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Labella asks DepEd: revitalize means to improve students’ reading skills

A CEBU City legislator is asking the Department of Education (DepEd) to “revitalize and invigorate supplementary means to raise literacy levels among primary students in public schools.”

City Councilor Edgardo Labella said he was concerned because recent National Achievement Test (NAT) statistics showed that only 14.4 percent of grade school students and 1.1 percent of high school students have reached the level of mastery expected of graduating students.

He said that while the key to a nation’s future is the education of its youth, the NAT results “leave wanting this promise of a bright future.” In Central Visayas, which includes Cebu City, graduating high school students garnered an average score of only 52.2 percent.

Conclusions, Labella said, include poor reading comprehension as a major source of learning deficiency. Among the recommendations is emphasis on whole language reading and basic text comprehension. A decline in reading comprehension, he said, also results to a decline in learning in other areas, particularly on taking on complex formulas and ideas and numerical or non-numerical problem solving, because they all begin with “adequate understanding of a given text.”

Crisis 
Labella considered the situation a “brewing crisis for the future generations of Filipinos,” particularly because of a Philippine Informal Reading Inventory report covering this school year that indicated “very high percentages” of so-called frustrated readers (slow readers or non-readers) for grades one and two pupils.

“Reading is one of the most essential building blocks of literacy and is a significant skill that enriches an individual’s mind,” he said. This, he said, has implications on a child’s level of participation in society later on because “most readers are found to be inclined to be active in community, engaged in noble causes, and are well-informed of their rights and responsibilities.”

“Even under the Internet era, a library full of books is still the best starting point, especially for primary students in public schools to learn the art and science of reading,” he said.

Aside from the request to DepEd, Labella also asked concerned government units and the private sector to help make books readily accessible to public schoolchildren.

by Rene H. Martel 
Published in the Sun Star Newspaper 
December 8, 2009

A million pencils for a million dreams

STAR Paper Corporation, exclusive Philippine distributor of Mongol Pencils, partnered with celebrity advocates in the launching of “Isang Milyong Mongol Para Sa Isang Milyong Pangarap” held at the Harbor Garden, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.

The launch of the advocacy campaign was a star-studded affair led by its advocacy ambassadors Socorro C. Ramos, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, Diether Ocampo, and JC Buendia. Fellow advocates Joey Mead and Tim Yap hosted the evening’s program. One of the highlights of the program was a mini-exhibit of concept photos of the advocacy ambassadors megged by master photographer and fellow advocate Raymund Isaac.

Keynote speakers were Romeo Jacinto, general manager of Star Paper Corp. and John Davis, president for the Asia-Pacific region of Newell Rubbermaid, the company behind Mongol pencil’s continued success. Screened during the event were video messages from DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus and advocacy ambassador Boy Abunda.

A touching message from Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino Jr. was delivered on his behalf by his cousin Bam Aquino. “Isang Milyong Mongol Para Sa Isang Milyong Pangarap” has inspired much support not only from celebrities but also from its partner organizations and institutions that include National Bookstore Foundation, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, K.I.D.S. Foundation, Ayala Foundation’s CENTEX, and the Department of Education who all share in Star Paper and Mongol Pencil’s vision of fostering education and empowering the Filipino youth. The advocacy aims to help provide underprivileged public schoolchildren with writing tools and school supplies. The advocacy endeavors to promote literacy and encourage children to express themselves through writing and art.

Published in Malaya Newspaper
December 28, 2009

Baguio City hosts 2009 National Literacy Conference

In his message, DepEd Undersecretary and LCC chairman Ramon C. Bacani expressed hope that the said conference would inspire and empower all participants to be more active in the nationwide campaign of universalizing literacy in the country and reach the Education for All goal of reducing by 50% the number of nonliterates by 2015. Bacani also stressed that literacy empowerment is indeed a key to community development as it allows people to think and act for the improvement of the quality of their lives. Literacy skills are essential tools (for people) to live in today’s increasingly changing and complex world and in the face of knowledge-based and globalized economies.

