Itong sulat ni Gng Diana C. Icasiano ay sagot sa nilabas kong sulat ng isa tatay ng estudyante sa San pedro Central School:
“In the interest of justice and fair play, I would like to give you my reactions on the varied allegations published in your column of September 6, 2007 issue of your Abante Newspaper, on the request of your “kakilala”.
“I could perhaps just fold my arms and ignore the whole thing, as long as I believe in conscience that my credibility with my colleagues in the profession, as well in the community where I belong is intact. On second thought, however, I realized I should not let anybody cast aspersion on my person, much more destroy my name and reputation which I consider my priceless possessions.
“If I allow this to happen without taking any measure to correct such misconceptions, people with flare for destroying the character of other people will not stop, doing the same thing all over again.
“Let me tell you that I consider your action of publishing in your column that anonymous letter is uncalled for. You have virtually jumped into conclusion on the basis of unfounded accusations, which you took on its entirety as the gospel truth. This can be gleaned from your statement and I quote: “sana’y iba na ang sitwasyon ngayon”, as if the situation really was exactly the way it was described by the letter – sender. It is evident that the letter is tinted with malice and I was left with no recourse to call your attention because you had allowed yourself to be taken away by the letter – sender as to have the “concoctions” published in your column.
“With such unbecoming action, it is not only my name that was seriously maligned, but the good name of the school which for decades now has stood with dignity and unquestionable record of dedicated service to the community and the people of San Pedro, in the realm of Education.
“You said you received the letter as early as the month of July, 2007 and had only the time to have the article published on September 6, 2007, due to your busy schedule. How in the world, with the ample time, you had not exerted any effort to make some investigations, and find out if the allegations of your “kakilala” are true or mere hearsays; or at least if you are convinced that allegations imputed against me and my school are true, find out “kung nagbago na ba ang sitwasyon” which were your words. In this way, you would be more or less guided and build your conclusion based on facts and not mere hearsays. Right there and then you could conduct your investigation and gather information from other impartial sources, like the teachers, the parents and the pupils themselves – whom you said being deprived of their basic rights: like using the C.R.’s, and enjoying the food they want to eat without being pressured to buy food from the canteen on the pain of “mababawasan ang kanilang grades” for refusing to do so. This is not true and utterly baseless. Neither there is truth to this: “kada isautos ng principal” 20.00 pesos is being collected from the pupils.
“To set the record straight, I have never instructed anyone to collect P20.00 from the pupils, as it is not within the domain of the principal to make such order. It is the General PTA treasurer’s duty to do so – and the P20.00 being collected is for the whole year for the salary of the Security Guard. I assure you this is backed up by a pertinent GPTA Resolution.
“You would also have discovered that while there is truth to the fact that parents are now being prevented to personally deliver their children’s lunches in the classroom, but have to leave them with the guard and this is with the agreement of the parents and teachers themselves. As a safety measure against “intruders” who took advantage of the “flow” of parents to gain entry to the School premises and even classrooms. It is on record that many teachers have already been victimized by these “intruders” who could easily slip away unnoticed with the teachers’ bags or other valuables. You could have known all these, had you been more discreet in assessing your source of materials for your column, you could have avoided being cohort to malicious intent of maligning our names and reputations which are the most treasured possession of simple people like me. To tell you frankly, it has taken me a lifetime to keep my name and reputation untarnished. Your column has placed me on public trial and scrutiny.
“I am leaving all these to your conscience and that of your letter-sender. With so many people – friends and more credible people and God on my side, I know, sooner or later I shall be vindicated.”
Mrs. Icasiano:
Kung walang nakakita na pagduduhan bakit may sumulat? I understand your concern about protecting your name..you are the principal, hindi ba? Was it Mark Anthony who said to Brutus- “like Caesar’s wife you should be above suspicion.”?
I am sure you know Shakespeare..Mahirap talaga ano ho? ang nasa sensitive position na gaya mo.. it is also said that when big responsibility is given much is expected of you..I guess it is part of the game..
