JEDDAH, 18 December 2002 — Education Ministry authorities yesterday came to the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ) and restored the officials who were ousted last month by a group backed by the Philippine Consulate General.
But not long after the MOE officials left, Consul General Kadatuan P. Usop came and declared that the governing council and school officials he had installed will stay on.
As gathered by Arab News from various witnesses and sources, Mansour Ghazali, the director of foreign education at the MOE, came to the school at about noon with a handful of police officers and told the consulate-installed officials to take orders only from the Board of Trustees (BOT) led by Efren Rodriguez.
Door locks to the key offices were changed and the Rodriguez group began issuing instructions. First to be told to relinquish their posts were the principal, administrator and finance officer.
Ghazali reportedly told the acting principal, Dr. Gil Alcaraz, and the other officials to sign an undertaking saying they were relinquishing their posts to allow the smooth takeover of those who were removed.
"We came here to restore the Rodriguez BOT, which is recognized by the ministry. We will then call for a general assembly of parents and within three weeks time, we will conduct an election for a new Board," Ghazali was quoted by one faculty member as saying.
Depending on which side one was, the arrival of the MOE officials was either a welcome sight or seen as a disruption.
"I was scared to death at the sight of the police in the school," remarked a fifth-grade student, who said they were taking their last examination for the year and they were all disturbed.
On the other hand, some faculty members and parents siding with the Rodriguez group thought it was the end of their "sufferings" from the hands of the consulate-backed group led by Fidel Hernandez.
Hernandez, contacted through his mobile phone, said he was at Yanbu at the time of the takeover and that all he could say was that "Ghazali and his cohorts failed."
Other witnesses described what transpired yesterday as a "cat-and-mouse" game. "When Ghazali and the police arrived, the supporters of Hernandez were nowhere to be found. But as soon as the police were gone, they swarmed back like rats."
Some of Hernandez's supporters, many of them non-parents and strangers, were armed with sticks (pamalo) and attempted to physically harm Rodriguez and his BOT members and allies, Arab News learned.
One parent said he himself was threatened but was saved when Consul General Usop arrived and the "goons" calmed down.
Somebody from Rodriguez's group apparently called the police again and when they did come, Usop was already inside the school and the police found nothing untoward happening, witnesses said.
Usop, in an interview with Arab News, said he went to the school after he received a call about the Ghazali-Rodriguez takeover.
"Children were taking their last examination and were enthusiastically looking forward to a short vacation... Some 150 parents present at the school told them that they did not want the ëdiscredited' BOT of Rodriguez," he said.
"Ghazali did not notify either the school or the consulate about his visit. When we visited Ghazali said he wanted normalcy in school. Our children, faculty members and staff were alarmed and scared at the sight of policemen.," he said.
Usop said that once the policemen left the scene, another batch of cops arrived led by Captain Saleh Salami.
"Salami told us that Rodriguez requested for the presence of police, as there was trouble in the school. Salami asked me what kind of trouble you have in school. I said none. I explained to Salami that the school was run by the community and it had become bankrupt during the three-year-old term of the BOT chaired by Rodriguez."
Usop said he had to intervene and take control of the school as directed by Manila last month due to its bankruptcy.
"The owner of the school building has been asking for rent which amounts to half a million riyals. Teachers and staff have each been paid just SR500 a month because of lack of funds."
He said the new group elected by parents by show of hands at a meeting held Oct. 11 took charge on Nov. 13. "An auditing firm, which has been appointed to look into the school finances says it is hindered because the CPU and ledger in which all financial transactions are recorded are missing," Usop said.
The consul general, who assured a fresh BOT election once the rationalization of the school affairs was completed, said he expected this exercise to be completed by January-end."
He declared that the school would not be closed. "We don't wish to take the unpleasant step of closing the school because the future of 1,250 children of the community, with 110 faculty members and staff is at stake. I have received a clear mandate from Manila to restore normalcy and solvency in school, which is caught in the power struggle between the old and new boards. The academic standard, which has suffered due to the ongoings, has also to improve.
Usop said since auditing of school finances was in progress, he would not level any charges against the old board. The auditing firm was trying to find whether all of the school transactions during the three-year term of the old board since February 1999 were legal or not. The school had a cash balance of SR1.3 million before the old board assumed charge. The cash balance now stood at SR280,000." It was against this background that I was asked to take charge of the school in a bid to restore its solvency."
Asked to comment on the charge that the new board was not elected the way it should be, Usop said: "Election need not be through ballot. It can also be by show of hands and that exactly happened during the parents meeting in October. Most of its 800 parents had attended the meeting. However, I hope to hold a fresh election soon."
He reminded that the school belonged to the community and was not the property of an individual or a group.
Usop wondered why Ghazali took the extreme step of visiting the school with policemen when there was no trouble. "There is no conflict with Ghazali either," he added.
Asked whether the consulate had a role in the school affairs when all international schools were under the MOE, Usop remarked: "It's not true. There are some schools here, which are under the direct or indirect control of the consulate. What is true is IPSJ belongs to the Philippine community."
Rodriguez, in a telephone interview, said he was about to release a complete accounting of the school's financial resources but their reinstatement was aborted.
He said the financial statement that they have prepared will show in detail where all the money of the school had been spent on. He denied charges that a big amount is missing.
"We should understand that this school is a non-profit institution. We should not expect it to make so much profit, especially that we have to spend on facilities, equipment and staff development in order to achieve our academic objectives," he said.
"What Director Ghazali told us during the meeting was that he was reinstalling us so that we could prepare for an election of a new board in three weeks time, as he had promised before. Unfortunately, the other side defied the MOE's instructions again," he said.
Nilo Lucena, a leader of the so-called Third Force of parents, said they are sticking to their position that an election be held at the earliest possible time to resolve the dispute over who is favored by most parents to manage the school.
Lucena said he attended both meetings conducted by Ghazali and Usop and that he felt reassured that their demand for an election would be addressed very soon.
He said their worry is whether both of them would fulfill their promises if the continuing animosity between the Hernandez and Rodriguez blocs would be allowed to prevail.
"If the MOE and the consulate could come up with an agreement to facilitate the holding of an election, it will be for the good of the school. We could not go on like this forever," he said.
