At this point, our country has reached a strange point in which the government doing its job feels like it is headline worthy. Not because the work was extraordinary, but because neglect has been normalized for so long. When efficiency finally shows up, just like with the Department of Education's textbook procurement increase by 289%, people may see this as reform, but in reality, it is the bare minimum delivered after a decade.

For over more than 10 years, DepEd has struggled to do what should have been a normal routine. Between 2012 and 2023, only 27 textbook titles were procured. And in that time span, a single textbook could have spent years in the process of production without ever seeing the light of a classroom. A student could’ve graduated from college at that time and could have never seen a single page of that book which they should have been using back in Junior high school.

That is why the sudden leap of 105 titles approved in one year is not a breakthrough. It only exposes how much time was wasted. The system did not change because of a change of workflow, personnel removal or a sudden burst of competence. It changed because the incompetence was indefensible and needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara does deserve some credit for pushing it forward, but credit must be measured carefully. Clearing a backlog is not just transformation but rather a correction. Treating this as a milestone risks demeaning the years of inactions that made the correction necessary in the first place.

The danger is now mistaking speed for redemption. A faster procurement cycle does not mean a healthier system. It only proves that the system only moves when it is pressured. One productive year cannot undo a year of paralysis.

DepEd now has ₱29 Billion budget in 2026—the largest budget increase in years—for learning materials, along with more funds for classrooms, and curriculum revisions. On paper, it may seem like progress, but a bigger budget does not fix a system that has allowed basic educational needs to fail for years.

This is the moment where the public must stop celebrating and start being more vigilant than ever before. Education, for me, is the single aspect of society that can bring change more than anything. It is the backbone of what we logically believe in and opens up questions that people may feel uncomfortable asking, something that we need now. Every reform regarding education should be scrutinized. If urgency for change fades once more, then this moment will collapse into another missed chance dressed up as progress.

Government competence should not feel exceptional. When doing their job becomes headlines, it means failure was allowed to live too long. The textbook backlog may be gone, but the real test is whether this country finally demands consistency instead of reacting to sudden efforts. Until competence becomes normal and negligence becomes unacceptable, reform will remain temporary.

The Frontman