PARENTHESES

My alma mater, the Mindanao State University (MSU) has never been free from political manipulation and control by those who hold power. Its mandate as an academic institution is always compromised by accomodations of vested political interests.

The term of office of the incumbent MSU President ends this month. Months ago, a search committee composed of academicians had been established to screen and process the selection of the next MSU President. Unfortunately, none of those shortlisted by the search committee, all highly qualified for the position, all competent academicians and alumni of MSU, fit Malacanang’s preference.

Instead, Malacanang has appointed Gen. Ricardo de Leon, recently retired Deputy Director General of the Philippine National Police, as MSU OIC President. Malacanang said that De Leon’s appointment is “temporary” and is intended only to cleanse MSU of alleged corruption and pave the transition for the next MSU President. When this temporary status will end only Malacanang knows.

There are no other educational institutions in our country where Generals have been appointed to the position of President. Malacanang has done this to MSU not only once but twice. Immediately after the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship, Malacanang appointed a General as MSU’s OIC President. Now, another General will take the helm of Mindanao’s premiere academic institution.

Malacanang has a weird way of carrying out a transition to MSU’s presidency. Until they find an able stooge, they pass the leadership of this academic institution to military officials. One can never find a classic example of militarizing an academic institution than this perverted practice.

Even if one has to believe in the rationale of cleansing corruption in the MSU system, appointing a General does not fit the equation. It is simply ridiculous, unless the university charter is changed and MSU is transformed into a new military academy. Cleansing corruption in an educational institution can be done by any qualified, competent academician. Why give the task of ridding corruption to someone coming from an institution which is itself riddled with graft and corruption?

Political appointments to key positions in the bureaucracy is Government’s prerogative. Everyone knows that this practice is meant to maintain control and perpetuate patronage politics and not for any other reason. Extending such practice to institutions of learning not only strengthens corruption in the system but corrupts the minds of the youth in whom we place our country’s future.

Today is the 44th founding anniversary of my Alma Mater, the Mindanao State University (MSU).

Created under RA 1387 as amended through authorship of Senator Domocao A. Alonto, the Mindanao State University was established in Marawi City on September 1, 1961. Dr. Antonio Isidro, former Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of the Philippines, was its founder and first president.

Formal classes opened in June 1962 with 282 students, 19 faculty members and staff, and three core colleges: Community Development, Liberal Arts and Education.

After more than three decades of operation, the University has grown into a multi-campus University System with seventeen colleges and degree-granting units in the Marawi campus alone.

I consider MSU Marawi City as my second home. I practically grew up in the campus. It is there where I passed my coming of age. It is there where I got not only my elementary, high school and College education but also a greater education about life, on simple living and hard struggles.

Life in MSU is so simple but so beautiful. Whenever I take a stroll down memory lane, my first destination is always MSU. Whenever I see a place endowed with the beauty of nature, I remember MSU. Its cool climate is comparable to the climate of Baguio. In the midst of a wartorn land, MSU remains a sanctuary of peace, a place of bliss. Students of different faiths, having different social status and coming from different places live together in a campus far from the vestiges and profligacy of urban lifestyle. They are bonded together by a simple, almost ascetic, lifestyle. A common experience shared with pride by all MSUans.

To compare MSU with other academic institutions would be like comparing apples to oranges. MSU has a unique identity of its own. An identity known by those whose lives she had touched and intellect she had helped nourished.

To my Alma Mater and to all MSUans, happy foundation day.

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After more than ten years in Manila I have decided to move back and work in Mindanaw. After being burnt out in a dog-eat-dog city life, to be back to the land of my birth is not only a respite but also a pilgrimage of sorts. Amidst the bad portrayal and dreadful projection of Mindanaw (yes it is spelt traditionally with a W and not an O), it remains a paradise for me.

I’m now working with an International NGO that is implementing humanitarian projects in war torn areas of Mindanaw. I find self-fulfillment in my job not only for its humanitarian cause but also for the traveling that it asks of me. My job requires me to travel to war-torn areas in Central Mindanao. This constant traveling gives me an opportunity to reacquaint myself to the paradise I once knew and also to situate myself to the realities of war that has ravaged the land of promise for a long time.

Since I am now into blogging, I have decided to share my travels to the blogging world. I would like to share my travels in Mindanaw especially to my countrymen, those who still have to know a lot about Mindanaw. To quote G.K. Chesterton, “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land”.

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