One of the highlights of the Conference was the recognition accorded to the municipalities of Tubungan, Iloilo and Agoo, La Union as Literacy Hall of Fame awardees, being three-time National Literacy Awards winners in the local government unit categories. Tubungan Mayor Victor Tabaquirao and Agoo Mayor Sandra Eriguel personally received the awards for their respective municipalities. In short but meaningful speeches, the two mayors shared their literacy programs’ good practices. Tubungan, with a literacy rate of 98%, is Hall of Fame awardee for Outstanding Local Government Unit Class B category while Agoo, with a literacy rate of 99.3%, is Hall of Fame awardee for Outstanding Local Government Unit Class A category. The municipality of Agoo was also given recognition for being one of the two winners of the Republic of China-supported 2009 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Confucius Literacy Awards. UNESCO awarded the Agoo Municipal Literacy Coordinating Council for its continuing education and lifelong learning programs which make available a vast array of education and training opportunities for the entire population of the municipality, including the neediest.

Other highlights of the Conference included plenary sessions for participants with known literacy advocates such as Miriam College Board of Trustees Chair and former Education Department Secretary Lourdes R. Quisumbing who talked about Literacy for Quality Education; UP College of Medicine professor Jaime Galvez Tan on Literacy for Improved Health Services; Dr. Angelina Galang of the Environmental Studies Institute of Miriam College on Literacy for Environmental Protection and Management; and Sultan Kudarat First District Congressman Sultan Pax Mangudadatu Alhadj on Literacy for Good Governance.

The plenary was followed by breakout session workshops of four groups, each with a specific topic taken from the plenary.

Source: PIA, by Lito Dar
October 3, 2009

Search for 2010 National Literacy Awards Launched

The Literacy Coordinating Council launched the search for the 2010 National Literacy Awards by way of regional orientation which was begun on February 1. The launch, first done in CALABARZON (Region IV-A), is scheduled to reach the last region by third week of March.   Held every two years,  the NLA gives special recognition to outstanding literacy programs  and outstanding local government units (component and highly urbanized cities and class A and B municipalities) initiating and implementing literacy programs and projects responsive to their community’s needs.

The NLA supports the national government’s commitment to achieve the United Nations’ goal of reducing adult illiteracy by 50% in 2015 and consequently improve the quality of life of Filipinos.

The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) mobilize all sectors of society, government agencies, non-government organizations, people’s organizations, local government units, and the entire civil society to promote and disseminate the importance of literacy to national progress and consequently inspire them to develop, implement, and sustain literacy programs/projects throughout the country.

Parties who are interested to join the 2010 National Literacy Awards, may contact the LCC Secretariat for more information.

Carlito Dumulot, Promising Literacy Learner

“Isang malayang umaga sa iyo,” was Carlito Dumulot’s cheerful reply when I greeted him during the First General Assembly of Non-Government Organizations at SEAMEO INNOTECH, Quezon City. He belongs to LAKAS-Indigenous People’s Group. Carlito, short and stocky with thick black curly hair and small nose, is one of Zambales’s most respected tribesmen. “Bakit malaya?” I asked him. “Malaya na ako sa tanikala ng hirap, panlalait, at kamangmangan,” he says breaking into a smile.

It was a warm and sunny morning of November 28 when Carlito was relishing his present situation. “Ibang-iba na ang buhay ko ngayon.

“Noon, pag bumababa ako sa bundok upang magbenta ng mais at ube sa Olongapo market, hindi ko alam kung paano manukli dahil hindi rin ako marunong magbilang. Ang mga bumibili noon ang nagdidikta kung magkano ang presyo ng mga paninda ko at tinatanggap ko na lang kung magkano ang kanilang inaabot. Luging-lugi ako noon dahil bukod sa pagod ko, namamasahe pa ako sa bus tapos lolokohin pa ako ng mga mamimili. Ngayon, marunong na akong mag-plus, mag-minus, at mag-divide. Hindi na ako maloloko pa,” Carlito adds smiling.

Early on, Carlito knew they were being pushed around by the lowlanders. He remembers how his community members would be brought to the voting precincts during election and were told to sign the filled ballots with their thumbmarks. After that, it was anybody’s guess.

Illiteracy stood in the way of the Aetas’ better understanding of their traditions and rights. When land grabbers took their ancestral lands from them, they were left helpless and hopeless. They were denied access and information on their need to argue their cases.

