Bohol schools are rotting and the kids are in danger, and yet the Department of Education has the gall to defend those who have been remiss of their jobs, if only to present a false idea that Boholanos are lucky.
On this issue, we want to be truly schooled.
No less than Board Member Victor Dionisio Balite, himself a school administrator who has to break that myth that Bohol is that well managed, and its school projects are prime proofs of cover-up, and the slips are slowly showing.
Recently, BM Balite believed that the noble Sangguniang Panlalawigan, in a possible political vendetta to cover up something ominously big, has unduly stretched a bit to demonize a media man who has made it a commitment to tell the people about Capitol’s indiscretion.
In a move to possibly shut down a lawyer for his brutal allegations, the bullies at the SP did, just what their political patrons would do, shake, rattle and roll the whistle blower into submission.
When the sneaky SP ruled out a persona non grata charge against a lawyer, it dipped its hands into politics and disregarded a job it was supposed to prioritize: public services especially rebuilding public schools.
Three years past the great earthquake that brought Bohol to its knees and crumbled or rendered several school building unfit for human stay, many school children still use the cracked structures as their class rooms.
This while the SP swirled and twirled and tangoed to earn the continued patronage of Capitol and its tenants.
Exposed and now rendered inutile for choosing politics over public service, the Department of Education came in to the rescue.
Coming in with a crisp rebuttal of the Balite allegations that several schools have remained at a sorry state even after the government downloaded repair and rebuilding funds, the DepED presented a 92.7% school repair accomplishment.
We should have accepted that at face value, if only we did not know that aside from the DepED, the Department of Public Works and Highways has also its share of school building projects to do.
And then we also know that Capitol, through the Provincial Engineers Office have similar engagements with LGUS to put up and restore classrooms.
As to why the DepED did a knee-jerk reaction came from DepEd when it did a heroic rescue, many have wondered.
First, we know that the education department especially in the Division of Bohol, is not a cloister of saints, nor technically a pit of snakes.
For one, leaks as to the sub-contractors for DepED school projects are slowly getting raised eyebrows: why are these familiarly sounding names like those in the government signatories; government caterings services or why are these food businesses using buses and waiters on government payroll?
Well, it is a jungle of prey and predators when it comes to money for school projects, and DepED should have learned that.
Now, the SP, upon the scraped pride of a Balite, will have to see for themselves the extent of the lies that Bohols schools are into.
And as to how officials at the education department acquired million peso condominiums, money for foreign travels and shopping splurges, and blooming businesses, then your guess would be as good as ours.
This week, the SP will visit another unfinished school building and only the PEO can pull a miracle.
We will never know when these site visits will stop. What we know of is that, the DepED may not survive salvaging its tattered reputation.
For dipping its hands into the mess that its government patrons are getting embroiled, for DepEd, it would be a huge price to pay.
