Where is Camelot?

I wonder if there is anyone in the Estrada administration, aside from the President himself, who can inspire the Filipino people to unite, work together, and help push the country to greater heights. Right now, sad to say, there is hardly anything inspiring in the landscape that can buoy the nation's morale. Almost everything reported by media seems to be unpleasant, ugly, depressing, disturbing, demoralizing. Turf wars, word wars, intrigues, rumors, buck-passing, killings, scheming and plotting -- all these negative things and many more are dominating the life of our nation.

I was jolted by colleague Boo Chanco's column yesterday. He said that his wish is to send his son to a school in the United States and that his son should not come back until after the year 2004, or until that time when an inspiring leader will be around to lead the Philippines to greatness. Boo is usually one who does not talk with pessimism about the present plight of our country. That he now sounds desperate and feels that there is no bright future in today's society provides food for thought.

I suspect that there are many more who share Boo's pessimism and disappointment -- and they are moving out. One business tycoon, for instance, has been gradually disposing of his business interests here and investing his wealth in various places abroad, like Singapore. And the lines of applicants for overseas jobs are growing longer and longer. Truly, these are sad signs of the times.

Somehow, we must find our Camelot. There must eventually be a spark somewhere that will illuminate the many darkened spots in our troubled land. A spark that will inspire our people to move forward, to buoy them to do their share in building our nation. Ünless we find our Camelot, so many of us might just throw up our arms in surrender and remain as mere bystanders, as our nation gropes in the darkness.

Times are really getting hard and harsh for our less fortunate fellowmen. Even my own Good Samaritan Foundation is being swamped with appeals for help from those who do not have the means to cope with their tragic and pathetic plight. The GSF's resources are very limited, and it can only do so much. However, the GSF has tried to reach out to a handful, just to ease their plight and enable them to survive.

The Good Samaritan Foundation has just turned over P1,500 to buy blood for 12-year-old Aprilyn Tabino of Candelaria, Zambales. The blood will be used, preparatory to her discharge from the Philippine Children's Medical Center, which might take place within this week. Let us keep our fingers crossed that she will be given the go-signal to depart for home, after staying in the hospital since November last year.

All in all, the GSF disbursed more than P90,000 for Aprilyn, plus some P50,000 which I got from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, through the kindness of then PCSO chairperson Cecilia Muñoz Palma, and from Quezon City Mayor Mel Mathay. Thanks a million to all the other Good Samaritans who lent a helping hand in saving the life of Aprilyn who is sick with cryptocal meningitis.

The GSF also turned over P10,000 to the Philippine General Hospital, which will be used to pay for the surgical implant on Fructuoso Tabuan, the 39-year-old former ward of the Tahanang Walang Hagdanan. Tabuan, who is training for a watch-repair job, leads a normal life.

The GSF likewise gave P4,000 plus assorted commodities to a recent fire victim in a squatters' area in Pasay City. The beneficiary, Lydia Dominguez, works in a barber shop, and she and her kin lost everything from that fire. The donations in kind given to Lydia came mostly from Domingo L. Mapa, village manager of the Dasmariñas Village Association, and from Prof. Mapa's students at the Ateneo de Manila Graduate School of Business.

Finally, the Good Samaritan Foundation gave P1,000 to four-year-old Sharmaine Ortega, the toddler with a heart problem and with Down's Syndrome, for the child's medicines. Also appropriated was P5,000 for 18-year-old Rudy Geronimo of Olongapo City, the boy who got afflicted with leukemia because of the toxic wastes in Subic.

In some seemingly quiet and remote communities in the country, petty tyrants reign. The lack of an adequate grievance mechanism adds to the people's woes. To whom do the aggrieved turn for relief? And what do concerned citizens do? But then, the people's pained voices definitely should be heard.

It is in this spirit that I am featuring a petition from the teachers, students and parents of an elementary school from a remote fishing barrio of Baruya in Lubao, Pampanga. The case is not earthshaking, but the goings-on in that school are a microcosm of the bigger things that take place in other public schools across the nation.

According to the petition, the principal of that Lubao school has arrogated to herself the role of lord and master. There are no other voices, no other opinions, no other points of views, except hers. And according to a signed complaint from 11 teachers and leaders of the Parents-Teachers Association of Baruya, this is the sad reality in their school.

The complainants have asked the DECS regional office to investigate the school principal, Elena B. Lintag. In their letter-complaint, they have accused Lintag of withholding financial records, of dictatorial tendencies, and of grave abuse of authority. They said that a large sum of money, amounting to several thousands of pesos, was collected by the school from the pupils, and the money has not been accounted for. Arturo Dizon, the PTA president, said that all that he has gotten has been a summary of expenses, not a detailed breakdown.

Lintag has also been accused of compelling teachers to sell food at the school canteen. As a result, some of the teachers have been more preoccupied with selling food than with actual teaching. The teachers have asked Lintag to close down the canteen so that the teachers can concentrate on teaching, instead of cooking and selling fishball. Their pleas, though, have fallen on deaf ears.

One terrified teacher, Leilani Guanzon, suffered a miscarriage after a sad incident with Lintag. Troubled by ailments due to her pregnancy, she sought a five-day leave so she could get medical help. Lintag refused. A few days later, the teacher suffered a miscarriage. Another teacher, Remedios Dabu, was berated in public and was demoted, without any hearing at all.

Let us see how the DECS regional office will act on this specific letter-complainant. How the DECS will resolve the complaint will have a great bearing on the conduct of other principals in various public schools throughout the country.

Art A. Borjal's e-mail address: <[email protected]>