Classes start in Catholic university despite teachers' strike

By Ronilo L. Pamonag

A vehicle got stuck in front of the University of San Agustin's main gate as protesters continue with their moving picket.

Classes in all levels at the University of San Agustin opened Tuesday, June 14, even as the employees' union pressed on with their strike, now on its eight week since it started late last April over the school's alleged union busting.

Normal was how school authorities described the first day of classes at the USA, one of the biggest private universities in Western Visayas in terms of student population and course offerings. The Augustinian-run University had just celebrated its 100 th anniversary middle of last year.

“It's more than just normal, in fact it's very normal,” Fr. Raul Marchan O.S.A., Vice President for Academic Affairs, told The News Today during an interview yesterday morning.

In the outside, you might see that there's something wrong, but inside it's very normal, Marchan observed, referring to the streamers and placards, and the daily picketing by some members of the University of San Agustin Employees Union.

Executive Assistant to the President, Jigger Latoza observed that there was nothing wrong with the situation. “So far it is okay.”

According to Latoza, university president, Fr. Manuel Vergara is out and will not be back in the school until a few days later.

Rannie Pahilason, the school's chief of security, said that the first day of classes was ‘generally peaceful.'

“You can see it in the faces of the students that they are not worried, that they have no problems,” he noted.

Marchan, Latoza and Pahilason, however, complained that members of the Union, who were picketing just outside the perimeter fence and within the sidewalks, were obstructing traffic.

“Some students got wet by the drizzle because they couldn't easily enter the main gate because of the picket,” Pahilason said.

Union president, Theodore Neil Lasola did not issue any statement.

“I don't know how the classes are going inside. We'll know that later,” he said.

Lasola has admitted that not all their members are joining the strike and continue to hold classes.

Students were seen killing time at the several parks inside the university. A steady throng of late enrollees could be seen going in and out of the administration building and in the offices of the different departments. There were students who were standing outside their classrooms, while some were still looking for their assigned rooms.

The Union, which includes the faculty and non-faculty members, staged a strike last April 25, a few weeks after 22 officers, including Lasola, were terminated. Lawyer Sabino Padilla III, the school's counsel, denied engaging in union busting. He said that a Court of Appeals decision found that the strike which the Union staged earlier in 2003 was illegal, and that the University can now terminate the officers. The CA has yet to rule on the motion for reconsideration which the union officers filed.

In a related development, records from the Registrar's Office showed that enrollment for this school year was lower compared to last year.

As of the present, there were 7,470 students in the university's nine colleges, lower than last year's 9,954. The date does not include the elementary and high school departments.

Latoza, however denied that the drop in the enrollment was due to the labor dispute, calling it ‘statistically improbable.'

“That is also the trend with other schools,” Latoza said, only to be echoed later by Marchan, who further pointed out that the number of students in public schools has also decreased.

“That is also the trend with public schools,” Marchan said, quoting what Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas told him earlier.

The drop in enrollment could also be attributed to the existence of several polytechnic colleges in the towns, Marchan explained. “So students from the provinces would rather enroll in these schools instead of having to travel all the way to Iloilo City.”