Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo has launched a new political gimmick on the guise of a project seemingly intended to simply get the commitment of parents to send their children to public schools but actually intended to make them feel indebted to him.
The project with acronym QUEEN for Quality Universal Elementary Education in Naga requires parents to register with school heads in their respective areas and be issued cards signed by Mayor Robredo and Schools Superintendent Ruby S. Abundabar which entitle the bearers to enroll their children in public elementary schools for free.
This in effect would make parents appear beholden to Robredo even when free elementary education is already mandated under the Constitution and the operating expenses of public schools have been provided by the government without Robredo’s intervention. To avail of free tuition in public schools there is absolutely no need to register with the QUEEN program, parents who said they are being exploited and deceived said.
The card also states that school and miscellaneous fees would be paid without citing who will pay, how much will be paid or from what source and when they will be paid.
If the City School Board Fund would be used there is no indication if an appropriation within legal limits has been made and since it is only during this election year that the project is proposed to be done the partisan political motives is obvious, parents added.
Parents also told MONITOR that if politics was not Robredo’s motive there was no need to emphasize free elementary education because this privilege has already been granted under the Constitution making Robredo’s project a sham.
Moreover, parents deplored a portion in the prepared commitment sheet they are required to sign threatening sanctions if they fail to send their children to school.
“It is an obvious deception intended to exploit parents for political purposes and DepEd officials and personnel collaborating with Robredo in the scheme could be liable for electioneering”, aggrieved parents also said.