“Sabi nila, hindi raw amin yung lupa, wala raw kaukulang papeles kaya pinaalis kami… noon kasi hindi pa namin alam ang tungkol sa titulo, certificates, at iba pa… 
I could not imagine why this man was so worked up about his newfound knowledge. But he was so earnest, his piercing black eyes so intense. According to Carlito, he saw other villages and communities receive infrastructure – water, roads and bridges – yet the people remained poor. “There was so little upward mobility even after all that spending because “they did not educate the people,” Carlito says.

Locked in the cycle of grinding poverty and illiteracy, the Aetas could only curse and shrug their shoulders at bureaucratic waste and abuse. Not anymore. 
When literacy workers went to Olongapo, Carlito grabbed the opportunity to learn. Then when he found out that he had leadership skills, he decided to begin a more active role in the projects organized by his local community. Almost immediately, his life took a new direction. “Natutunan kong gamitin ang aking mga talento para sa aking kapwa at pati na rin sa aking kapakanan,” Carlito says.

Today, his bright smile bears testimony to what he can do. Aside from reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, he has received training in farm techniques, forest conservation, sanitation and health, social skills, political literacy, and food processing. His family has moved from the tree house into a sturdy one. “Without literacy,” he says, “we’d still be living differently.”

The Aetas can now access knowledge and information available to the majority. They now read books, magazines, and tabloids. Through mass media, they can now profit from the scientific and technological skills needed to increase wellness and health.

To step from the bright sun and palm trees of Olongapo into the white halls of SEAMEO INNOTECH is to enter another world. Carlito with his new skills and present environment is now indeed, in another world. Congratulations, Carlito! (MPC)

Source: educNEWSVol 1 No. 3, November 2007

Understanding the Vital Years for Future Learning

“We all need to work together to unlock the powers of the vital years from 0 to 6. Waiting for our young children to come to school for Grade One at the age of six may be too late!” These were the words of Secretary Teresa Aquino-Oreta, chair of the Philippines Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council during a policy forum involving education ministers of Southeast Asia late in January this year.

The forum, dubbed “Understanding the Vital Years for Future Learning,” served as an eye-opener in the ever growing need to strengthen policies concerning early childhood education. Conducted during the 45th SEAMEO Council Conference in Cebu, Philippines, the forum zeroed in on the importance of tapping the learning potentials of children in their early years. Likewise, it sought to get commitments from education officials to put premium on their ECCD programs, which receive less than 10% of budget allocation in many countries as studies revealed.

Among those present during the forum were Ministers of Education of SEAMEO member countries, as well as education officials and representatives from SEAMEO associate member countries Australia, Spain, and New Zealand.

Secretary Aquino-Oreta, in her paper, recounted the Philippines’ experiences in adopting ECCD as a national priority. She said the country had a “long journey” towards this direction as efforts to promote children’s welfare and enhance their opportunities began as early as 1974 with the passage of the Child and Youth Welfare Code. The Code led to the creation of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) whose mandate was later transferred to the Department of Social Welfare.

In 2009, the CWC was transformed into the Early Childhood Care and Development Council through Executive Order No. 778. The ECCD Council is now mandated to “support the implementation of the full range of health, nutrition, early education, and social services programs that provide for the basic holistic needs of young children from birth to age six and to promote their optimum growth and development.”

In the past decades, many ECCD laws and executive orders were promulgated. However, implementing such laws became a challenge; and this was mainly due to lack of available information, if not for the often inaccurate, dated, and limited data that offer little value. The ECCD Council immediately worked on creating a database that will serve as guide for a more efficient and effective implementation of the national policies on ECCD. Aside from this, the Council is also working with ECCD professionals and experts to design a learning framework for early education programs.

The stories shared by Secretary Aquino-Oreta and best practices presented by Dr. Claire McLachan, Associate Professor of Early Years Education in Massey University, New Zealand, served as springboards for discussion on the topic.

The Education Ministers agreed to pursue several courses of action, including the conduct of a regional policy research on ECCD. The Philippine Department of Education, as a proponent of the discussion, committed an initial funding of US$50,000 for the said project.

