PASIG CITY, August 15, 2019 – Speaking before the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts, and Culture, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones underscored that the some of the reported errors in textbooks are “matters of usage and editorial preference,” while ensuring the strong commitment of the Department to improve the its systems.

This is in response to the 2018 Annual Audit Report of the Commission on Audit (COA), which flagged “various errors” in some of the learning materials (LMs). In the same report, and acting on the alleged textbook errors, the audit team “obtained copies of the subject LMs and assessed the gravity of these alleged errors.”

“I will not argue about the grammatical errors. But how about style? How about usage?” Briones posited, as she shared her observation that while there were errors such as spelling, many of the words and phrases noted by the audit team as erroneous were matters of usage and editorial preference.

The table below presents the notable errors/deficiencies found by the audit team.

Summary of Errors/Deficiencies in Learner’s Materials

Reference	Deficiencies Noted by the Audit Team	Remarks
Araling Panlipunan Learner’s Material
page 61	Sa Batangas naman matatagpuan ang pinakamaliit na bulkan ang bulkang Taal na nakalubog sa lawa ng Taal.	Sa Batangas naman matatagpuan ang pinakamaliit na bulkan, ang Bulkang Taal, na nasa gitna ng Lawa ng Taal.
page 365	Ang mga karagatang nakapalibot sa mga lalawigan ng Bataan, Aurora, at Zambales	Ang Aurora at Zambales ay hindi napapalibutan ng dagat.
page 444	Narito ang kailangang makamit upang makatakbo sa eleksiyon.	Narito ang mga kwalipikasyon ng isang nagnanais na lumahok sa eleksiyon.
page 26	Isa itong pulo ng mahigit sa 7,100 na mga isla.	Isa itong Arkipelago na binubuo ng mahigit sa 7,100 na mga isla.
page 86	Ang buong bansa ay nakatungtong sa tinatawag na Pacific Ring of Fire.	Ang buong bansa ay nakapaloob sa tinatawag na Pacific Ring of Fire.
page 87	Saan kaya mataas ang pagkakataon ng pagguho ng lupa sa tag-ulan?	Saan kaya mataas ang posibilidad ng pagguho ng lupa kung tag-ulan?
page 27	Ang lupa mula dito ay unti-unting tumataas maliban na lamang sa ilang lugar	Major error: tumataas ang lupa
page 101	Tulad ng pagawa ng emergency kit	paggawa
page 374	Ang karamihan sa mga tao ay namumuhay at umiikot sa produksiyon ng palay	Needs improvement: umiikot
page 383	Ang Oriental Mindoro ay 45 minuto mula sa pandaigdigang daungan ng Batangas kaya’t ito ang dinadaan ng Roll-On-R0ll-Off (RORO) na barko upang madala ang mga produkto mula sa isang lalawigan patungo sa ibang lalawigan	Erroneous: -Pandaigdigang Daungan -dinadaan
English Learner’s Material
Tale of Contents	The table of contents merely indicates the title of the stories, the topics are not indicated.	Needs improvement
pages 1 to 363	The LM contains activities/exercises only without discussion of topics/lessons.
pages 3, 17 and 175	Repetitive activities on “Phrase Or Sentence”
pages 18 and 175	Repetitive activities on “Recycling of Garbage”
Science Learner’s Material written in Tagalog
pages 28 and 32	tubig sa loob ng thermometer	Erroneous
page 43	ang retina ay parang kurtina na tumatakip sa mata	Erroneous

“How about the difference between a common noun and a proper noun? An observation in a Grade 3 textbook,’pandaigdigang daungan’ is a common noun and, therefore, it is in lowercase. The audit observation said it should be capital ‘P’ and capital ‘D’,” Briones said.

In any case, DepEd, through the Bureau of Learning Resources, conducted a series of workshops from March to June this year to validate the comments and recommendations from the regions on the Kindergarten to Grade 10 learning resources currently in use.

Briones likewise shared that the Department will revisit the textbook review system to identify areas for enhancement, such as expanding its authority in view of Republic Act 8047, or the Book Publishing Industry Development Act.

“This is an area, we believe, that the Senate and the rest of the legislation can be of help because the law, passed by two or three administrations ago, has certain conditions and complicates the issue. Makatulong talaga kung i-review itong batas na ito,”

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, and members, Senators Pia Cayetano and Nancy Binay, expressed support to work with DepEd on its legislative proposals to ensure that textbooks are error-free.

END