You bet, Rose, if Mrs. Icasiano has done anything that would earn the ire of parents of children in the school she now heads, then there properly would not be any parent writing Ellen such letter that she says Ellen should not have published that is now the best option in fact to bring to the fore such kind of graft and corruption that prevail in her school.
Who does she think she is to tell Ellen what and what not to publish. Dapat lang! In fact, she deserves what she gets!
Gusto pala niya ng malinis na pangalan. Then she should not do anything that can be construed as dirty and corrupt!
…if Mrs. Icasiano has NOT done anything that would earn the ire of parents of children in the school…
As the captain of the ship, he is responsible for everything to the last bolt and nuts. Is the principal only a figurehead to be dictated upon by the toilet moguls and canteeners or the PTA? Or he is a seasoned letter writer to fight the rights of people to be nosy of everything. May cut nga ba talaga ang DEPED sa C.R. proceeds?
Ilang beses kayang ni review ni mam o ng mga mam ang sulat bago inimail kay Ellen?
(Bottom line: Let us clean the toilets)
If there is smoke!There is Fire!—Mt.Pinatubo,smoke and erupted!
In fairness to Gng Icasiano, did anybody bothered to check the authenticity of the letter / sender? Sure, where there’s smoke, there’s fire but it could be arson. I know Ellen is not a reporter, but someone should at least enquired. Otherwise, anybody could fabricate accusations just to inconvinienced a person he/she dislike.
“I am leaving all these to your conscience and that of your letter-sender. With so many people – friends and more credible people and God on my side, I know, sooner or later I shall be vindicated.” Gng Icasiano..
If allegations against Mrs Icasiano and her school were baseless as she indicated in her letter, then what she needs vendication for?
Well, not all schools and their administrators were alleged to have some misdeeds, the same that not all politicians are alleged to have committed wrongdoings, only those those that evidence and conduct are questionable. But as usual, instead of checking their own backyard first, for maybe Mrs Icasiano not aware of all that were or are happening in her administration, the SOP is to attack the messenger right away, and deny, deny, and cover and cover and where did these people learned the trick..aha..
Gng. Icasiano:
Binasa ko ulit ang write-up ni Ellen at malinaw naman na gusto lang niyang mabigyan mo ng attention ang mga reklamong ito. Sigurado akong sa karamihan ng mga ginagawa mo as a school head,itong mga mga pangyayaring ito ay hindi mo nakikita. At patawad din kung sabihin kong lalong hindi rin mabibigyan ng pansin ang letter-sender na ‘to kung dumiretsa sa inyo at baka mapapasama pa siya kasama ng kanyang anak.
Tama lang ang ginawa ng sumulat kay Ellen. Tingnan ninyo nagkapanahon kayo na masagot ang mga inaakala ninyong pagsira sa inyong credibility as a school principal. Siguro mas mabuting imbestigahan ninyo ang mga taong nasasangkot sa mga allegations ng letter-sender na ito at bigyan kaagad ng tamang ACTION!
Then can we say, Mrs. Icasiano you’re now truly vendicated!
Rose;
“like Caesar’s wife you should be above suspicion.”
Oh! My Juliet, I agree with you. The most painful and hurtful things doesn’t necessarily involve deception, it usually involves telling the truth, it can be used as a weapon of destruction. In these case of school expose, in order to obtain and exposing wrongdoings , it is necessary for two people to know each other well. It is not possible to create false outcomes without some degree of knowledge on what’s going on, except the sender has an axe to grind against the principal.
The woman principal is trying to defend herself by hurling back accusations to Ellen (kind of “sometimes, best line of defence is attack”) but has not refuted each and every charge on the complaint sheet (except for the allowing lunch boxes to be delivered issue she’s not managed to come clean as Rose says )- which she should have done, point by point instead of wallowing in recriminations followed by self-pity.
