Where will PTIC shares go?

The government will be P25.4 billion richer from the projected public sale of shares of the Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corporation (PTIC) by the Department of Finance. It will be recalled that recently the Supreme Court directed the "reconveyance" to the Philippine government of 11,415 PTIC shares registered in the name of Prime Holdings Inc. after finding that those shares were actually owned by the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

The shares were claimed by the government from the estate of the late businessman Ramon U. Cojuangco and his wife, Imelda O. Cojuangco, and Marcos’s widow, Imelda Romualdez Marcos. At the time that the case was filed against PTIC and PHI by the Presidential Commission on Good Government in 1987, the PTIC controlled 28 percent of the outstanding shares in the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. Now the 111,415 PTIC shares in PLDT comprise only 6.4 percent stake in PLDT.

But it appears that some sectors have different ideas about the sale. One public relations man is reported to have mangled a lawmaker’s position re the disposition of the acquired wealth. The solon was simply saying that the sale should be above board and should benefit the government. But the spin doctor issued press statements to the effect that the lawmaker is vehemently opposed to the transaction that could fund many government projects and give fiscal managers a crack at balancing the national budget two years from now.

The spin doctor is reported to be looking for someone to publicly declare that the P25.4 billion will be spent by the administration in the coming election. I don’t think anyone would be so foolish to make that claim. Not even magicians can make P25.4 billion disappear and hope to evade plunder charges and serve jail time.

There is the clamor, too, for Tonyboy Cojuangco, former director and chairman of PLDT, to turn over to the government the family’s dividends from their PTIC shares. Tonyboy had received hundreds of millions of dividends from PLDT, including those accruing from the PTIC shares in the dominant telecommunications company. Since these shares are considered part of the illegal wealth of the late dictator, the dividends should also be confiscated on behalf of the government to be used for public purposes.

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SHALOM LEARNING SCHOOL. Dr. Merton Munn and his wife, the former Eufemia Tobias, had visited the town of Balabagan in Lanao del Sur a number of times in the past. It was in Femme’s hometown that they got married on August 21, 1966. On their trip there in 1992 the idea to put up a preschool was planted. The couple was shown a small room within the United Church of Christ in the Philippines compound where Sunday School was held for children. Merton asked, "Why don’t you start a preschool? Have it during the week and use this room for Sunday School on Sundays."

In 1996, Shalom Learning School opened its doors to a handful of Kindergarten I toddlers, and the next year, to Kindergarten 2. Because of persistent parents’ demand, it started offering elementary grades. By Schoolyear 2003-2004, Shalom had a full complement of the DECS-approved elementary program K6. Its first Grade 6 graduation was held in March 2004. The first graduates are now top students in high schools outside Balabagan.

Shalom, which has 260 students today, has been built with gifts. The Gift of Sharing Fund Campaign, Phase I, was launched in 1999 in Australia, the US, and the Philippines, to raise funds to build classrooms. The largest contributor, Betty McGee, is Femme’s neighbor in Medical Lake, Washington state, who asked that the first building be named after Merton D. Munn, who passed away in 1995. Its well-stacked library has a "Dr. Allen Collection" – books required by DECS and which were purchased by donors in memory of the founder of Healing the Children. Gifts have made possible the holding of a science fair and formation of a drums and bugle corps that has been participating in the celebration of Araw ng Balabagan for the last three years.

The US campaign hit a snag, said Eufemia, because their donations to another country are not tax deductible. However, a teaching job opened up for her in China, and her earnings went to the building of infrastructure and budget. After four years in China, 80 percent of her goals for Shalom Learning School has been accomplished. Now she gives her earnings from teaching elementary reading and language arts to children of American mining employees of Phelps Dodge Co. in Copiapo, Chile. Femme is in demand as an instructor, having been an outstanding high school principal in Washington.

Femme considers Shalom "a bridge" in establishing a harmonious relationship among Christians and Muslims in the community, beginning with the young students, 60 percent of whom are Muslims. There are two public elementary schools in the town, and Shalom offers an alternative, with its well-planned curriculum and well-trained staff.

The school is operated under the auspices of the UCCP, Lanao District Conference. It has a five-member school board, 15 teachers and staff, including a principal, administrator-registrar, a librarian and a custodian. Teachers are given opportunities for professional development.

The Tobias clan is sincerely involved in the running of the school. Some family members serve on the board, and Femme is "a self-designated education and development coordinator."

The impact of the school in the community is such that the lady town mayor expressed the wish that people who ask how they can help Balabagan can start putting up a school like Shalom.

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