JEDDAH, 6 July 2003 — In a bid to end the leadership row at the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ), the Philippine Embassy yesterday called for an election of a new school board on July 10.

Acting Principal Muhammad Isa Carlos de Leon made the announcement in a letter distributed to parents yesterday.

De Leon said Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla and the Consulate in Jeddah set the date of election “pursuant to the instructions” of Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople.

De Leon requested parents to register with the Board of Election (BE), through Mr. Hassan Basman, anytime during office hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a copy of their passport and iqama/resident permit for identification purposes.

He said those intending to run for board membership should file their candidacy with the BE. The last day of registration and/or filing of candidacy would be on July 9 at 4 p.m., de Leon’s letter said.

It said voting is to done by secret balloting from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., with no extension. “Counting of votes shall proceed immediately at exactly 5:01 p.m. Only IPSJ parents are allowed to vote, and no proxy votes shall be entertained,” said the letter.

It further said that non-parents and outsiders would be barred from entering the school compound before, during and after the election.

Efren Rodriguez, chairman of the IPSJ board which was ousted in a power struggle last November, questioned the planned election as as a violation of the rules set by the Saudi Ministry of Education.

Rodriguez said the scheduled election was also in defiance of a separate directives by the MOE and Secretary Ople for the embassy and consulate to first reinstate the ousted “legitimate board” to pave the way for an election of a new board, in accordance with the MOE rules.

He said it was also a defiance of both the MOE’s and Ople’s order for the Consulate to “stop interfering” in the affairs of the school.

“If the ambassador is serious in resolving the problems at IPSJ, the election should be conducted in accordance with the MOE rules. Conducting the election without the supervision of the MOE will only complicate the problem, as they will not recognize the result of the election. There will be a new set of Board who are not recognized,” Rodriguez said in a letter to the embassy in Riyadh.

“Now that we have the opportunity to fix the problem, we should do it properly in accordance with the rules of the MOE to satisfy the requirements of all parties including the host country to put a long lasting solution to the IPSJ problem,” he added.

The Rodriguez board was forcibly kicked out by a group of parents led by Fidel Hernandez with the aid of Consul General Kadatuan Usop, on charges of overstaying and mismanagement of school funds.

The Saudi MOE, however, refused to recognize the group of Hernandez.

In a letter to the school last April, the MOE warned that it would padlock the school if the Rodriguez board is not reinstated.