La Salle school clarifies issues in Cruz’s column

This is in reaction to the Feb. 18 column of Neal Cruz, titled “Traffic jams invade Ayala Alabang.” In the interest of truth, we would like to correct factual errors in the column.

Cruz wrote: “But what is this we hear that DLSZ is raking in huge profits—to the tune of P800 million last year?”

• The amount of P800 million is far in excess of De La Salle Santiago Zobel School’s revenue of around P451 million last academic year.

Cruz: “DLSZ inside Ayala Alabang was originally intended to serve only the residents of the village.”

• Not true. Since its establishment, DLSZ has been known to cater to students from southern Metro Manila.

To further clarify, DLSZ opposes the color-coding scheme of AAV in consideration of the many students who need adequate and reliable means of transportation. It should also be noted that numerous vehicles are already being used for carpooling, and yet these would also not be given regular access under the color-coding scheme.

No school official ever “threatened to tell the students not to come to school” or “boycott classes” after the expiration of the temporary restraining order. A plan to suspend classes was considered in order to give the school time to reorganize and develop the most appropriate measures, in case many of its students would not be given road access.

Cruz raised other issues that he tried to connect to the traffic situation. DLSZ never operated for profit as most of its savings from operations are currently funneled to scholarship grants for almost 1,000 DLSZ students. The infrastructure development should also be seen in the proper context, as such is needed by any academic institution to maintain the highest standards and quality of education.

It is our desire to create a sustainable and most viable solution that will allow our students to maintain unhampered access to their regular schooling, while also fully recognizing our responsibilities to the external community.

We call on Cruz to diligently check his facts, correct errors promptly, and recognize his duty to properly inform the public through balanced reportage, as upheld in the Journalist’s Code of Ethics.

—BR. BERNARD S. OCA, FSC, president, De La Salle Santiago Zobel School

The letter dated Feb. 20, 2015, reached the Inquirer’s Ombudsman office in an envelope postmarked May 16, 2015, on May 21, 2015. Late as it is, because of its nature, we are running it nevertheless.—Ed.