Libel mulled for textbook flaws as pullout sought

BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan announced a court case will be up for authors of flawed textbooks as agreed by Cordilleran leaders.

Domogan, chairman of the Regional Development Council said a consensus was reached to address the problem of flawed information about the Cordilleras as seen in textbooks used by the Department of Education tagging the misinformation as a misrepresentation of the Igorot peoples.

The mayor said a letter to the authors of the books will be made by the RDC stating information printed is erroneous and is considering filing a class suite for the booboo.

The RDC will also be seeking an apology from the authors for misleading text depicting the region and its indigenous peoples.

In a statement made last month, the Department of Education (DepEd) in the region clarified the erroneous information about the Cordillera Region and indigenous peoples in elementary textbooks did not pass through the department’s prescribed quality evaluation process.

Elementary textbooks containing erroneous information were published by private companies which include REX Bookstore, Phoenix Publishing House and Saint Mathews Publishing Corporation.

Some of the erroneous information include, ‘HagdanHagdang Palayan sa Ifugao na makikita sa Rehiyon ng Ilocos…’

and ‘Ako ay si Dang, sa Baguio ako ipinanganak. Ako ay Igorot”.

The Ifugao Rice Terraces are found in the province of Ifugao in the Cordillera Administrative Region and not Ilocos Region, and ethnicity is traced to roots and blood line, and not by place of birth, Taqued said.

DepEd does not have control over private publishers that sell textbooks and supplementary learning resources to the field which contain culturally insensitive information. Publishers publish the learning resources at their own will without consultation and these are not supported by DepEd.

Domogan said the books have been pulled out and are not being used by public schools but warned private institutions may still be using the flawed books as DepEd has no hold over the private school cluster.

The RDC chairman said NCIIP will spearhead the calls to the authors as well as the filing of the case if necessary.