NewsRecord Weekly Publication

Centralians protest, win round 1  

New mgt takes over

Fight for the future, fight for change. Officers of the Central Negros College Supreme Student Government lead students during a rally inside the campus on second day of school. The students called for the ouster of Mr. Mario and Socorro Ledesma who are presently the administrators of the family-owned college.              

A new administration has taken over the management of Central Negros College and the protesting College Supreme Student Government (CSSG) proclaimed victory.

Brewing storm

CSSG officers took the fight to the street on June 5, a day after all public schools in the country started implementing the Kindergarten plus 12 years of Basic Education Program. Roughly 20 college CNC students armed themselves with placards as they called for a change of school management.

Plebeeboy Nalzaro, CSSG Vice-president, said that they held the protest because they wanted to voice sentiments against Mr. Mario Ledesma and his wife Socorro. The two had ran the school for about 19 years. "Eleven million ang kita sa school kada tuig pero walay improvements," Nalzaro stated as fellow student-protesters continued shouting for change in front of the school stage.

He went on to enumerate that the school does not have proper garbage disposal, no drinking fountain that students could use for free, no recreation and sports areas and facilities, no laboratory equipment, no books in the library, and that it failed to keep up with the standards of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Nalzaro pointed that he and his fellow CSSG officers are certain that if Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma would step down and give way to their siblings Lisa and Margarito Broce, the school will be better managed and changes can gradually take effect.

Cynthia Bacaron, CSSG President, lamented that Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma and some concerned school officials "never talked to us." Bacaron said that their student group tried to sit down with the management for a negotiation but the later never made themselves available. The protesters were told that Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma were in Cebu on June 5 and they suspected that the couple was trying to elude the rally.

Bacaron accused that the school management fails to give breakdown for fees that students pay especially the enrollment and miscellaneous fees. She estimated that a Bachelor in Elementary Education (BEED) student like her pays about

P 10,000 in tuition per semester, P 400 for laboratory fee, and

P 2,165 for entrance. Despite all these fees, she added, that they are not given the quality of education they deserve and that there are not enough teachers for the school's student population.

Takeover

In answer to the student's call, Lisa Broce, the youngest of the four heirs of the school's legal owner Remedios Broce, took over the management. Broce admitted that the case between her, her brother Margarito, and sister Assuncion against Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma is still going on. The case has been in the court for years now.

Broce, the youngest of the four children of CNC founder, Oscar, admitted that she herself found that students are paying exorbitant fees without proper breakdown. The school's accounting office, she also accused, are made to issue both official and unofficial receipts. The proceeds of the unofficial receipts are deposited straight to a safe and go to the personal fund of her sister, Socorro, and her husband.

Anomalies

Aside from this, the school has also suffered from anomalies in the spending of the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE). She recalled that in 2008, CNC received roughly P 2.4 M from FAPE intended for faculty development and school improvement but that the management had squandered the amount in "two weeks" and the school was never able to benefit from the grant.

Despite her own grievances against the anomalies and mismanagement of the school, Lisa Broce denied that she backed the students' protest. When the protesters arrived in front of CNC, they asked her if they could enter and she allowed them on the condition that they would demonstrate peacefully.

The dean speaks

On the other hand, CNC College Dean Dr. Isabelita Perigua said that some of the students' demands could be granted like the drinking fountain they were asking. But, many of the changes she herself had been planning cannot take effect yet. The school's fund is still with the Ledesma couple and that its academic administrators, including herself, do not have access to the said fund.

Perigua also admitted that CNC did not meet the CHED standards. CHED inspected the school March this year and inspectors found that the library does not have enough facilities and books.

She, however, defended that despite the school's looming management problems the quality of education it gives its students is still at par. She added that despite the lack of facilities and the apparent low salary of teachers, CNC continues to give its best for its students.

Perigua assumed the post as dean of college August 2011 after the late Dr. Raquel Labang was declared unfit for work. She and the high school department principal Herliva Alipio had been appointed by the court to manage the school together with a board of trustees while the case had not yet been concluded.

Students win

The students' protest commenced with a motorcade that went around the city proclaiming the takeover of the new administration and that enrollment for college students is now on going at CNC.

"As much as we can, we will protect the new administration," Bacaro answered when asked about what they plan to do if Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma arrives and shows up.

Ransack

Reports also state that other members of the Broce family who had not been given the chance to look into the school's financial statements and audits had forcibly opened the safety deposit boxes at the cashier's office and confiscated about P 120,000, proceeds from enrollment since June 4.

Long history

CNC was established in 1950 as Central Negros Institute and offers day and night high school. Its college department offers BEED, Bachelor in Secondary Education, Bachelor of Arts courses, and Commerce.

In 2010 its government recognition was revoked based upon the recommendation of Dr. Estrella Mago, Department of Education-Region VI Education Supervisor in-charge for Private Schools. According to Dr. Eldeza  Aleta, Education Supervisor in-charge for Private Schools in the Division of San Carlos, Mago found that the school's buildings were dilapidated and hazardous for students to occupy, and that its library failed to meet DepEd standards.

CNC's government recognition for day and night high school was reissued on February 7, 2011. It has a FAPE accreditation Level II. The accreditation was given after it passed the Level II second inspection in school year 2010-2011.