Ladilad quells fears of Loo employees

BENGUET State University (BSU) president Dr. Ben Ladilad quelled the fears of the personnel of the school’s Buguias campus on its full integration.

He said the allegations are not true because the personnel will still work for the campus and they will still receive their salaries despite the integration.

But he explained that some young personnel who did not finish their masteral studies will be sacked from their work to finish their studies first.

The president said these during a press conference held January 10 at BSU.

Ladilad added that the removal of the younger personnel of Buguias campus is part of their manpower development. He said young personnel should be trained first before they will be employed permanently.

On August 21, 2012, various personnel of BSU sought the help of the Provincial Board of Benguet to intercede and investigate the integration of the Buguias–Loo Polytechnic College (BLPC) to the BSU–Buguias Campus.

This developed when some teaching and non–teaching staff of the campus, together with the community, protested against the integration because of alleged empty promises and the recent order of BSU administration to phase out the enrollment of the first year high school or grade seven. The personnel also fear the firing of some workers and they claimed some worker’s salaries were not yet paid.

The staff submitted a letter to Benguet Representative Ronald Cosalan which stated the situation of the campus. They requested Cosalan and the board to investigate and intercede in the matter.

They revealed that before the integration of the school to BSU, they were then undergoing a series of difficulties with the administration.

“We were at a loss and we didn’t know who to cling or turn to at that time to help us. How BSU entered into the picture, we cannot remember, but it was an opportune time for them to initiate and introduce the Integration Law,” they said.

Allegedly, the integration was presented to the staff convincingly and it offered so much promises. They warmly welcomed it as a means to escape from their financial predicament.

However, after 11 years when the school was already integrated to BSU, the staff realized the promises were all in vain.

Among the promises mentioned are the upliftment and facelift of the school and the enhancement of its teachers.

The staff claimed these were minimally realized by the administration. They had been reminding the administration about these promises but to no avail.

On March 23, executive dean Basito Cotiw–an told the staff the BSU administration will now start to phase out the enrollment of first year high school or grade seven.

The order was based on a memorandum issued by Ladilad.

“This announcement came as a bombshell to us. It awakened us from our long years of negligence. Indeed, we have remained dormant and passive regarding the issue we were supposed to disapprove and reject. We have weakened in our vigilance,” they added.

Various reactions arose. The staff revealed the integration divided the unity among them because some of the employees are in favor of the gradual phasing out of the secondary level of the campus.

The situation encouraged some of the staff to investigate the integration law where they found many loopholes.

These loopholes were presented to Ladilad. The community and the staff pleaded to the president that if possible, they will come up with a win–win solution to avoid the phase out.

They suggested the college to remain under the supervision of BSU and the high school be retained under the management of the Department of Education in the same vicinity.

However, the staff said the BSU administration allegedly refused to bend.

This resulted in more protesters who joined together to oppose the integration, which will cause the phase out of the secondary level.

On January 30, 2001, then BSU president Cipriano Consolacion sent a letter to then OIC of BLPC Gamotlong Baldaen informing him that categorically, BLPC was then integrated into the university in principle only.

The formal integration will take effect only when a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) will be signed between BSU, BLPC, Commission on Higher Education (Ched), and the Department of Budget Management.

The staff found out the integration is only in name or in principle until now because no MOA was signed between the parties.

The MOA was only drafted but it was never signed.

Moreover, the protesters found the move for the integration was only based on the Board of Regents’ resolution 988, series of 2000 and the Ched memorandum 27, series of 2000.

It was not based on an integration law.

Further, no implementing rules and regulations were made for the guidelines of the integration in the campus.

With these various alleged shortcomings of the BSU administration, the staff and the concerned community whose children are affected asked the board to come up with an appropriate action.

Concerned agencies were also asked to act immediately on the matter.