Cotabato City – Grade six pupils of the Marawi Central Pilot Elementary Schools (MCPES) marched and received diplomas twice on Monday and within hours of each event as a result of an unresolved row between incumbent city schools division superintendent and officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Parents were dismayed by the turn of events after the students were called back to the school to “graduate” again after having gotten their diplomas in the morning because a superintendent claimed that she’s the only one authorized to preside over the rites.
“It’s a shame that the supposed solemn procession of our graduating children turned into a mockery due to the conflict in the Marawi City schools division leadership,” said a parent, who asked not to be named.
City Schools Division Superintendent Mona Macatanong confirmed the double graduation, saying that at about 9 a.m. Monday, she administered the confirmation of more than 200 graduates in the MCPES and then left to officiate at the graduation ceremonies of three other schools.
Two hours later, she said, MCPES officials were told to bring the students back when lawyer Jamar Kulayan, incumbent ARMM education secretary, arrived at the venue and demanded to “confirm” the pupils’ graduation again.
“He (Kulayan) was surprised to learn that the graduates were already confirmed by me,” Macatanong said.
She said the dual confirmations stemmed from a memorandum order issued on March 31 by ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman bestowing to Kulayan or his representative the authority to confirm graduates in Marawi City.
She said Hataman’s order applied only to Marawi City because other schools’ divisions in ARMM held graduation rites with their respective superintendents confirming graduates in observance of academic tradition.
But despite Hataman’s order, Macatanong said, the rest of more than 40 other elementary and seven national high schools in Marawi City have held graduation rites since March 31 with her doing the confirmation.
Manila Bulletin
