Based on a Manila Times article,  the writer identified that the Filipino elementary students ranked lower than the global average in "Reading Comprehension based on a 2018 global survey called Program for International Assessment (PISA) among 600,000 students worldwide" due to the following reasons: "Meantime, I can identify where this comes from. I attribute the increasing number of slow readers and non-readers to a string of factors, namely: the lack of study habits among our pupils; the lack of contact hours in teaching; the effects of technology, internet and the social media; and the effects of even the Department of Education’s Child Protection Policy (DepEd Order 40, series of 2012)." (Manaog, Manila Times, Jan 2020).

I would like to debate the points presented based on another study introducing the Bilingual Method^[1] wherein a subject or curriculum is taught using English, as a global language, and the mother tongue of the students. In such method, methods of teaching are not relegated to one traditional way (which could be how a school or country used to a certain way of pedagogy) with the purpose of simply graduating learners to pass an exam but rather, ensuring that learners understand the concept followed by conversion into application through practical means (for example, teaching Mathematical concepts in both English and mother tongue, then letting students solve, wherein students can use different modals based on how they understand the concept. 

I cannot deduce, as there are no data or history to prove this yet in the Philippine context, but if that some countries like India where English is an official language but learners actually have a different language or dialect used at home can excel in sciences and mathematics, not just locally but in global setting, I would say that aside from addressing the reasons presented by Manaog, using a different and tested approach, which is the Bilingual Method, could improve Reading Comprehension in English among Filipino learners, with the objective of understanding concepts and converting theory into application as opposed to just letting students graduate from a grade level or just simply passing exams.