AN ANGRY Armando Aquino, Pangasinan II division superintendent, boomed at a Bombo Radyo reporter last week telling the latter to be cautious with his statements.

“I don’t know that .. wala kaming binibigay na direktiba dito .. hinahamon kita na pumunta sa mga schools at tanungin yong mga principal at supervisor kung meron akong order na maningil sila,” he said, his voice rising.

Aquino was reacting to reports by the radio station about collections of P10 to P12.50 for test booklets in schools under Pangasinan II division which covers the fourth, fifth, and sixth legislative districts.

“Huwag mong sabihin yan,” he thundered on the alleged directive given by his office to schools to collect the amounts.

The station for some two weeks has been feasting on the issue which was bolstered by an admission by Dr. Imelda Navarro, head of the mathematics department and who supervises the administration of diagnostic tests, that schools collect from students P10 to P12.50 as payment for the test booklets.

An interview with Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis revealed that the provincial government thru the school board fund has allocated P2 million (P1 million each for the two divisions) to defray expenses for such division-initiated tests.

Why are schools then collecting payments for such tests when the province has already shouldered the expenses needed? Where does the money go? Is the collection a form of racket by some privileged individuals? Is the superintendent aware of it or are his underlings making money at his expense?

These questions could have been answered right away if Aquino only took pains to answer them fortrightly, either by accommodating requests for interviews with him or himself personally going to the media to refute the allegations. He made himself scarce for some two weeks that efforts to locate him or contact him by phone proved futile, according to the station.

Finally he was contacted thru the phone but the tenor of the conversation between him and the radio reporter went as quoted above. Before that, he reportedly met with his supervisors and principals apparently to discuss the issue. For that, the school officials would already have a ready answer when confronted by the media.

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Early this year, teachers were reportedly made to pay P300 for the division meet because DepEd lacks money for such sports event. When contacted on the issue, the superintendent denied he made any directive to deduct such amount from the teachers’ salaries.

This time he is again at it – denying he had any hand in the collection of money for diagnostic tests, which may run to hundreds of thousands of pesos or even millions based on the station’s estimate.

We thought Pangasinan II division would now be spared of controversies with the coming of Aquino. That division figured in so many controversies during the time of his predecessor, Juliana Laoag, particularly on allegations about plantilla positions for sale.

Why indeed are our public schools good at imposing unnecessary fees and charges to our pupils and students who mostly come from poor families that can hardly defray even transportation needs and baon of their children?

Sometimes this is the fault of the officers of the Parents-Teachers-Community Associations (who may belong to the middle-level class) who think of so many projects allegedly for the good of the school. Such projects however impose a heavy burden on the part of the majority of parents.

That’s the main reason why many complaints about collection of money crops up almost in every public school.