(Unang bahagi)

Sa ating pakikiisa sa ating mga kababayan, lalo na sa sektor ng civil engineering, hayaan po ninyong bigyang daan ko sa pitak natin ngayon ang oposisyon ng higit 30,000 na mga magulang at 15,000 na examinees sa darating na board exams para sa civil engineering sa darating na Nobyembre. Ang oposisyon ay nakadirekta kay: Teofilo Pilando, Jr., chairman ng Professional Regulation Commission (PRC):

“We, the undersigned (members of the academic community and professional organizations, reviewers, reviewees, parents) would like to voice out our opposition to DISALLOWING THE USE OF CASIO CALCULATOR FX-991 ES, FX-991 ES PLUS and FX-570 ES PLUS in the Licensure examinations for the following reasons:

1. The scientific calculator (CASIO CALCULATOR FX-991 ES, FX-991 ES PLUS and FX 570 ES PLUS) have been in use since 2009 by all engineering students in their respective licensure examinations.
2. Engineering board exam is the most difficult board exam in all licensure examinations except Bar Exams and Physician Licensure Exam. Reviewees need to review 6 months or more in order to pass the said examination. The job of an engineer is to formulate the equations. He only uses the CACULATOR to facilitate mechanical and civil calculations.
3. CASIO CALCULATOR FX-991 ES, FX-991 ES PLUS and FX 570 ES PLUS are not programmable calculators according to the technical experts of CASIO International. Calculators are only tools and they facilitate manual calculations. Calculators can never help the examinees formulate the required equations needed in the problems.
4. CASIO CALCULATOR FX-991 ES, FX-991 ES PLUS and FX 570 ES PLUS are accepted calculator brand for the engineering licensure exams in the United States, Germany and other advanced countries. Are we better than them?
5. The examinee should acquire strong foundations on basic concepts and must understand the concepts needed to use the calculator as a tool. Even though the modern calculators had advanced features like Matrices, Vectors and Calculus, still calculators are only tools. (For the Flag / ED CORDEVILLA)