Essay --

cting the country, the Philippines do have the potential to become a developed country. An issue that is affecting the country’s progress towards development is education. The Philippines is the only remaining Asian nation in the world putting the 10-year cycle of basic education in effect. The Department of Education was pushing for the implementation of the K-12 program to finally take effect in the Philippines. Seventy percent of the country’s unemployed citizens are high school graduates. To improve the education of the people in the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino has formally signed the law extending the basic education curriculum in the country (Al Nisr Publishing LLC). The President signed the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2012, or the K to 12 Basic Education Program, a scheme that took at least five years to finally implement (Al Nisr Publishing LLC). Aquino believe that the K to 12 program will make way for a brighter future for young Filipinos by equipping them with basic education up to international standards. Another issue affecting the country’s progress towards becoming a developed country is the natural disasters within the country. The most recent typhoon that has taken place in the Philippines, Typhoon Haiyan, is said to have killed more than 10,000 people. However, there have been other natural disasters that have also left startling devastation in the Philippines prior. There has been at least ten other natural disasters in the last decade that have also left high death tolls. For example, on December 3, 2012, Typhoon Bopha smashed into the main southern island of Mindanao, Philippines. The region suffered roughly 1,900 people dead or missing. Another example of this was on February 17, 2006 when an e... ...r in the Philippines, but sea levels have also risen by half an inch in the past ten to twenty years, faster than the worldwide average (The Washington Post). In 2009, some of the world's developed countries pledged $30 billion in climate aid, which would rise over time. However, a recent report from Oxfam found that most developed countries have yet to make any concrete plans to follow through (The Washington Post). Another issue in the Philippines is malnutrition and hunger. Malnutrition among children has not changed much over the past 10 years, making it very unlikely for the country to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of eliminating poverty and extreme hunger by 2015 (Inquirer). Families who do not get the 100 percent dietary energy requirement even increased from 57 percent of the population in 2003 to 66.9 percent in 2008, the survey said (Inquirer).