REELECTIONIST Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is seeking support for marginalized learners to help the education sector recover from the impact of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Basic Education Committee, pointed out that enrollment of learners with disabilities and learners in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

He said this called for the need to make education opportunities more accessible to these learners, noting that they were already struggling before the pandemic hit.

There are 202,603 ​​ALS learners enrolled for the 2021-2022 school year, down 73% from the pre-pandemic figure of 759,723 for the 2019-2020 school year.

For the current school year, enrollment among learners with disabilities stands at 93,895, which is 74% less than the 360,879 enrolled in the 2019-2020 school year.

Eleazar: Speak first, stop later

Retired Police General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar has urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to engage in dialogue with sari-sari or retail store owners before launching a campaign to stop them selling over-the-counter drugs .

Eleazar, who is running for senator, said police operations should be the last resort after exhausting all measures to inform sari-sari shop owners of the law banning them from selling drugs and discourage them from doing so. do continuously.

He suggested that police chiefs and ward and post commanders hold dialogues in their respective areas.

“Always remember that we are dealing here with ordinary citizens who just want to earn money to live in tiyak ako na may mga kasamahan din tayo sa PNP na ‘yung asawa o magulang ay may sari-sari store din para sa extra income ng pamilya (I’m sure we have PNP colleagues whose spouse or parents run sari-sari shops to earn extra income for the family),” Eleazar said.

“Napakasamang tingnan na poposasan mo and kakaladkarin sa presinto ang anga sari-sari shop owners na marangal namang naghahanap-buhay para sa kanilang pamilya. Tiyak na ang PNP na naman ang talo dito (It is very bad to see you handcuff shop sari -sari owners who are just trying to make a living. PNP will end up losing here) and it goes against what we have worked hard to earn the trust and respect of the people we serve,” he said. he adds.

Castling to BBM critics: move on

Former palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. has called on critics of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. to “stop barking at the wrong tree” in the absence of evidence showing he had violated human rights during the time of martial law.

Roque urged the public to hold all post-EDSA revolution presidents accountable for human rights abuses that occurred during their respective administrations.

Roque, who is running for a Senate seat, said that by reviewing their human rights records, the public could determine which administration was providing adequate domestic legal remedy and compensation for victims.

“Anti-Marcos groups should not demand an apology from Bongbong Marcos as he has not been charged or convicted of human rights violations in Philippine or US courts,” Roque said.

Roque expressed his strong support for a law compensating victims of martial law. He called on anti-Marcos groups to move on after 35 years.

“It’s unfair to denigrate the character of Bongbong Marcos because he refuses to take responsibility for something he didn’t do during his father’s presidency,” he said.

He argued that the public, through presidential inquiries, judged Marcos by his background and not by guilt by association.