Negros Occidental board to PDI: Apologize

There were a lot of denunciations from the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental Wednesday. It was more of an outburst. The reason: the provincial board was reported in a national daily (not The Philippine STAR) as having approved the small town lottery (STL) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office there.

A Philippine Daily Inquirer story on May 7 headlined "Negros Occidental opens door to small town lottery." It quoted PCSO Visayas-Mindanao manager William Medici as the source of that report which stated that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan reportedly asked the agency to operate STL in the province.

Board member Francis Gerard Tuvilla stressed that Medici’s statements were "inaccurate and irresponsibly made as (they were) contrary to the truth and (did) not reflect the stand and sentiment of the provincial board."

"There is a need to deny the erroneous news as well as denounce in no uncertain terms the irresponsibility of William Medici," the SP resolution said.

The provincial board also asked Medici to rectify his statements and issue a public apology.

Board member Reynaldo Depasuctat had his resolution approved that also demanded that the PDI publicly apologize to the board for publishing the false report.

Actually, according to Tuvilla, the provincial board approved SP Resolution No. 352 in October 1988 and Resolution No. 494, Series of 1989, banning and declaring illegal the operation of STL in Negros Occidental.

Again, on Oct. 16, 1991, the SP approved Resolution No. 411, Series of 1991, opposing the resumption of STL in the province.

On the other hand, Manapla Mayor Manuel Escalante said the provincial League of Municipalities, of which he is the president, asked the PCSO three weeks ago to brief the local government executives on STL.

But, he stressed, that it did not mean that "we had agreed to allow STL to operate here." It is actually a decision by the individual town mayors, he added.

Tuition hike row looms

It is becoming hotter. It is still summer, but already parents and students have become jittery with the tuition hikes by 29 schools in Western Visayas.

The situation is aggravated by the inability by holders of pre-need plans to raise the money from the insurance agencies for their children’s school fees as agreed upon in their policies.

Worse, parents who have pinned their hopes on the promise of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to divert P1 billion from the Government Service Insurance System to help over 100,000 victims of failed pre-paid educational plans, said she could not deliver.

GSIS president Winston Garcia reportedly said in an interview that the GSIS is not allowed to transfer GSIS dividends to any institution without the explicit approval of Congress.

But two of the biggest collegiate institutions in Negros Occidental announced yesterday that they were maintaining their present tuition levels because they don’t want to add to the pain of students and their parents.

In short, while most schools scrambled for the chance to raise their school fees, both West Negros College and the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos yesterday went on television to explain their reasons for withholding action on tuition increase.

The two are among the top private schools in the province.

Rationale for hikes

In Western Visayas, 29 private universities and colleges will increase tuition during the incoming school year.

The average increase is 9.69 percent as approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

The National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP) is asking CHED to repeal its Memorandum Order No. 14-2005 that contains the rules and procedures on increasing tuition and other school fees.

CHED, on the other hand, is poised to release a memorandum order that seeks to put a cap of four percent on tuition hikes. This was relayed to the local media by unidentified CHED officials.

CHED reportedly wants to make tuition increases uniform nationwide.

High oil prices, rising prices of basic commodities and demands for wage increases were just among the reasons justifying tuition hikes, according to Freddie Maningo, CHED Region 6 education supervisor II.

Yesterday, more schools in Bacolod opted to maintain their tuition levels. They included La Consolacion College, PM University, System Technology Institute, and ABE College of Economics.

The surprise: the Fellowship Baptist College of Kabankalan City decided to lower its tuition.

List of schools

The nine Negros Occidental schools whose petitions for tuition increases had been approved are Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod, John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation-Bacolod, University of St. La Salle, Visayas Maritime Academy Global College, Kabankalan Catholic College, La Consolacion College (La Carlota City), Binalbagan Colleges, and Central Philippine Adventist College.

The rest of the 29 are from Iloilo City, Iloilo province, Aklan, Antique, and Capiz.

They are the Aklan Catholic College, St. Anthony College-Antique, Colegio de Sta. Rita, Central Philippine University, Colegio de San Jose, Colegio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, Iloilo Doctors College, JBLCF-Molo and JBLCF-Arevalo, St. Anne’s College of Iloilo, St. Vicente Ferrer Seminary, St. Therese MTC Magdalo, St. Therese-MTC La Fiesta, University of Iloilo, University of San Agustin, Western Institute of Technology, St. Therese-MTC Tingbauan, Filamer Christian College, and College of St. John.

Based on the approved rates, a unit at the Riverside College in Bacolod now costs P355.58, or an increase of P32.73 over the 2005-2006 rate of P322.85.

A unit at the USIS, on the other hand, is up from P449.35 to P485.85.

The combination of tuition hikes plus the failure of pre-need firms to live up to their policies will make the forthcoming La Niña a hot one despite the rains.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman Fe Barin reportedly admitted that some 100,000 college planholders may not be able to enroll this school year after four pre-need firms suspended payments to their planholders.

Most of these planholders are clients of the College Assurance Plan, according to Barin.

In the next few weeks, these frustrated planholders have to scrounge around for money to pay for the schooling of their children after they had invested their earnings in their policies.

That’s a tough job with the school opening. And the government must be able to do something to remedy the situation instead of just advising parents to transfer their children to less expensive schools and to borrow money from relatives and friends.