Bill lowering optional retirement age to benefit 1-M gov’t...

psychological burdens it causes applies to all those working in government, particularly public school teachers.

Castro said earlier retirement is one of the demands voiced during consultations with public school teachers, noting that retiring at a late stage would not allow them to fully enjoy their retirement years with the hazards and level of stress accompanying their duties.

“Teachers usually leave the profession not with satisfied smiles but assaulted by various illnesses; whatever retirement benefits they receive will be spent not for their rest or their own businesses but solely for medical bills,” Castro said.

Citing the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, she said the Philippines ranked among the countries with the most dismal statistics descriptive of teachers’ working conditions, with average pupil-teacher ratios from 31 (primary level) to 45 students to each teacher (secondary level), and average class size of 42.4 (primary) and 43.7 (secondary).

Castro said teachers in the Philippines retire five

In a joint statement, the Philippine and U.S. foreign affairs and defense panels highlighted Subic Bay as “priority site” for “high quality, private sector-led infrastructure investment as a means of supporting Philippine economic growth and enhancing connectivity in the Philippines.”

But the visits by U.S. Ambassador MaryKay Carlson last November and, last week, by Lindsay Ford, the U.S. defense deputy assistant secretary for South and Southeast Asia, showed their specific interest in the shipyard. Notably, Ford was joined by Maj. Gen. Chris McPhillips, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s director of strategic planning and policy directorate. That move aroused more curiosity over the U.S. military’s plans on how to maximize use of the shipyard.

Besides the Subic project, the U.S. is hurrying up the completion of building facilities inside five selected Philippine military bases: three in Luzon, one in the Visayas and one in Mindanao. Purpose: to enable, as soon as possible, the U.S. armed forces to store war equipment and other materials in these facilities.

The five sites, however, seem not enough for the U.S., as it presses for hastening the verification of “additional agreed locations” for the same purpose.

On this point, DFA Undersecretary Teresita Lazaro clarified that “we agreed to finalize the procedures for the additional agreed locations. In fact, it is a work in progress.” for a 21st Century United States-Philippines Partnership,” which Ambassador Romualdez said “outlined several areas of cooperation aimed at boosting security and economic ties” in the face of “current realities and challenges.”

Lazaro co-headed the Philippine panel with Defense Undersecretary Angelito de Leon.

Besides the above-cited moves, at the 10th BSD, the two panels agreed on the following:

• The U.S. will host a “maritime dialogue” this year to identify potential points of maritime activities;

• The Philippines will take steps to “streamline technology transfer” and develop a “road map for defenses mobilization;”

• Aside from the BSD, defense and foreign affairs ministers of both countries will hold their “two-plus-two ministerial dialogue” –the third since 2012 and 2016 – and stage a “policy-centric tabletop exercise” by the third quarter of 2023. Supposedly intended to ensure “more coordinated responses to potential flashpoints,” no further details were provided.

• Set a year-end target for the conclusion of their General Security of Military Information Agreement to help simplify technological transfers of their respective defense units; and years later than those in most countries, noting that the retirement age is 60 in most North American, European and Asian countries.

“Respect and humane consideration demand that a person of 55 years -- a few years shy of being a senior citizen -- should not be required to perform the arduous functions expected of a public-school teacher in the Philippines. At such stage of their lives, public school teachers should at least be given the choice if they wish to rest from the profession and enjoy better and healthy years ahead,” Castro said. (PNA)

The U.S. panel was co-headed by Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Ford representing the defense department.

One can easily see that, in effect, the U.S. facilities would be mini-military bases within Philippine bases, wherein U.S. and not Philippine jurisdiction would prevail.

Note that under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), such facilities would be strictly controlled by American forces and off-limits to Filipinos. EDCA is the executive agreement that implements the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement or VFA, which allowed the rotational stay of U.S. troops – numbering 600 per batch – in the country throughout a year.

Last week’s 10th Bilateral Strategic Dialogue was intended to “facilitate focused and sustained inter-agency coordination, planning and implementation of action plans on priority areas.” The 9th BSD, held in Washington DC, came out with a “Joint Vision

• Reconvene the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement meetings that apparently have been temporarily sidelined. Ambassador Romualdez has also disclosed that in the past few months, “we have been discussing with the White House a possible visit by President Marcos to Washington.” The objective, he wrote, is “to further cement the ties between the longtime allies on various areas of mutual concern and interest. We hope to find a suitable schedule for both our leaders to meet this year.”

Last Thursday, January 26, in a television interview, Romualdez couldn’t help turning up the volume on the trumpets and drums that the current administration has been deploying to promote its initiatives.

Certain U.S. officials are impressed by Marcos Jr., according to him. “They find it refreshing, to say the least. They’ve obviously seen him when they came here… and they were very pleased to hear the things that the president has articulated, especially with regard to our relationship with the U.S..” (Philstar.com)

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Email: satur.ocampo@gmail.com