Probe sought of land swap deal in Pangasinan school

CALASIAO, Pangasinan—If ordered by the Department of Education, teachers and pupils of the Bayambang Central School will return to the old school campus, according to the president of the school’s Parents-Teachers Association (PTA).

“We will go [back] at once, even if the buildings there have been destroyed and the desks and furniture and everything [in the old school site] have been vandalized,” said PTA president Filipina Alcantara.

Alcantara also wrote Rep. Kimi Cojuangco to seek an investigation by Congress of the land swap deal involving the school site.

The pupils were relocated from their 100-year-old school campus to a new site due to a 2013 land swap deal between the Bayambang government and businessman William Chua.

Chua this week issued a 15-day ultimatum for government to relinquish the old Bayambang school site, saying he had fulfilled all his obligations in the deal.

Under the deal signed by Chua and Bayambang Mayor Ricardo Camacho, the 3.1-hectare old campus site would be swapped with Chua’s 2-hectare property composed of a 60-classroom building and a covered court.

Bayambang Councilor Levin Uy had questioned the deal, saying it should have been submitted to the municipal council for review and approval and affirmed by an ordinance.

“When they forced us to transfer to the new site, they told us it was only temporary and that they would have the old school cleaned and guarded. But there was never a guard from the local government,” Alcantara said.

She disputed claims that the old campus was perennially flooded, one of the justifications cited by Camacho why he agreed to swap lands with Chua. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon