CIBAC Partylist lawmaker and House Deputy Speaker Bro. Eddie Villanueva celebrated on Thursday, June 25, the passage of Republic Act 11476 or the Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) and Values Education Act, saying it is a big leap in the moral transformation and anti-corruption crusade in the country.
"The enactment of the GMRC and Values Education law is surely a welcome development even though we are amidst a national crisis now. This is a milestone in our quest to restore the moral fabric of our society and transform this nation into a God-and-country-loving nation. We believe that in the long run, this law will surely have a positive effect in our fight against graft and corruption and in our pursuit of good governance. This is a big win for the Filipino people, particularly for the future generation," said Villanueva, who is one of the principal authors of the measure at the House of Representatives.
"The Bible has a prescription that we must train up our youth in the right way they should grow so that when they get old, they will not depart from it. The passage of the GMRC law is an adherence to such Biblical principle and we rejoice in the truth that we are in the right path and we are rightly investing for the future of this nation," he added.
The law institutionalizes the teaching of GMRC in Grades 1-6 "as a separate subject with the same time allotment as the other core subjects and must be integrated in the daily learning activities in the kindergarten," according to the law.
It mandates the inculcation among the students of the "concepts of human dignity, respect for oneself, giving of oneself to others in the spirit of community, caring for oneself, giving concern for others, according proper respect to people, upholding discipline and order, cultivating sincerity, honesty, obedience and love for country" through distinct, specific and concrete character-building activities.
The law also mandates the teaching of Values Education in Grades 7-10 as a separate subject with the same time allotment as other core subjects while it will be integrated into the teaching of the subjects in Grades 11-12.
It stipulates that it shall inculcate among students the basic tenets of "observance of respect for oneself, others and elders, intercultural diversity, gender equity, ecology and integrity of creation, peace and justice, obedience to the law, nationalism and global citizenship, as well as the values of patience, perseverance, industry, honesty and integrity, and good faith in dealing with other human beings, along with other universal values."
Both GMRC and Values Education will replace the current Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao curriculum in the basic education.
On his part, Cibac Representative Domeng Rivera expressed appreciation to President Rodrigo Duterte for signing the bill into law. He said "this is a timely, relevant and much-needed legislation considering that we are seeing the evident deterioration of values and morality among Filipino youth today."
"Respect and concern for others are among the distinctive of the Filipino spirit. With the implementation of GMRC law soon, Cibac believes our future generation will be thoroughly raised as law-abiding and nation-loving people. With this law, we have already started facing, addressing and solving the values deficiency we have now which is sometimes the simple root cause of many complicated social issues that we are battling with -- from traffic to crime to corruption," said Rivera. (PR)