VICE President Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo said errors in self-learning modules would not happen if the Department of Education had a “proper system.”

Robredo’s remark came after the DepEd cited over 155 confirmed errors found in learning materials from October 2020 to June 2021.

“Ito iyong problema ng sistema na kapag hindi masusi iyong pag-asikaso ng lahat, may mga makakalusot talagang ganito, may mga makakalusot na hindi dapat. Kung maayos iyong sistema, nakikita sana early on. Naa-arrest iyong mga ganitong mga hindi naman dapat nakasaad sa kanilang modules,” Robredo said in her weekly DZXL radio program.

Last week, DepEd reported that over 100 of these errors were found in locally developed modules.

This includes the word ‘makakan**t’,  a vulgar Filipino term for sex that was found in a module used by Grade 10 students in Pampanga. The word was used to describe the word aswang or ghost.

Because of this, Robredo emphasized the importance of tutors or teachers supervising the students.

“Naging controversial iyong aming Community Learning Hubs kasi may pagkontra iyong DepEd, pero buti na lang itinuloy namin, kasi, halimbawa — may mga problema iyong mga modules. Pero kung may nagsu-supervise na tutors or teacher, nakikita agad ito, eh. Nagagawan ng paraan, nare-report kaagad,” she said.

In a press briefing on Monday, Education Secretary Leonor Briones maintained that the agency has addressed the erroneous SLMs.

“We thank Vice President Robredo for her comments but we assure her that this happened several months ago, this has been already attended and action has already been undertaken,” Briones said.

“Now, in light of all the noise on an event which happened several months ago and that has already been resolved, I reopened the case again. I am reviewing it now just to make sure that we did the right thing and that there are, perhaps, other considerations to look at,” she added.

Briones also stressed that the agency is also considering “if it is high time to give appropriate sanctions to those who were responsible for errors in SLMs.”