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[av_heading heading=’‘DON’T PUNISH GRADUATES’ | Court stops NIPSC from withholding school records’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Tuesday, April 11, 2017
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ILOILO City – Graduates of Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College (NIPSC) should not be made to suffer for shortcomings not of their own making, according to the Regional Trial Court, Branch 66 in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo.
The court ordered NIPSC to stop its policy requiring Iskolar sang Quinto (ISQ) grantees to pay for alleged unpaid tuition fees as prerequisite for the release of their transcript of records and other school credentials.
Presiding Judge Rogelio Amador issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against NIPSC on April 8.
ISQ scholarship program graduates sought the TRO.
A total of 27,892 students were grantees of the ISQ program in NIPSC’s various campuses and nearly 1,000 of them already graduated. But the graduates could not get their transcript of records due to what NIPSC claimed were unpaid tuition fees reaching P74.7 million.
The ISQ was a scholarship program of then congressman Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo ‘s 5th District. It started in 2007 and funded by his Priority Development Assistance F und (PDAF).
The problem started when the PDAF was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Named respondents in the ISQ graduates’ TRO petition (Civil Case No. 2017-1164) were NIPSC president Dr. Ma. Theresa Palmares and vice president for administration and finance Hilda Magtiza.
The court found the graduates’ petition “impressed with merit.”
The TRO was good for 20 days.
According to the court, the ISQ program in NIPSC involved “government-to-government payments” thus “it is most logical to assume (and) safe to conclude that funds intended for the scholarship of students were received and in the hands of NIPSC.”
“If there was mishandling, misuses or misapplication of the same resulting to the non-allocation of the corresponding amounts for the tuition fees of each student, it is but fair that these students should not be made to suffer out of a shortcoming not of their own making, unless enough basis is shown to also hold them answerable,” read part of the court order.
It also stressed that “the degree of accountability out of the perceived mess (in the ISQ program), if there is, can be determined only in a proper trial on the merits or in another fora.”
In granting the TRO, the court considered, too, the urgency on the graduates’ part to secure their school credentials so they could look for jobs, enroll for higher studies or take licensure exams.
The Commission on Audit (COA) issued Audit Observation Memo No. 2016-011 on the ISQ on Feb. 23, 2017.
According to NIPSC, COA recommended, among others, “to devise measures to exhaust all possible means to collect the outstanding receivables.”
Vice President Magtiza, in a recent press conference, presented a breakdown of ISQ grantees’ unpaid tuition fees per NIPSC campus:
* Estancia – P30,422,300
* Ajuy – P18,360,020
* Barotac Viejo – P5,863,450
* Batad – P3,245,600
* Concepcion – P5,203,800
* Lemery – P4,837,810, and
* Sara – P6,806,400.
Former congressman Tupas, in a press conference yesterday, maintained that from 2007 to 2012 NIPSC was paid between P90 million to P100 million for the ISQ grantees.
The fund was a combination of his PDAF and budget direct from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), he added.
In 2013 when the PDAF was stopped, Tupas said the ISQ continued with P23-million funding from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and P14 million in 2014 for the Tulong Dunong scholars. Tulong Dunong is a regular scholarship program of CHED.
In 2015 and 2016, P14 million and P16.5 million were allocated respectively, Tupas added.
“At that time (2013), ang mga ISQ scholars indi ma-accommodate tanan kay medyo limited (ang funds), ang iban ginsulod sa Tulong Dunong (program). Ang Tulong Dunong kag ISQ naga-overlap. Indi buot silingon nga Tulong Dunong ka, indi ka scholar sang ISQ,” explained Tupas.
NIPSC officials claimed scholars of ISQ and Tulong Dunong were different.
Two other NIPSC students – incoming 4th year college students Jordan Gallardo and April Buenavides – filed a similar petition with the Regional Trial Court in Barotac Viejo (Branch 66).
In a press conference yesterday, Gallardo – an Agriculture student – thanked the former congressman for the help.
Tupas maintained that the ISQ fund was corrupted. He said charges would be filed against NIPSC officials and he specifically called for the resignation of the school’s president.
He accused NIPSC’s Palmares of allowing herself to be used by the incumbent 5th District congressman, Raul Tupas.
Tupas and younger brother Raul were not on speaking terms. Raul ran and defeated his elder brother’s wife for congressman in last year’s elections.
In a recent interview, however, Raul denied politics was behind the ISQ controversy.
“We’re trying to find solutions here. This has nothing to do with politics,” he said.
Palmares, meanwhile, dared the former congressman to sue NIPSC officials.
“Name the key officials of this college whom he called unscrupulous and corrupt and present substantial evidence against them. I even dare him to file legal action against these officials at the Office of the Ombudsman,” said Palmares./PN
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