“(T)here seems to be an inconsistency between Mr. Calipio-Go’s source of income and his lifestyle.”
by Ducky Paredes
Here is an internet entry: “Marian School of Quezon City is a non-sectarian non-denominational learning institution established in the year 1995. Being the foremost advocate of Integrity in Textbook Content, it has placed itself squarely in the forefront of efforts to identify the many dysfunctions there are in the Philippine educational system, in the process initiating reforms that not only arrest its decline but also uplifts its Quality.
“Its Academic Supervisor, Antonio Calipio-Go, is known far and wide for single-handedly mounting the crusade against substandard textbooks. His work spanning more than a decade of fearless and relentless push for reforms in all aspects of teaching and learning process has already began to significantly affect the way our local textbooks are now conceptualized, written, evaluated, procured and distributed. The idealism which moves the entire academic community of Marian School is made from exactly the same mould. We believe that the primary function of the school is not merely to help the child get from A to Z but to get him to understand the reason for doing so.”
Marian of Q.C. seems an ideal school. In school year 2002 to 2003, its largest class – the whole third grade – had 18 male and 23 female students. (Marian School of QC offers elementary and high school classes.)
Mr. Calipio-Go gained recognition when he took it upon himself to expose the “countless” errors found in the academic textbooks used in our schools. Apparently, Mr. Calipio-Go somehow found the time and inspiration (despite his duties at the Marian School) to single-handedly edit hundreds of books covering a diverse range of grade levels and topics, to identify these mistakes.
He then called the attention of Department of Education, and went on an all-out media campaign to bring attention to his cause. Beginning in September 2002, he has used what he says are his own-funds amounting to nearly P1 million for several full-page advertisements in major dailies. This, swears Calipio-Go, was done purely out of the goodness of his own heart, his hard-earned savings, and with nothing but educational upliftment in mind.
If this were entirely true, the man does deserve to be lionized. He should be heralded as the champion of the youth. But persistent and nagging reports seem to indicate otherwise. Unfortunately, if a person seems too good to be true, he must really be too good to be true – or, to be less circumspect — false.
First, there seems to be an inconsistency between Mr. Calipio-Go’s source of income and his lifestyle. It is well-known that those in the teaching profession depend on receiving blessings other than financial. So, where does the P1,000,000 that Calipio-Go spent on adverts come from? SEC records show that the Marian School has a paid-up capital of only P30 thousand. How much could they be paying him?
At what point does a crusade become a profit-making enterprise? When does the champion of a noble cause realize an opportunity for personal profit? Should society be truly cynical about those who present themselves as modern-day reformers?
The school lists him as a supervisor and Mr. Matias P. Dizon, Jr. as Principal. Right beside the Marian School of QC campus is Mr. Calipio-Go’s not-so-modest house, which he allegedly shares with his good friend Matt Dizon. Inside, a number of luxury vehicles (Toyota RAV 4, etc.) are parked. That must be some tuition fee those kids are paying!
Of course, this could easily be explained if a person had numerous other legitimate income streams. So, what is Calipio-Go’s source of funds?
It would seem, from their talk, that every textbook publisher in the country knows Mr. Antonio Calipio-Go well. According to sworn testimony, our heroic academic supervisor points out to these publishers the real or imagined errors in the textbooks they printed and which have been accepted by the DepEd. There are allegations that copies of signed checks from other publishers have been shown to prospective donors, effectively saying “See? Your competitors have me on payroll, so you should do the same before I create a scandal for you.”
Mr. Calipio-Go is also an incessant name-dropper, especially of the media. When meeting with book publishers, his mantra supposedly goes: “Kayang-kaya ko kayong ilabas sa kahit anong dyaryo, front page pa. Hawak ko ang media”. Sadly, he has demonstrated this ability, validating his claims.
In one of those alleged acquaintance meetings, divine intervention and technology seem to have coincided. Instead of putting a mobile phone on silent-mode, one attendee “accidentally” pressed the record button. This accident produced 40-plus minutes of a person who sounds very much like Antonio Calipio-Go, saying, among other things: “50 thousand per title, per grade level, pasado na sa akin ‘yan.”
The recording is inadmissible in any court, but the sworn testimonies of various witnesses is not.
Of course, whether or not this is part of a money-making scheme, errors in textbooks are errors and Calipio-Go must be credited with giving book publishers the incentive to at least employ more and better copy readers and proofreaders. It is foolish for these books’ authors to ask what Calipio-Go’s qualifications are that makes him an authority on their writings. Any eagle-eyed intelligent reader can spot their errors.
Several top private universities, not covered by the DepEd textbook criteria, continue to order the very same books that Mr. Calipio-Go has lambasted. Are their standards, therefore, inferior to Calipio-Go’s?
In a celebrated case, Mr. Calipio-Go publicized that he found a total of 94 errors in one book series. Scandalous! This publisher (who, incidentally, reportedly did not give in to his demands) should be put out of business? Upon closer review, however, it was determined that 75 out of these 94 “errors” were not really errors at all, and the remaining 10 were standard typographical mistakes that a good proofreader would have eliminated.
Calipio-Go’s full-page ad starts off this way: “What Philippine public school textbooks are teaching Filipino public school students
“Titi : Ari ng Lalake
“Learnings for make benefit glorious nation of Philippines
“Antonio Calipio-Go
“Academic Supervisor, Marian School of Quezon City
“On page 114 of the public school textbook titled Hiyas sa Pagbasa for Grade 5 appears this instruction: ‘Pag-aralan ang mga nakatalang mga salita.’ (‘Study the given words.’) Among the words asked to be examined minutely (pag-aralan) by the students are the words TITI, defined as ARI NG LALAKI (male sex organ), and TITATITA, defined as BUGAW (pimp). Were the writers of this book even thinking when they decided to include the abominable words TITI and TITATITA in a schoolbook for schoolchildren? (Borat would’ve asked: Is they crazy?) After Pepe’s pee pole, what will these good people think of next — Pilar’s pekpek (ari ng babae)?’”
Does that sound like anything conforming to the avowed goal of “with nothing but educational upliftment in mind” or, the Marian entry that says: “We believe that the primary function of the school is not merely to help the child get from A to Z but to get him to understand the reason for doing so.”?
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hvp 06.25.08)
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