Profs, students defend dismissal of UP dean
Professors and students of the University of the Philippines-Cebu College (UP-Cebu College) dismissed criticisms on the dismissal of Dean Enrique Avila as school president, saying they are “better off without him.”
In an interview, UP Cebu Professor Phoebe Zoe Maria Sanchez questioned Avila’s spokesman Viking Logarta for stating that the former dean’s exit may compromise two projects of the UP-Cebu College.
“It does not follow. If one person is gone in the institution, the projects would not go with him. If he (Avila) is claiming his dismissal from service will jeopardize the projects, it’s like saying he owns the project,” Sanchez told Cebu Daily News.
Avila was ordered dismissed from service on charges of gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct.
UP President Alfredo Pascual held Dean Enrique Avila liable for authorizing the use of the UP Cebu land as a temporary facility site for a private construction project.
Avila was also penalized for allowing Cebu Green Peaks Development Inc. to use the state university’s football field as a temporary stockpile area for excavated materials from the construction area.
He also came under fire for using the undergraduate tuition increment fund to pay for the Centennial bonuses of UP Cebu employees, and the appointing of Ernesto Pineda as chairman of the Resource Development Bids and Awards committee.
Pineda, the university’s consultant and budget officer Alsidry Sharif were also dismissed from service by the Office of the UP President.
Avila and Pineda are seeking the reversal of the ruling before the UP Board of Regents.
In a statement, Pascual defended his position in dismissing Avila, Pineda, and Sharif from criticism by Prof. Solita Monsod, a columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
In her column, Monsod questioned Avila’s dismissal based on “trumped up charges.”
She said Pascual’s decision was made with “indecent haste” and “was aimed at getting Avila out of the way, rather than at getting at the truth.”
“For the record, these accusations are unfounded and it is strange why Prof. Monsod did not verify her facts with any UP System official,” Pascual said.
In a letter to Cebu Daily News, UP Cebu College professor Sanchez and the University Student Council said Monsod made “gross misrepresentation and baseless assertions, bordering on malice.”
Sanchez and the Student Council of UP Cebu-College challenged Monsod to examine the documents with the university and not simply reply on the “say-so tainted sources.”
In an interview, Sanchez said UP Cebu-College is much systematic and transparent without Avila.
“It’s more peaceful now. The procedures are better,” she said.
The projects which Avila planned include the construction of a building on a lot donated by the Cebu City government and a build-operate-transfer project at the UP-Cebu College campus.
Sanchez said Avila’s exit would make the implementation of the projects “clean.”
Professors and students of UP-Cebu College are hoping Avila’s replacement would be transparent, consultative, among others.
Richelita Galapate is presently the officer in charge of UP-Cebu College. /Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter
