Lea Salonga apologizes for earlier post about DepEd’s module question on tattoo

On an earlier post last week, Lea Salonga slammed the Department of Education (DepEd) for a module allegedly discriminating people with tattoos.

In her Facebook account, Lea posted a screenshot of the module:

Okay, someone would need to tell me if this thing is really ok’d by the DepEd. And if so, WHAT KIND OF BS IS THIS???

“For the benefit of my friends that don’t speak the language, here’s a rough translation of the encircled part:

“A tattoo is a symbol of _______.

   A. being a criminal

   B. being a slave

   C. courage and beauty

   D. having low standing in society."

Lea shared that the answer key of DepEd says the correct answer is letter A.

"According to the DepEd answer key, letter A is the correct answer. (For the love of God...) I am THIS CLOSE to getting a tattoo, if only to prove a point," Lea wrote.

On Friday, November 20, Lea corrects and apologizes for her previous post on the said module.

Okay, so there’s more on this DepEd tattoo story,

she said. 

The full context of the module was sent to her by a concerned individual. In the screenshot, questions Number 1 and 2 are covered due to the caption.

Lea sincerely thanked the direct message sent to her and clarified that the screenshot she shared was incomplete in context. She said that the discussion was on Philippine History and on the significance of tattoos in our culture. The correct answer was C, that tattoos were a symbol of beauty and courage. Not A, that tattoos are a sign of being a criminal.

So, in my amateur opinion, someone out there wants to make someone else look incompetent. Covering up a big part of the page and making it look like the answer key was marking the wrong letter as correct. For my part in this, allow me to apologize. I just want for our kids to get as good an education as they can get,

she said.

As for the saboteur, there’s a special place in hell for the likes of you,

she added.

Since the start of blended learning using self-learning modules, many people had called questionable and erroneous content in the DepEd’s modules. Recently, an issue went viral about a questionnaire body shaming celebrity actress Angel Locsin.

DepEd has since then created a hotline and messaging platform for parents and guardians to submit concerns and errors in students’ modules due to the rising number of complaints. It will also issue notes to teacher as part of its efforts to correct these errors.