By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
We were euphoric when Dr. Cleofe Padalla-Kollin was installed Friday as president of Easter College. Any new leadership means a renewed hope for the better. It will take sometime before the euphoria will wane.
What was not said during the affair but which the college’s leadership will have to grapple with is the fact that the school is the city’s oldest having been established in 1906. While left unsaid, it means a lot of catching up has to be done with the rest of the private schools in town.
That responsibility is usually perceived to fall on the president’s shoulders, but actually it falls on those of the Board of Trustees—where management responsibilities ultimately fall. They often make the president though as the escape goat.
The way I look at it, the main market of the college which might have been left out or neglected by past presidents to exploit to the hilt are the Anglican areas in CAR. It should not be difficult to do that as the kids of elders there still remember how good was the education being imparted by Anglican schools, back in the day.
I really don’t know if the college’s advertisements before in this paper, during the time of former presidents Brigitte Sagalla-Santiago and Marilyn Lingon-Ngales ever had positive feedback in the form of enrollees from Tabuk City. Because since this paper saw the light of day it was the king of newspapers there.
This is not a solicitation for ads from the college. I could give that for free for the sake of the new president, as her new role should make her a good idol, career-wise, for youngsters in our clan. And that would be contributing my teeny weeny bit to make her time easier as president.
I WOULD HAVE RESIGNED
One of our early subscribers 26 years ago was the head of accountants or auditors at the Baguio City Hall. His reputation was that he was very clean in the performance of his job.
Perhaps because of that reputation, he was transferred or promoted to one of the Ilocos provinces. There, he must have discovered some bigtime anomaly which must have been going on for ages. The result? He was shot to death.
Such is a risk that auditors have to take when dealing with bigtime crooks. Bigtime crooks in this country are always occupying bigtime government positions, and their cohorts.
Similarly, the auditor of the Commission on Audit who discovered bigtime anomalies in government agencies lately, was just laid to rest. He suffered a heart attack after receiving a lot of threats and after having been bullied in the media by no less than those at the very top of government
These two cases show that death is what people get for being honest or for doing their jobs well. If you are of the same ilk, this country is not worth dying for. There are so many other better countries you can migrate to.
A few months ago, I was walking on my way to the mall when I noticed that a city official was walking beside me. About a year before that, we met in Manila where he told me that he was visiting his daughter who was a graduating student from the UP College of Medicine. So during that walk to the mall, I asked him where his daughter was. He said, she was abroad on a post graduate fellowship.
I said, after finishing her fellowship, tell her to look for opportunities abroad for the Philippines might not be worth coming back to. I seriously meant that.
The recent reaction of the President to the COA audit on bigtime anomalies in many government agencies, validated my point.
***
The amounts involved in the DOH caper are P67 billion. It is mind boggling. Even assuming that there was no conspiracy in the non-use of the DOH of that amount for the pandemic, the negligence is criminal. We have already suffered more than 30,400 deaths in this pandemic. How many of those died due to lack of oxygen supplies? How many deaths of health front liners could have been saved if they did not lack PPEs? How many could have been saved if we had enough ICUs or decent isolation units? Etecetera, etcetera.
Here is another one, about P100 million worth of medicines paid for by the DOH were found to have expired or about to expire. And as one national daily pointed out, This have been going on.**