Her letter is proud, haughty and arrogant, not a letter that is reassuring or one that seeks to calm rather it’s one that’s hell bent on defusing fanning resentment… not at all very leader like thing to do… an educator should be educated in the proper sense of the word.
“How dare you?” sort of thing is not the ideal way explaining explains, placating an reqassuring. Ellen and the readers here are almost irrelevant, it’s the parents of the pupils in her school who need the calm, reassuring, educated voice of the principal. I feel sorry for them.
Please bear with me if you have heard this anecdote: a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer and a teacher were all waiting for St. Peter to open the gates of heaven. And when he did- he asked each one what they did on earth..
doctor:I cured so many people poor and rich.
lawyer:I helped a lot of people and got justice for them.
engineer: I improved the lives of many and built roads etc.
And to the last, who seemed so tired but smiling..SP asked, and what my dear did you do? And she said: Who, me? I taught all of them.
Titser, Mrs. Icasiano: Indeed you have a big responsibility.
We all owe a lot to your profession..what we are today is largely due to what we learned from you..and not only of what you said..but in what we saw in you. My mother was a teacher and when I taught for a few years, she would always remind me of my mini skirts…”is that what you show your students on how to dress?” Yes, the values we have today we learned from our teachers..teachers should be the example..
hindi ba?
My take on this is to ignore it. It’s not even necessary to post it for people’s reactions. Even if it’s a good topic to discuss, I think it’s a personal letter between the sender and Ellen. Opinion niya iyan. May karapatan naman si Ellen at dapat igalang siya at igalang din natin ang sumulat.
Cocoy: I had very good teachers in high school and one in particular who developed in us the love for literature..she was a very contemporary Belgian nun (at the time) who read Shakespeare so well..that it remained in most of us..she developed in us the love for poetry..and talking about that a friend and I will be going to Boston, next week, not only for the foliage..but I hope to take her (if we could find a tour) to Walden Pond, Longfellow’s & Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
places..Robert Frost and yes..if I can, Norman Rockwell’s museum..I also would like to take her to Shakespeare in the Park (Central Park) I went to see Midsummer Nights Dream a couple of weeks ago..We have both retired..she as Dean of De La Salle Com Arts Dept..but she had written books on the Spanish influence in Western Visayas..
This one news makes me sick. A Pinay OFW has been sentenced to die for killing her employer in Kuwait. She was a former public school teacher in Surigao. She killed her employer to defend herself from the abuse and treatment she received. The Migrante and some groups are trying to help. What makes me sick to learn is that our Department of Foreign Affairs did not know about the case. Ano ba iyan???
Re: “May karapatan naman si Ellen at dapat igalang siya at igalang din natin ang sumulat.”
Agrre totally Penchanco but I believe we have as much right to comment on a letter when it’s published.
I agree that we have as much right to comment on a published letter since it has become public. Pero bakit pa na-publish di ba? Please don’t get me wrong. The content of the letter speaks of grievances. Medyo may pagka-private that should have been between the sender and recipient. Sa tingin ko lang naman. I mean no harm.
pechanco: Bakit na publish? I think the intent of the sender was to have Ellen publish it so people particularly in San Pedro would know, and for us to know that things of this sort happens now. Have you heard comments like “matagal ng corrupt ang mga nasa gobierno”. O yeah?
During our time in school we were taught..”honesty is the best policy” “cleanliness is next to Godliness”..”don’t steal and don’t kill”. And we saw those traits in our teachers and much more our parents. They were our models..
things are different now? I wonder. Or shouldn’t we care? Well I do care.
And when people become indifferent..we are in great danger..
ang sabi nga “evil would triumph if the good will do nothing.
