MANILA, Philippines — How could world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao have passed the test when he was not even in high school?” “Was it a case of special treatment given to a VIP?”
So asked some of the “many e-mail” messages sent to the Department of Education (DepEd), questioning the agency’s pronouncement early this year that Pacquiao had passed the DepEd High School Accreditation and Equivalency or A & E test.
At the DepEd headquarters in Pasig City, some department personnel have expressed the same doubts.
“It’s obvious. It’s nothing but a case of a VIP given special treatment by the GMA administration,” insisted a Pacquiao critic.
“We’re not born yesterday,” said another. The DepEd old-timer called it a “PR stunt.”
A report of the DepEd’s Bureau of Alternative Learning System or BALS furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer acknowledged that “while many easily accepted (the department’s) pronouncement, some were skeptical and even critical.”
But Director Carolina Guerrero, head of the BALS, the body that conducted the non-formal education exams in February, asserted “there’s no foul play.”
The DepEd had earlier cited the popular boxer special ambassador for the agency’s Alternative Learning System (ALS) and “People’s Champ for Education.”
“The results of the annual test were processed, analyzed and scored not by the DepEd but by a reputable and credible private research organization — the Center for Educational Measurement.
Because of the intent to make him ALS ambassador, his (test) paper was checked immediately,” Guerrero explained.
According to DepEd records, Pacquiao had scored 82 percent in communication skills, 82 percent in English comprehension and 66 percent in Mathematics and science.
In test items called Pagpapalawak ng Pananaw and Likas na Yaman, he got 86 percent and 70 percent, respectively.
Pacquiao’s overall ratings were 70 percent correct (PC), standard score (SS) of 95 percent and percentile rank (PR) of 70 percent.
According to Guerrero, this year’s A & E test was made up of 250 multiple choice items.
“For experts in test development, a good multiple choice test item should be able to discriminate between one who is only guessing and one who truly knows the answer. The fact that Manny Pacquiao passed the test only proves that he was not only lucky but that he was certain to pass it because he chose the correct answers from among seemingly correct answers,” she said.
The test, she also said, “included an essay test item wherein he wrote about his mother as “Ang Tao na aking Hinahangaan.”
Guerrero noted the test was “written in English and Filipino following the bilingual policy of the DepEd.”
“We all know that Manny Pacquiao has acquired a very rich experience both here and abroad and has thus become quite an Inglesero as well as a good Filipino speaker,” she pointed out.
Guerrero also observed that “during many (media) interviews with Manny Pacquiao, one can easily sense his intelligence as he deftly answers questions thrown at him considering his educational attainment is only 6th grade which he completed several years ago.”
The A & E test “measures life skills as the focus of learning in the alternative learning system, including self-awareness, empathy, decision making, creative and critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills,” among others.
“Anybody who knows Manny Pacquiao personally will surely agree that he possesses these skills to a high degree,” according to Guerrero.
Those who know Pacquiao can also “vouch that he has got (the skills of a functionally literate person) and has excellently demonstrated these skills in his lifetime.”
When interviewed, Guerrero expressed confidence the BALS would be able to computerize the annual A & E test.
“But not as early as next year,” she said, citing the usual funding problems.
Last year, some 50,000 examinees took the test, but only 20 percent of the batch passed, according to Lapus.
This year, the same number took the test in various parts of the country.
Manny, a losing congressional candidate during the recent midterm elections, and brother Bobby, along with some jail inmates, took theirs on Feb. 3 at the Ireneo Santiago National High School in General Santos City.
Bobby Pacquiao, also a professional boxer, however, did not pass the A & E test, according to the DepEd.
But he could try again in the next A & E test in Feb. 2008.