Source: SEAMEO INNOTECH, January 2010

PNU: Center of Excellence in Teacher Education

At this time of paradigm shifts, when things are in constant flux, where every concerned stakeholder asks, “Where have all the best teachers gone?” PNU stands as a landmark of the Filipino nation’s commitment to quality education: educating and training teachers for a better world.

Since 2001, the title “Center of Excellence in Teacher Education” (COETE) as provided for in RA 7784 has been awarded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to Philippine Normal University for having maintained a track record in teacher education and demonstrated the highest degree or level of standards along the areas of instruction and research and extension. Its graduates become models of integrity, commitment, and dedication in education. Furthermore, the title reinforces the role of the University as the steward, frontrunner, and pioneer in delivering “efficient, effective, innovative, relevant, functional, and quality programs in teacher education, in-service training of teachers, and researc, and community service” to other teacher education institutions.

As Center of Excellence, PNU is given funding assistance by CHED for student scholarships, faculty development, library and laboratory upgrading, research and extension services, instructional materials development, and networking of existing COEs.

Source: Philippine Normal University

January 5, 2010

Building Communities

Sr. Maria Perpetua Bulawan, DC 
Literacy Worker

What is a good literacy implementer? Is he one who teaches, clothes, and feeds a thousand people? Is he one who brings them to the Lord and guides them through? It is all these and more. At the most fundamental level, the implementer must ensure that the welfare of the people – in all its myriad guises – is given attention.

Sr. Maria Perpetua “Mapet” Bulawan DC, 38, of St. Louise de Marillac College of Sorsogon (SLMCS), Sorsogon City has done just that – and still doing it. She has devoted her life to harnessing the talent and energies of the people in Sorsogon for productive use; and creating a society built on Christian ways. Sorsogon is the second poorest region in the country so her devotion to advance the status of the people is no mean feat.

She was rewarded a Special Recognition by the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) for her exemplary performance as a literacy worker of the Louise de Marillac Foundation, Inc. Community Extension Services (LMFI-CES), while her “Education for Life Program” got top honors during the 2008 LCC Recognition Day in Teachers Camp, Baguio City in September of this year. In 2005, her program “Literacy Intensification and Values Education” also got third place in the LCC Awards. Literacy has been her covenant – and she has never failed. 

Tell us your secret, Sr. Mapet. The nun is on a roll.

The Education for Life Program

“There is no secret,” says Sr. Mapet while seated on a chair wearing a veil over her habit. “We just realigned the Foundation’s programs and services to the UN Development Goals and responded to the people through alleviation of poverty and hunger, access to primary education, ministry to migrants and persons with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), environmental sustainability, and many more,” she rattles in a voice that is heartbreakingly soft and measured. 

SLMCS in Sorsogon City has been among the forefront institutions responding to the call of government in the eradication of illiteracy since the 1980s. In 1989, the then Bureau of Nonformal Education (NFE) now Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS), asked SLMCS to be the service provider for the Literacy Service Contracting Scheme in Sorsogon. 

Certainly, Sr. Mapet would not disappoint anyone. She is famously accessible and has taken her crusade for functional literacy classes to 15 learning groups in Sorsogon West, Sorsogon East, and Bacon District every year. Along with the sessions are bible sharing activities either in the barangay hall, Day Care Center, chapel, classroom, or even in an unfinished house. Word of each small success spread from town to town and gradually, she won the support of many. Indeed, it is hard to exaggerate the impact of the community service done by Sr. Mapet, but from among her learners, a number have become domestic helpers abroad; others have become officers of the kapilya pastoral council, and a few turned into barangay health workers. 

The learners are recruited house to house with the assistance of the barangay kagawad and other elders in the community. “I interview them to identify their needs. Ang mga learners mismo ang pinapipili ko ng schedule at lugar ng learning sessions,” she says. 

This is one of the most challenging aspects of the Program: to maintain the learners after a calamity. “Naku! Ang hirap lalo na nung tinamaan sila ng super typhoons Milenyo at Reming. Syempre inuuna nila ang pagpapatayo ng bahay nila at sa ikabubuhay nila bago nila harapin ang learning sessions,” she says with a sigh. 

