JEDDAH — Officials of the troubled International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ) said the institution will open tomorrow, never mind if it has only one-fourth of its regular enrolment.
Board Chairman Mardy Dimalotang brushed aside speculations that the school won’t be able to open due to lack of enrollees and operating fund.
“We will open on time,” Dimalotang told Arab News by phone, even as he admitted that there were only 250 enrollees and that the acting principal Mohamed Issa Carlos de Leon and the rest of the faculty have yet to return from vacation.
Many members of the IPSJ community, however, wondered how the school would be able to operate with only SR522.40 cash on hand and more than SR600,000 in accounts payable, including SR250,000 for rent of its 12 villas.
One parent said. “The IPSJ has lost its distinction as the biggest Philippine overseas school. Most of its enrollees last year are now in other Philippine schools in Jeddah.”
An attempt by the Philippine government to come to the IPSJ’s rescue apparently failed, with Executive Director Jose Molano of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) getting rebuffed by the Ministry of Education in his request to place the school under the control of the Philippine Consulate General.
Arab News learned that during Molano’s visit to the MOE’s Directorate for Foreign Education, Director Yousef Milibari recited to him a litany of “violations and crimes” committed in the IPSJ during the school year 2004-2005.
Among these crimes was an attempt by unidentified Filipinos to run over former IPSJ Chairman Lito Lazo with a car.
Lazo, a known man of peace, was forced to quit as a result of the attempt on his life.
Molano was then reportedly told to seek permission from the MOE headquarters in Riyadh for a consulate takeover of the school. Molano has reportedly flown to Greece to look after another troubled Philippine school.
The source also said Molano was reduced to writing Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla in Riyadh, asking for his “representation” to the Saudi MOE to permit the consulate to implement its “7-point Transformation Program” designed to save IPSJ from the throes of death.
In the proposal outlined by Consul General Pendosina Lomondot, the school board is being asked to resign and the consulate to take over.
A group of teachers, parents and staff had earlier said they supported the consulate’s takeover because the board was incompetent to manage the school.
When asked by Arab News about the possible takeover of the school by the consulate, Dimalatong said: “Welcome sila. Bahala sila kung papasok sila. ‘Di ako makikipagaway sa kanila. I don’t like trouble. This is a school; not a war zone.” (“They are welcome. It is up to them. I won’t quarrel with them. I don’t like trouble. This is a school; not a war zone.”)
Some parents and board members, however, said a consulate takeover would only defeat the principles agreed upon in the past to place control of the school under the hands of parents, who are the stakeholders.
Board Member Edriss Tamano said all that was needed to kick out Dimalotang and his finance officer, who he said were behind the alleged “anomalies” that has sunk IPSJ to the abyss.
Lomondot said those who object to the takeover plan are missing the point if they think IPSJ’s trouble is about the BOT or the Ad Hoc Committee taking over the school.
“The issue here is not the dissolution of the board or the convening of the ad hoc committee; it is the closure order (of MOE) as contained in the minutes of the meeting between the MOE, Consulate General and the BOT on April 20, 2005,” he said.
He said he had no interest in governing the IPSJ but he was directed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila to intervene in the interest of the community.
“It won’t be paradise when the consulate takes over. There are many things to be done to rehabilitate the school. The Ad Hoc Committee will be made up of respected members of the Filipino community in Jeddah. In short, we need experienced individuals, we will need new blood,” Lomondot stressed.
