Read at PDI or below:
http://www.inquirer.net/issues/sep2000/sep25/news/news7_htm
'Luxury' defined for DECS secretary
WHAT does ''luxury'' mean?
Education Secretary Andrew Gonzalez wants to know amid calls for his
resignation after he spent P24 million on luxury vehicles. The money was
donated by a government bank.
A group of teachers yesterday took the education secretary's challenge and
gave him five definitions.
''OK, fine, Mr. Secretary and internationally acclaimed linguist, here is
what 'luxurious' means to us teachers,'' said the Alliance of Concerned
Teachers of the Philippines (ACT) in a statement.
Definition No. 1: ''When you spend P24 million on brand new cars when you
could have hired 195 more teachers at P9,464 a month for one year,
including the 13th month pay, that's not practical, it's luxurious.''
Definition No. 2: ''When you chose to buy Ford Expeditions, Mussos, and
other brands when you could have procured 96,000 more desks at P250 each
(for a single seat monoblock), or printed 342,857 more textbooks at P70
each, or built 70 more classrooms at P350,000 each, that is not practical,
it's luxurious.
Definition No. 3: ''When you ride in air-conditioned comfort while
thousands of teachers walk, run, ride a horse, ford rivers and cross the
sea, or take the jeepney (just to report for work), that is not luxury,
it's immoral.''
Definition No. 4: ''When you defend your excesses while your department
cannot even pay the teachers their step increments, loyalty pay,
centennial bonuses, clothing and chalk allowances and monthly salaries,
that is not just immoral, it is criminal.''
Definition No. 5: ''When you say that you use your new Ford Expedition to
visit schools when you only do it on school year openings and you hardly
know anything about the public education system, that is not just luxury,
that is evil!''
Ouster
''And for that, we want no less than your ouster,'' ACT said.
Gonzalez defended his decision to buy the luxury vehicles, saying that the
vehicles were expensive because these were durable.
''We want reliable cars as utility vehicles because if you buy cheap ones,
repairs would be costly,'' Gonzalez said.
It was Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile who disclosed that the education department
bought 24 ''service vehicles,'' including two Pajeros, a Nissan Cefiro and
three Honda CRVs.
He said the department also used the money donated by Landbank to buy a
carpet worth P800,000 and several radio units.
Besides the controversy on the luxury vehicles, the education department
is being accused of mishandling P200 million in teachers' fund.
Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus said the education department had lost at least
P200 million from the provident fund for teachers.
Antonio Valdes, education undersecretary for administration and finance,
said Lapus might have been misinformed on the status of the funds.
He said the P200 million was ''lent out'' to thousands of teachers and
that the regional offices of the education department were monitoring the
loans. |