Yes, life for Sr. Mapet could have been easier if she had not chosen to take on the burden of joining the Sisters of Marillac. But she did. Hence as a nun, she also mobilizes donation brigades and extends relief assistance to the often typhoon-visited Bicol and other areas. Her dedication spills over to her role of extending assistance in the housing construction of disaster victims; providing stress debriefing and home visits. In fact, LCC Secretariat Head Dr. Norma Salcedo says of Sr. Mapet: “She’s not a talker. She’s a doer.” 

Gliding from one mission to another, and loving every minute of  it, Sr. Mapet’s jail apostolate is equally impressive. She does spiritual formation, gift giving, and socialization to the inmates of Sorsogon. 

She has also devoted her life assisting out-of-school youth and adults to formal secondary and tertiary schools through the Balik Eskwela Program. The Study Help and the Marillac Grantees Student Assistance Program help finance the needs of students. 

In this interview, she recounts with all humility that the Education for Life’s Adopt-a-School Program established in 2005 has also helped hundreds of undernourished kids. The program caters annually to 120 malnourished elementary pupils of Bitan-o Elementary School, Sorsogon West district, and this program is bound to go a long way more. This is her great hope. 

“We strive to help bring the world a little closer to the ideal,” she says. The Foundation also hired two experts from the Benguet State University to teach the community farming techniques and high value crop production. “Now the community raises its own carrots, strawberry, sayote, sweet peas, and yacoon,” Sr. Mapet smiles as she clasps her hands. 

Sr. Mapet’s indefatigability is beyond compare. There is something in her that is devoid of the trappings of bigness and grandeur. There is something about real greatness and selflessness when you see her. She continues, “we also reach out to the spiritual formation of the elderly in barangays Tugod, Cambulaga, Sampaloc, Talisay, Bulabog, and San Juan Roro in Sorsogon. This is in preparation especially for their next life.” 

After a perfectly timed pause, I suddenly interrupt her, “have you had boyfriends?” She answers, “Yes, but Iam happier with the Lord.” I laughed after that and Sr. Mapet sneaks into a girly giggle. I realized that beneath that gentle mien of a nun is a warm person with a sense of humor, even-in-your-face wacky. 

educNEWS
Volume II No. 13
September 2008

Out of School Children and Youth in our Midst

Chat with the children selling plastic in the market or linger with players in the neighborhood’s basketball court, chances are you’ll bump into children and youth who should be in school but are not. Similarly, chances are they are smart, sweet, and carefree as any Filipino child or youth but had to drop out because they could not afford the daily expenses related to schooling like baon, transportation, projects, and contributions. Many of them would also narrate that learning in school for them have become both difficult and boring.

The stereotypical portrayal of out-of-school youth as decadent, troubled, and lazy has become passé. In fact, being out of school has become a phenomenon in the Philippines so much so that it is a reality lived by almost 1/3 of our school-age children and youth — they number 5.8 million in 2004. The Department of Education (DepEd) reported that in school year 2007-2008, only 84.44% of children ages 6-11 years old had been enrolled and for secondary level, only 61.91% of youth ages 12-15 had enrolled. Even more unfortunate, one out of three of these students end up dropping out of school.

The incidence of out-of-school youth is felt nationwide and even worse in other regions. In Central Mindanao, the situation is almost twice as severe compared to what’s happening at the national level. The Education Watch done by Education Network (E-Net Philippines) together with the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) in 2008, reports that 44% percent of school-age children and youth are missing out on education due to poverty and sporadic disruption of classes due to conflicts.

E-Net Philippines, a civil society network of more than 150 organizations nationwide has been calling for government’s urgent actions on this problem since 2000. The DepEd has implemented the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) — a modular approach to elementary and high school learning implemented by the Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) that allow children and youth to continue education through self-learning and group learning outside school. It also initiated Project REACH in 2008 in an effort to reach out to those girls and boys needing education in remote areas.

However, these programs are marginalized in the DepEd as they receive a miniscule budget compared to the overall DepEd funds. In 2009, the budget for A&E did not even reach 1% of the DepEd budget and only P800 has been the allotted  for every learner. Such underinvestment and slow moves to improve the quality of these programs put to question the seriousness of the DepEd and government in general in addressing the growing number of those who are out of school.

