JEDDAH, 5 June 2003 -- His authority challenged, Consul General Kadatuan P. Usop yesterday returned to the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ) and made sure that the group which seized control last year was evicted.

Eyewitnesses told Arab News that Usop, escorted by an ''entourage,'' arrived at the school premises on Gornatah Street at about 10:45 a.m. and dismissed the security personnel installed by the group of Fidel Hernandez.

He then ''systematically undid'' what the de facto board had done, firing those who were carrying out ''illegal orders'' of the Hernandez board, and allowing the enrolment of children who were allegedly being barred by the de facto board from enrolling.

Usop's return got a warm welcome from majority of the faculty and staff, as well as from parents who feared that the school would be closed by local authorities if it remained under the control of the Hernandez group.

Usop then met with the faculty and staff and reaffirmed his pronouncement last week that Mohammed Issa Carlos de Leon was being retained as school principal.

De Leon was fired by the Hernandez Board two weeks ago. Last week, Usop fired the board and reinstated de Leon. A day later, however, the de facto board re-fired him and installed Marietta Catacutan as his replacement.

It was learned that Mrs. Catacutan was still holding fort yesterday, having reportedly resigned her teaching job from another school.

Parents interviewed by Arab News said, however, that it was not Catacutan's presence that scared them.

''What we feared was the vindictiveness of the group of Fidel Hernandez. They refused to admit our children unless we signed an undertaking that said we should not oppose them,'' said one parent.

Hernandez could not be contacted by phone yesterday. But in a telephone interview with Arab News on Tuesday, he said they were not actually stopping anyone from enrolling.

''We were only telling some parents to talk with us first and to promise not to be troublemakers,'' he said.

In his meeting with teachers yesterday, Usop announced that the school would remain under the supervision of the Philippine Consulate until an election for the new board will be held by the third week of June, sources said.

In defying Usop's dismissal order last week, the Hernandez board said the consul general had no basis for doing so since he had relinquished his chairmanship of the school's governing council in April.

Usop joined the IPSJ's governing council late last year after he helped the Hernandez board wrest control over the school from the elected board chaired by Efren Rodriguez.

The Saudi Ministry of Education, however, refused to recognize the de facto board and insisted that the Rodriguez board be reinstated or else the school would be closed.

It was not immediately clear if the Saudi MOE would allow the Philippine Consulate's takeover, albeit temporarily.

In a letter to the IPSJ last April, the MOE gave two conditions for the continued operation of the school.

One was that power be restored to the Rodriguez board. The second condition was for the consul general to stop interfering. Usop had promised the teachers and school staff that the consulate's intervention was for the purpose of ridding the school of an illegal board, and to pave the way for the election of a new board.