Today is a great surprise!
I attended a meeting of the Bicol Foundation on Higher Education (BFHE) this afternoon. We hosted the meeting again of this organization of higher education institutions in the Bicol Region. Being a quarterly meeting of the organization it was attended by the officers and board of directors only.
Our agenda list was long. The BFHE is the Regional Association on Higher Education Institutions of the RAHEI of the Bicol Region and being such, we discussed how we will go about with the CHED directed Academic and Cultural Competitions related to the CHED National Games. In a nutshell, if SCUAA, LCUAA, and PRISAA is now going to join together for the CHED National Games (unified!), the RAHEIs and the NAHEIs are in charge of the academic and cultural competition portion of the games.
The discussion regarding Bicol Region's participation was quite long so I will not bore anyone reading this with the details, but something really blew me away.
Apparently, the PRISAA national organization has transformed itself into a party-list organization calling itself First PRISA. I don't know how this happened. A lot of things are still fuzzy. But suffice it to say, that whatever is happening, the guys behind First PRISA are using the PRISAA organization to build a network of members throughout the country. Remember that it is part of COMELEC accreditation requirements that a party-list organization have nationwide membership and representation to be classified as such.
Although it seems clear that PRISAA is a different entity from First PRISA, there is no doubt that the people they have listed as their regional representatives are the same regional presidents of the local PRISAA. This is weird and crazy especially for us PRISAA member schools who were never informed of this development.
Honestly, as a President of a University, and a paying member of PRISAA, I cannot help but think about the possibility of First PRISA using PRISAA funds to further their cause without the consent of its general membership.
Right now, we -- along with several other member schools -- are thinking of withdrawing our membership from PRISAA, lest we be used for the political interest of others without our knowledge or consent.
Actually, what I really feel so bad about is how this exhibits how the PRISAA National Officers see their members. They see us as minions rather than equals or partners to attain the goals of PRISAA.
I will blog some more about this as soon as I get more information. But, still this thing stinks like after-flood garbage in Marikina.
