An open letter to President Ted Robles
September 20, 2008
Dr. Teodoro Robles, Ph.D
Incoming President
Central Philippine University
Jaro, Iloilo City
Dear Ted,
I extend to you my sincere felicitations on your election and confirmation as the next President of our esteemed University. I am one of the many who strongly support your selection. I wish you more power as you assume your new responsibilities. As an alumnus, like the many others, who continues to be eagerly interested about the affairs of CPU, I look forward to being able to work closely with you in carrying our collective responsibilities as part of a larger community.
It is unfortunate that the process of your selection as president has been marred by controversy that continues to rage even to this time, which can stymie our efforts to address the pressing needs and urgent problems that our institution faces. However, I am confident that your long years of experience and wisdom will enable you to start your term with 'the right foot, and calm the storm' that we are all in today.
In this spirit, allow me to offer you my humble advice on how to begin.
One of your important duties as President of CPU is to uphold the law of the land, defend the By-Laws of our Corporation, faithfully adhere to the rules and tenets of corporate governance, and preserve the values and high traditions of our founding fathers that are deeply anchored in our Christian faith. You must therefore ensure that every action made in the performance of the respective responsibilities of every member, official, staff, and employee of our corporate family must be compliant and not repugnant to these laws, rules, tenets, values and tradition, which are part of the foundations of Central Philippine University.
The fury of anger that continues within the membership of our community, which threatens to divide us, stems from a deliberate failure to address fundamental disagreements about the rightness, or even legality of certain actions taken by the leadership. Prominent of these is the insolent, unchristian treatment accorded your predecessor, Dr. Juanito M. Acanto that can still be rectified; the unlawful creation and continued existence of the management committee; the premature action to present you as the BOT's choice for president in a special convocation that virtually preempted the confirmatory prerogative of the corporate members; the undue haste of your confirmation as president in a special meeting convened for that purpose, at the expense of depriving some corporate members of their right to due notice, in the face of your inability to assume office until next year. There are also other unsettling questions on the terms of your appointment – such as whether or not you will begin to receive your salary before you assume office, who will act as president in your stead, which could be readily answered and thereby prevent the further heightening of the controversy.
Now that you are the president, you owe your constituents of Centralians the duty to be transparent about how you stand on these issues because the latter have the corollary responsibility to help address what they believe are the mistakes being committed and perpetuated. They have the right to know whether our leadership has the moral courage to stand up against the wrongdoings that severely weaken the foundations of our corporation.
If you refuse to reveal your side in these issues, perhaps, because you feel you owe a sense loyalty to the powers that selected you, then I am afraid that you have already compromised your commitment to unselfishly serve CPU to your desire to keep the job of President. Do not forget the all adage that "it is the position that seeks the person and not the person seeking the position".
Ted, we all would like to believe that you were placed by God at the helm of leadership in CPU to better serve His people in these critical times. Please do not further disappoint us by tacitly admitting, through your silence, that you were placed there by the members of the BOT to serve their narrow self interests.
Unless you are willing to accept this imperative of being president, I am afraid that you have already become part of the problem that must be corrected. In this event and for the good of our institution you must therefore immediately resign.
Sincerely yours,
PERFECTO R. YASAY, JR.
Former Chairman, CPU