-unresolved dispute over 93-1 lots, involving a swap of parcels of land between Cebu Province and Cebu City.

Most everyone thought it was finally resolved in 2016 and the 5,000 families occupying the lots were grateful to then governor Junjun Davide and then mayor Tomas Osmeña.

But it has turned out the deal was "void" and may have to be "rescinded." Did the Capitol and City Hall lawyers produce a lemon of a MOA? (A void contract cannot be rescinded, only declared void, but a contract can be mutually junked and replaced with another contract.) Would that also replace Junjun and Tomas 93-1 "heroes"?

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