Ombudsman probes Korean scholar at science high school

MANILA, Philippines –  The Office of the Ombudsman at the Department of Education (DepEd) central office in Pasig City has started an investigation into the anomalous admission of a Korean national as a scholar at the Quezon City Science High School (QCSHS).

“We have already asked the Undersecretary for Legal Affairs (Alberto Muyot) to look into this concern,” DepEd resident Ombudsman Rebecca Gonzales told The STAR in a telephone interview.

The DepEd Ombudsman inquired into the citizenship of the Korean, who is a minor and in the country on a student visa.

Gonzales said the Korean national’s admission as a student in QCSHS was clearly illegal and violated the Philippine Science High School charter, which she explained was the charter from which the QCSHS got its power and authority as a regional science high school.

She also bared that the investigation was initiated upon receipt of an anonymous complaint by the DepEd Ombudsman recently.

 “It is clear in the Philippine Science High School charter from which the Quezon City Science High School took its power that a student admitted into the school should only be of Filipino nationality,” Gonzales said.

The DepEd Ombudsman said the liability for the illegal admission of the Korean student would fall on the principal of the school, Zenaida Panti-Sadsad, who had just made a returned as principal of QCSHS last June.

Sadsad’s immediate predecessor, Diego Amid, did not admit the Korean. Sadsad reportedly extended the enrollment period for about two weeks upon taking over as school principal, which enabled the foreigner to be admitted.

The DepEd removed Sadsad from her post as QCSHS principal in October 2009 as a result of a controversy over the suspension of four student bloggers suspended for writing statements critical of her and her policies.

Sadsad said she did not suspend the students – the QCSHS had merely recommended the suspension of the four students and the ultimate decision to impose it was made by then Quezon City Division of City Schools head Victoria Fuentes.

Sadsad also denied that she had closed down the two school newspapers, The Banyuhay and The Electron, and sacked their faculty adviser, Rex San Diego.