What USTP should realize

Herbie Gomez

THERE is something officials and the spokesperson of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines should realize: they are all public servants and the USTP is state-owned and funded by taxes collected from citizens. That makes it different from the three other universities in Cagayan de Oro. That simply means they cannot keep things from the public. Confidentiality or secrecy is a privilege they do not have.

And so, USTP is duty-bound to disclose details of the four-story Student Center and Education Complex Building project that was stopped just two months before its expected date of completion in early 2017. We are not talking peanuts here but over P200 million in taxpayers’ money.

USTP officials cannot just say that they do not know or do not have the details. If they are not knowledgeable, they can simply dig into their files, go over the documents, and identify those who are privy to the details. They really don’t expect the public to buy their story that they have no idea why the multimillion-peso construction project was stopped. That is an unacceptable answer.

According to USTP vice president for administration and legal affairs Jonathan Oche, the contract was terminated.

But exactly who terminated the contract in January 2017? And why was it terminated about a year after the construction project commenced?

Oche said he can’t give the details. He was quoted in a report as saying: “Dili nako madetalyi ang rason pero naundang ang kontrata, na-terminate ang contract.” Note that this is the university administrator and chief legal counsel speaking.

What’s more bothersome is that the USTP designated an uninformed spokesperson. All that Annloreine Sitoy claims she knows is that the unfinished building was designed by architect Rey Galua, then a member of the USTP faculty, and that the project construction was stopped early last year. Neither did she give details on Galua’s employment record in the USTP. She said she did not know. So, why would anyone want to make a spokesperson out of someone who’s clueless, someone without useful information? It wouldn’t be fair for anyone to blame Ms. Sitoy. She is just following orders for her to speak on behalf of the university that, based on her pronouncements, may have kept vital information or documents about the unfinished project and an erstwhile member of faculty even from her. She has been turned into a sacrificial lamb right smack dab in the middle of the lions’ den. Whoever gave her the orders or designated her to be the USTP spokesperson at this time is a “person of interest” in what’s beginning to look like a big cover-up.

But is this just a case of “can’t say” or “won’t say”?

The silence or this hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil position is not helping their cause a bit if they have any to speak of. The apparent secrecy in the USTP is, in fact, suspect. Hasn’t it occurred to those in charge of the university now that this is not a private affair, and that they cannot choose to seal their lips simply because they feel they’re being led into a some kind of a kiss-and-tell situation?

In a situation like this, they have no choice but come clean and be transparent. And it’s about time that somebody told them: You are government, and accountability is not an option. It is a moral and legal requirement and obligation. Pastilan.