JEDDAH, 18 June 2003 — Manila has ordered Philippine officials in the Kingdom to immediately return control of the troubled International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ) to the elected board that was ousted by a group of parents and the Philippine Consulate.
“The Philippine Consulate in Jeddah and the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh are hereby instructed to make strong representations at the (Saudi) Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reinstate the legitimate Board of Trustees of the IPSJ, pending the conduct of school board elections,” said Foreign Secretary Blas F. Ople in a “very urgent” memorandum.
The memorandum was dated May 28 but it was received only by the offices of Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla and Consul General Kadatuan Usop on June 6.
Ople’s memorandum also reminded the embassy and consulate “not to interfere with the affairs of IPSJ.”
“The role of Foreign Service Posts on the internal affairs of Philippine schools abroad is limited to ‘consultative character’, and not managerial or supervisory,” Ople said.
Ople’s memorandum was for “strict compliance” but the IPSJ as of yesterday remained under the control of the consulate. Usop was said to have been out oftown for an official mission.
On June 7, a day after Ople’s memorandum reached his office, Usop during an orientation with IPSJ staff and parents that the consulate was to oversee the affairs of the school until a new board shall have been elected. He set the election date on June 25.
It was not clear yet if Manila had been informed that Ople’s order has remained unenforced.
Ambassador Guinomla, answering a query by Arab News yesterday, said that even before he received the memorandum, he had suggested to Usop that there was an urgent need to hold an election for a new IPSJ board.
“I insisted that he should work out the mechanics of holding an election as soon as possible,” Guinomla said in a phone interview.
The reinstatement of the ousted Board of Trustees chaired by Efren Rodriguez was considered crucial because of a warning by the Saudi Ministry of Education last April to close the school if this was not done.
Sources from the IPSJ said the MOE was not likely to recognize an election conducted by the consulate, considering that the MOE notice also demanded that the consulate should “stop interfering” in the affairs of the school.
Late last year, a group of parents angered by alleged mismanagement by the Rodriguez board and of the refusal of the MOE to conduct an election, seized control of the school with the aid of the consulate.
Early this month, however, Usop dismissed the Hernandez board, declaring it’s control of the IPSJ “illegal” since it is not recognized by the Saudi MOE and the Philippine government.
