CA sides with court ruling backing transfer of school site

THE OLD (left) and new Bayambang Central School in Bayambang town in Pangasinan province WILLIE LOMIBAO/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan—The Court of Appeals (CA) upheld a lower court decision that ruled as valid the order of the town’s mayor to transfer an elementary school to a new site nearly two years ago, saying it was a valid exercise of the local government unit’s police power.

The 16-page CA decision was promulgated on May 20. It upheld a lower court ruling directing Pangasinan education officials to heed an order issued by Mayor Ricardo Camacho in October 2013 transferring the Bayambang Central School (BCS) from Barangay (village) Zone II to Barangay Magsaysay.

The town council, in a resolution, authorized the mayor to issue the order.

Department of Education (DepEd) officials in Pangasinan’s Schools Division 1 in Lingayen town could not be immediately reached for comment.

The school transfer was prompted by complaints from parents, teachers and students that the flooding in the old site during the rainy season had resulted in suspension of classes and exposed children to dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

The DepEd, however, defied the mayor’s order and refused to leave the old campus, saying only the education secretary has authority to transfer schools.

On Oct. 7, 2013, the town government asked the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 56 in San Carlos City to force DepEd to heed the mayor’s order.

The RTC first issued a temporary restraining order against DepEd on Oct. 30, 2013, giving education officials no choice but to heed Camacho’s order.

The RTC later granted the town government’s petition for a preliminary mandatory injunction on Feb. 10, 2014, which was effective “until the merits of the case are heard and decided.”

DepEd appealed the RTC decision at the CA. While the CA reviewed the case, Filipinas Alcantara, head of the BCS Parents-Teachers Association, led a series of protest actions against the school transfer.

Last year, Alcantara filed a case against Camacho in the Office of the Ombudsman, accusing him of gross negligence when he “transferred the school with undue haste and without notice or consultation with [DepEd].”

She also accused Camacho of “willfully and feloniously” entering into a land swap deal with a businessman that involved the school site.

Camacho said he would answer Alcantara’s accusations when the Ombudsman asks him to do so.

In denying DepEd’s appeal, the CA also said the agency did not have the exclusive right to control and supervise public and private schools, citing a provision of the Administrative Code of 1987.

The town, the CA said, may issue ordinances pertaining to public and private schools as the need arises, in its exercise of its police power. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon