A resolution inquiring from Education Secretary Armin Luistro, who and what office sanctioned the “Jam Step,” being compulsorily conducted and performed by all public school students, pupils and teachers in Bacolod City, was approved by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod Wednesday.

Authored by Councilor Homer Bais, chairman of the SP Committee on Education, the resolution is also asking Luistro if there are circulars or memoranda issued requiring students and teachers to participate in the activity.

The resolution said “Jam Step” according to its proponent, the “Batang Pinoy Movement,” is an activity which requires students and pupils to exercise through an aerobic dance step that can be integrated to a school’s morning ceremonies and can be each child’s starting step to a fit and active lifestyle.

It said media reports in Bacolod revealed that on February 12, 2012, the “Ang Batang Pinoy Movement” will gather all elementary and high school students or about 8,000 participants in an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record for the largest dance group currently held by China at 13,000 participants.

The resolution said some parents, teachers and community association presidents and teachers are complaining that students and pupils are required to perform the “Jam Step”, sacrificing every first period of the morning session after the flag ceremony and during the last hours in the afternoon.

The “Jam Step” activity, if not part of the school curricula, will only waste the already exhausted number of hours of students and pupils that are supposed to be dedicated inside the classrooms, it said.

The school activities that are supposed to complement or supplement the school curricula like “Jam Step” should be sanctioned by the Local School Board and coordinated with the SP of Bacolod City that serves as advisory committee on educational matters as mandated under the Local Government Code particularly Section 99 (c), the resolution added.

Meanwhile, the SP also approved a resolution declaring February 13 to 20, 2012 as the Blessed John Paul II Week in Bacolod City.

Authored by Councilor Caesar Distrito, the resolution said Bacolod City was one of the few cities in the Philippines that was honored with a visit by then Pope John Paul the II in February 18, 1982.

His visit has spawned the rise of a number of landmarks and institutions in his honor such as the Pontifical Pope John Paul II National Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, the JP II Tower at the reclamation area in Bacolod, among others, it said.

The resolution said these landmarks and institutions bolster the city’s tourism program, especially in the area of religious pilgrimage, as they attract visitors from all over the Philippines and even the world.

The JP II NISMF is launching “Totus Tuus! Celebrating Blessed John Paul II”, a celebration of the 31st anniversary of the Pope’s visit to Bacolod, it said.

The celebration will be highlighted by a national conference on JP II’s Nuptial Theology and is expected to draw 300 delegates from all over the country, including the highest officials of the Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines, the resolution added.*CGS

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