THE SENATE and the House of Representatives ratified on Monday the second Education Commission.

EDCOM allows legislators and stakeholders from the academe, business sector, civil society organizations, teacher organizations, parents, and learners to review and amend existing policies and legislation to address current gaps and improve the quality of Philippine education.

In his plenary speech, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said that the learning poverty level is at 90.5 percent — nine out of ten students cannot read simple text.

“A crisis of this magnitude requires no less than the most intensive policy review in the history of our government through the creation of EDCOM 2,” he said.

Senator Joel Villanueva said that the EDCOM 2 is a “landmark bill because it can pave the way for identifying a set of innovative, targeted, and coordinated policy reforms in education.”

Advocacy group Philippine Business for Education thanked the Senate and House of Representatives for ratifying the bill. The members of the bicameral conference committee are Gatchalian, Senators Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara, Joel Villanueva, Grace Poe and Minority Floor Leader Franklin Drilon, Representatives Roman Romulo, Mark Go, Kiko Benitez, Fidel Nograles and Stella Quimbo.

PBEd Executive Director Love Basillote thanked the 18th Congress for finally approving the bill.

“We thank the Chairpersons of education committees in both Houses of Congress. We also thank all the bill sponsors, the bicam members, all the legis staff, education agencies, and fellow education advocates who poured in effort to craft the bill. This is indeed a crucial step forward in addressing the country’s education crisis and preventing the collapse of our education system. We call on President Duterte to sign this law for a better educational system all Filipinos deserve, the lasting legacy on education that we need,” she said.