Court orders pupils to stay in new campus
INJUNCTION VS DEPED
BAYAMBANG—Stay put.
This was the order handed out by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in the case involving the Bayambang Central Elementary School (B1CES) as it issued a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction last October 31, four days after the lapse of the 20-day Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that it earlier issued.
Following the TRO, the school administration complied with the order and the pupils were moved to the new school building.
They were about to return to their old school building when the new order of RTC Judge Hermogenes Fernandez commanding the defendants, Pangasinan 1 Division Supt. Alma Ruby Torio, B1CES Principal Danilo Lopez and all persons under his behalf, to obey Executive Order No. 25 issued by the town mayor “until the merits of the case are heard and decided,” was served.
The civil case was filed by the local government unity (LGU) of Bayambang represented by Mayor Ricardo Camacho after the defendants refused to obey Executive Order No. 25 which orders the transfer of the school to a new site.
The new site, which is more than one kilometer away from the old B1CES, is a new school building reportedly built by a William Chua, a businessman from Dagupan City who is eyeing the prime lot occupied by B1CES along the Bayambang-Malasiqui road, as the site for a new shopping mall.
Fernandez also ordered the plaintiff to post an injunction bond of P100,000.
NO HARM
In issuing the order, the Court stressed that Executive Order No. 25 “does no perceptible harm to anyone and further protects and promotes the health, safety and general welfare of the students and teachers.”
The judge also ruled that the benefits of temporarily transferring the students and teachers to the new site overwhelmingly outweighs the risk of ordering them to return to the old site.
In an interview at his office, Lopez said all the more than 50 teachers of B1CES complied with the order, except for four teachers led by Von Ryan Cayabyab, a teacher in Grade IV.
Cayabyab asserted in an interview over a radio program that the transfer order arises from a TRO and not from the Department of Education (DepEd) which has jurisdiction over B1CES.
He belied the alleged reason in seeking the transfer of the pupils which was that the present location of the school is flood-prone and poses a high risk of dengue infection to the students.
Nelson Borillo, auditor of the Parents Teachers and Community Association (PTCA), accused Lopez of allegedly working for some interest groups in Bayambang who want to take possession of the prime lot occupied by B1CES.
He noted that since the start of classes in June, Lopez has not ordered any cleaning of the premises of B1CES, an indication that he is already smarting for the transfer of the pupils to the brand new school built by one William Chua.
Borillo admitted some parents goaded their sons and daughters to walk out from the new school site last November 5 and go back to their school building where they hoped to resume classes, but no teachers were present there.
Supporting Cayabyab’s stance that only DepEd can order the transfer of the pupils, Borillo appealed to Education Secretary Armin Luistro to intervene in the case.
The Bayambang LGU claims ownership of the lot where the old B1CES stands based on an old Spanish title that it holds.
That title was, however, questioned by some members of the Parents Teachers and Community Association (PTCA).
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