MANILA, Philippines - It was a forum meant to tackle what every presidential candidate proclaims is the cornerstone of his platform: reforms in the education sector.

But only five presidential candidates showed up at the National Congress of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations or COCOPEA--Senator Benigno Aquino III, JC de los Reyes, Nicanor Perlas, Brother Eddie Villanueva and Senator Richard Gordon (they spoke in that order; Gordon was last because he confirmed at the last minute).

Administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro was the first to confirm but backed out at the last minute, opting to go instead to Davao-based Pastor Quiboloy whose Kingdom of Jesus Christ counts 6 million followers. Senator Manuel Villar sent his regrets, while former President Estrada didn’t bother to send a reply, according to organizers of the event.

Every candidate was asked to give their viewpoints on a 10-point education reform agenda drawn up by educators for an “Education President.” These were the promotion of education excellence, the development of community ownership, universal access to education, the enhancement of basic education, support for private education, the strengthening of higher education, and the maximized alternative learning.

Among the speakers, the most well-received were Aquino and Perlas.

But it was Aquino who was the most prepared, coming with a detailed list of “The 10 Things I Will Fix in Philippine Basic Education,” copies of which were given out to the audience, many of whom were educators and students.

Among his recommendations were: "the addition of two years to our current ten-year education cycle; universal pre-schooling for all; Madaris education for Muslim-Filipinos; the return of vocational education in high school; assuring every child can read by Grade 1; improving math and science proficiency; and, targeting 1 million private high school students annually to benefit from education service contracting by the government.”

Dwindling audience

Perlas talked abut how education must be depoliticized. Speaking extemporaneously, he added it is best for the private sector to take the lead. He said while local governments should be involved, he expressed apprehension that the present system is too corrupt.

Perlas’ solution is greater involvement of civil society in education and other national issues with the creation of a Commission on Civil Society.

As Brother Eddie Villanueva took to the stage, the SMEX conference hall was only half-full. He spoke about the need to address corruption and increase transparency in government to increase spending for education. He spoke about his vision of setting up Entrepreneurial Colleges throughout the country and providing free college education for poor students.

When it was the last speaker’s turn to speak, the audience had dwindled even more.

Senator Richard Gordon said he would raise public school teachers’ salaries to P40,000 monthly. He also brought out his Kindle, Amazon’s electronic book, saying he would want every public school student to have one. This, he said, was the solution to bringing down corruption in the government’s textbook program.

Towards the close of the national candidates’ forum, it seemed that delegates and students were no longer interested in the solutions the candidates had to offer.