Trader gives school ultimatum to transfer

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan—A local businessman on Friday gave the town government 15 days to turn over the old campus of Bayambang Central School (BCS), which he acquired in a 2013 land swap deal that parents here had been protesting after the school was relocated to a new compound.

In a news conference, businessman Willy Chua said he had fulfilled his obligations under a public-private partnership (PPP) contract he signed with the town government in 2009.

Last year, BCS transferred to a new site, about 300 meters from the old campus, at the request of the school principal, teachers and parents.

Under the agreement, Chua would build a new campus for the school complete with facilities in his 2-hectare property in Barangay Magsaysay here.

In exchange, the 3.1-hectare old BCS site owned by the town government would be transferred to Chua, who planned to build a transport terminal and a mall there.

“We are the partner of the government in the PPP. We entered into this contract in good faith, we followed all the processes and we had complied with all of our obligations,” Chua said through his lawyer Nelson Gayo.

“Mr. Chua, a legitimate businessman, is beginning to get worried. So, to end this, they might as well go back to what they call a better site, which is the old site, and then we will take over the property at the new site,” Gayo said.

Mayor Ricardo Camacho said the transfer of the school to the new site was timely because at that time, several students had contracted dengue fever due to the often flooded campus.

He said he ordered the transfer after the town council authorized him to temporarily move the school to the new site “until such time that the floodwaters had subsided in the old campus.”

But the Department of Education (DepEd) did not recognize the order, prompting Camacho to seek a temporary restraining order from the regional trial court in San Carlos City.

“The court saw the old campus after an ocular inspection. It eventually issued an injunction. DepEd elevated the case to the Court of Appeals (CA). We are now waiting for the CA decision,” Camacho said.

He said among the reasons for the swap were the perennial flooding of the campus, leaking roofs, and security and safety of pupils.

Since the town government did not have money to build a new school, they sought people who could help them through the lot exchange, Camacho said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon