A simple solution

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The ability of the so-called diploma mills, particularly those along C.M. Recto Avenue in Manila, to wantonly produce fake diplomas is one recurring headache that our local law enforcement agencies cannot eliminate despite numerous efforts. The meager resources of our police force, hands already full with more important functions like stopping crime, keeping the peace, hunting down terrorists, and escorting VIPs, may explain why this illegal, yet flourishing trade has already reached a level of national infamy, as evidenced by the many jokes regarding the activity.

These fake diploma mills demean the value of proper education, having become a viable option for those Filipinos desperate for a job locally or abroad, but remain unqualified because they have not completed their college courses due to circumstances beyond their control. Many of our countrymen have been faced with the embarrassment of being sent back home after their diplomas were discovered to be forged. Those whose fake diplomas managed to secure employment for them are endangering themselves, as well as the public in general, when they are placed in positions they are not qualified for, especially in jobs where lives hang in the balance.

In response to this growing problem, the Commission on Higher Education Chairman Carlito Puno and National Printing Office director Philip Evardone have signed a memorandum of agreement for mutual cooperation in laying out guidelines for the issuance of "tamper proof" diplomas. These new diplomas will employ new state-of-the-art printing technologies currently being used in printing currency, making them harder to forge.

If done properly, which means the new diplomas will not cost graduating students all over the archipelago an arm and a leg, this new approach by the CHED and the NPO will be a simple but novel solution to the fake diploma problem that has hounded our educational system for decades. It will also free our policemen from wasting time and resources in going after these fake diploma mills year after year, effectively hitting two birds with a single stone. Our country needs more simple, yet workable solutions to the problems plaguing our country like this initiative of the CHED and the NPO.*