Rose, re teacher interview with St Peter:
“If you can read this, thank a teacher” — bumper sticker
“If the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught” — aphorism
http://orly28.blogspot.com/2006/08/education-matters-any-filipino-who-is.html blog
Pinag-uusapan din lang ang mga public school. Sa kaunti ng kita ng mga teachers, may mga sidelines sila like bringing some merchandise to school to sell to the students’ parents or sell insurance. Okay din naman kaya lang being humans, these teachers might be tempted to favor the rich or affordable students. Teachers abroad are paid much higher. Those in the US or Canada get paid as high as $50,000 a year.
$50,000 a year? Wow! That’s high, even by European standards – that’s high.
But primary school teachers or secondary?
“To set the record straight, I have never instructed anyone to collect P20.00 from the pupils, as it is not within the domain of the principal to make such order.
This principal lullaby reminds me about a lawyer defending a man accused of snatching tried this creative defense: “My client merely inserted his arm into the victim’s pocket and snatched his wallet. His arm is not himself, and I fail to see how you can punish the whole individual for an offense committed by his limb.” “Well put,” the judge replied. “Using your logic, I sentence the defendant’s arm to ten year’s imprisonment. He can accompany it or not, as he chooses.”
May pinsan ako sa Canada. She started with $30,000 a year. After 10 years, balita ko mga $65,000 na. It’s early increase of pay for teachers there. I don’t know how true it is. Alam mo na ang mga Pinoy. Kahit ba pinsan ko, hindi ako basta naniniwala. Siguro province to province iyan sa Canada.
I meant “it’s yearly increase” (not early). No matter what, teachers get paid much more in other countries than RP.
Maarte;
Teachers in California that’s an annual average they make from-35-40 grand. If they have master degree they got paid more 50-60.Teachers can boost their salary in a number of ways. In some schools, teachers receive extra pay for coaching sports and working with students in extracurricular activities. Getting a master’s degree or national certification often results in a raise in pay, as does acting as a mentor. Some teachers earn extra income during the summer by teaching summer school or performing other jobs in the school system.
Beautifully-crafted letter. But let me borrow Microsoft Powerpoint. It’s like the horns of a steer: a point here, and a point there, and a lot of bull in between.
The fact remains that they do collect P20 for the gueard, and parents are not allowed to bring food to the children by themselves. yet she however remains silent regarding “Dos pag ji-jingle, lima pag e-ebak”.
“..more credible people in her side”, she says, I’m not interested who’s credible or not. I’m interested in the truth. Ill find this out myself.
maarte: Dito sa Jersey City, Abbott Schools, Chartered Schools grew in numbers just in the recent years..and they pay good money. As Cocoy said..teachers can boost their salary in many ways..that is why many go for their masters degree and certification. Because can not compete in paying their teachers,and they cannot increase their tuition, they have no choice but to close. Special ed programs like those for school for the bling, deaf and dumb, etc. pay good as well but they have to be certified..and this I think is basically the reason, why many teachers in the Phil. come to the US..and those who are more ambitious they go back to school and more often they get grants..what better incentives can you have? I guess in the Phil. gone are the days when teachers teach..they have to have other businesses..monkey or otherwise.
What is the monthly salary of a public school teacher teaching primary classes? Does anybody know?
..correction because parochial school can not compete..
..At St. Joseph School for the Blind, here in JC, while it is a private school, the county where the student resides would pay for the tuition fee..at hindi lang yon hatid sundo pa ng school bus with an aide kahit iisa lang sakay. And the ratio of teachers aide in each class room is 2 students/aide kasi visually impaired ang students. And also many support the school kahit $2 they send their money.
We have quite a number of rich people but I doubt if they give.. at St. Joe’s sako ang mail pag Lunes at ang laman ay mga donation envelopes..sana mayroon ding ganoon sa Pilipinas not from ordinary people but from the rich..
do we have a Bill Gates? Phil. Rizzuto is one of those who really helped St Joe’s
mrs icasiano,
instead of trying to defend yourself which will make you look guilty, why not piece out everything and see where you failed in your administration?
you may not know it, but there maybe a valid reason why the writer to sent that complaint to ellen like having tried to call your attention which you ignored.