To fill in the gap, many non-government and self-help organizations have started their own A&E programs to give poor Filipinos a second chance in education. Leah Felipe, a fourth year drop-out from Rizal High School Annex is one of the successful graduates of the A&E implemented by the Kilusan at Ugnayan ng Maralitang Pasigueño (KUMPAS). In 2004, Leah was forced to drop out because of pregnancy. When KUMPAS offered her the opportunity to continue her education, she joined one of the learning groups in 2007, took the DepEd administered A&E test in the same year, passed the test, and got her diploma in 2008. Now, Leah works in a gasoline station, with an income to feed her three children. More importantly, Leah said that the A&E helped her discover the self-confidence in overcoming challenges in her life.

E-Net Philippines believes that the A&E can be adapted to the different contexts of the Filipino learners. In the armed conflict areas, the network has worked closely with the Local Government Unit in Datu Paglas, Paglas, Tulunan, and Columbio in implementing the Learning-Livelihood System (LLS) which integrates enterprise development and livelihood skills with the DepEd’s A&E modules. But these LGUs, being in poor municipalities do not have enough funds to implement the LLS on a large scale. This is true with all the other NGOs and community organizations who are struggling to keep their A&E and functional literacy programs if it were not for the volunteerism of the community facilitators and parents.

Education is a basic right of every Filipino and the DepEd has to take on the leadership and main responsibility in addressing the education of those who are in school and NOT in school. The DepEd said that one way of addressing the drop-out is to improve the public education system. While this is true, E-Net Philippines also believes that those who are NOT in school deserve the same attention. The expansion of relevant and quality education programs for children, youth and even adults should start NOW!

Source: E-Net Philippines

Literacy at work at SIL

Literacy continues to be a part of the work of the Summer Institute of Linguistics internationally and in the Philippines. SIL is pleased to be involved in literacy activities which touch the lives of adults, young people and children. Although the Philippines has a basic literacy rate of more than 88.5%, pockets of illiteracy remain. According to the Department of Education, there are more than one million pre-literates in the country and more than six million people are deemed to be functionally illiterate. Many of these are found among the indigenous cultural communities where SIL works in association with the Philippines Department of Education.

The languages spoken by a number of these communities have had no written tradition. Initial work involves linguistic research which leads to the development of an appropriate orthography for the language – an alphabet which is easily read and affords the student opportunity to use the skills they have learned in reading in the vernacular to transition to reading in other Philippine languages. SIL endeavors to serve these communities through literacy education – tailoring such education to the felt needs of the people using a learner centered, bottom-up approach. Our desire is that, beginning from initial literacy, the learner will develop a desire to maintain their reading and writing skills and that these will provide the basis for continuing education, benefiting the individual, the community in which he lives, and his nation. Learning is a lifelong process and some of the basic tools are reading, writing, and numeracy.

  • MALEI (Matigsalug Literacy Education Incorporated) oversees the on-going development of literacy and education among the Matigsalug Manobo of Davao del Norte and Bukidnon. SIL members helped facilitate the formation of this people’s organization. MALEI aims to include community education as part of their on-going programs for out-of-school youth and adults. Typically, this would include sessions on topics such as budgeting, leadership training and agricultural matters.
  • Under the umbrella of OMALRACDI (Obo Manobo Active Language Resource and Community Development Inc.), various activities take place in partnership with SIL. These include the promotion of literacy through equipping Manobos to become literacy teachers and supervisors. To date, more than eight Literacy Teacher Institutes have been held in Manobo communities, taught by Manobos. OMALRACDI also facilitates health care education programs through primary health care classes taught by a Manobo midwife.
  • Among the Tagakaulo Kalagan speakers of Sarangani Province and Davao del Sur in association with the Department of Education Bureaus of Elementary Education and Alternative Learning Systems. Beginning in the barangay of Lutay, an area which formerly has had neither formal school for children nor non-formal classes for adults, a program for children has begun where basic reading and writing lesson materials are constructed first in the mother tongue of the students, bridging into Filipino and English. SIL members are very active in this area and the program is spreading to a number of Tagakaulo speaking areas.

Source: SIL Philippines