THIS REFERS to Isabel Pefianco Martin's commentary titled "Myths about languages in the Philippines." (Inquirer, 3/1/08) It is an example of why I fear the Philippines will never be a successful country. Her denial of the scandal and tragedy of education in the Philippines is profound and pathetic.

According to the education secretary, 80 percent of secondary school teachers in the Philippines failed an English proficiency test last year. I closed my call center here. Filipinos have much worse English than their Indian counterparts. Not even 3 percent of the students who graduate college here are employable in call centers. Trust me, all of us are leaving for China.

The Philippines has a terrible talent shortage, and the government and the press are in denial. Martin does not get it. English is the only thing that can save the country, and no one here cares or even understands that the Filipinos have a crisis. For now, English is the dominant language in business, not Ilocano, Visayan or Tagalog. The poor English, coupled with the ala mañana work ethic here, bodes poorly for any bright future for the Philippines.

When Marcos was kicked out, so was English, and you have not brought it back yet. You must, or you will never have more than 250,000 call center seats, and you will lose all BPO and call center business and all these jobs to China within five years.

It is sad that the Philippine Daily Inquirer published such a terrible article.

I love the Philippines, but as an American and a businessman, I am one of the thousands leaving here.

Good luck to the Inquirer. It needs to reevaluate its writers, unless it supports such a misguided set of ideas.

God save the Philippines. I hate to see the country falling ever deeper into an English-deprived abyss.--RUSS SANDLIN, via e-mail