His Excellency
BENIGNO S. AQUINO III
President
Republic of the Philippines
Dear Mr. President,
In 1961 an ambitious dream was born. Mindanao State University was born. A university in Morolandia overlooking the picturesque Lanao Lake; where students and scholars from the Tri-peoples of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan converge in pursuit of academic excellence, cultural intergation, and peace.
Since then, thousands of poor but very bright and promising young students from the MinSuPala region have been trained and educated. Many of them now very successful professionals and entrepreneurs.
Their memory of MSU Main Campus in Marawi is one of a foggy landscape, serene, beautiful, quiet punctuated only with laughter, cloudy but lit by friendship and dreams, rural but intellectually stimulating; an exclusive place for those who pass the tough entrance exams and the even tougher academic standards. MSU to them was almost like heaven here on earth.
But that MSU is no more Mr. President.
MSU today is no longer exclusive. Squatters have built mansions inside the campus. Many of them owned by Mayors and leaders of the various municipalities of Lanao. They stake lands, build their fortresses, tag along their armed guards with impunity.
MSU is no longer serene and beautiful. It is dirty, noisy, unkempt, and stinky.
MSU is no longer safe. Unlike before when the library was open til nightime. UNlike before when university activites could be held at night and students freely roamed around in safety. MSU today with rampant criminality seems to be a haven for drug dealers, thieves, rapists, and killers. Everyone can freely enter the campus. Nobody checks. Nobody cares. You could literally walk into the campus wearing a Bilibid uniform and nobody will stop you.
Recently, a Philospohy professor who helped many scholars finish college, who helped introduce debating and speaking to students all over mindanao, who was visonary enough to have put up the first internet cafe on campus, who has mentored many lives, was robbered, killed, strapped in a chair and burned together with his internet shop. We cry justice for Othello Cobal!
His death is just one of a series of incidents in MSU. Many of them unreported. Many victims and their families opting to just keep quiet thinking that nothing can be done and nothing will change.
The leadership seems helpless Mr. President. And the general feeling is the leadership does not care.
The last time MSU had the semblance of order and direction was when former PNP general Ricardo De Leon was appointed President. Those were some of the most peaceful months. It was then that MSU somehow reclaimed its lost beauty and stability. It was then that many MSU constituents reclaimed their dreams. But as soon as Mr. De Leon left, the Univerisity slid back, even deeper, in the quagmare of apathy and mediocrity.
Some protested in the supposed "militarization' of MSU during President De Leon's term. But knowing the kind of threat currently existing, many are beginning to think that maybe a stronger hand might be necessary. There are so many complications. There is even a Ponzi scheme in Marawi that is bigger than any ever seen in the country; that is threatening the stability of the University too. We do not know the exact solution Mr. President. We suggest you meet with former MSU President De Leon and other members of the MSU alumni to form an intervention plan. We hope you would do so very soon.
Why do we still care sir when we have all left MSU? Because so long as MinSUPala is poor, we know the bright students of the region who come from the poorest families will continue to flock to MSU every year, despite the risks, because they do not have a choice. MSU to this day remains as the only University in the country that offers the cheapest fees, cheapest cost of living, with nationally competitive academic standards.
Mr. President i work as the main Male anchor of PTV 4. I have hosted the official RTVM coverage of your SONA for the last two years. I am proudly an MSU graduate. So for the sake of poor MSU students like me before, I plead you to please help save MSU.
May God give you wisdom as you act on this matter. I pray you act swiftly so lives can be saved.
Very truly yours,
Atty. Marc B. Castrodes
BENIGNO S. AQUINO III
President
Republic of the Philippines
Dear Mr. President,
In 1961 an ambitious dream was born. Mindanao State University was born. A university in Morolandia overlooking the picturesque Lanao Lake; where students and scholars from the Tri-peoples of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan converge in pursuit of academic excellence, cultural intergation, and peace.
Since then, thousands of poor but very bright and promising young students from the MinSuPala region have been trained and educated. Many of them now very successful professionals and entrepreneurs.
Their memory of MSU Main Campus in Marawi is one of a foggy landscape, serene, beautiful, quiet punctuated only with laughter, cloudy but lit by friendship and dreams, rural but intellectually stimulating; an exclusive place for those who pass the tough entrance exams and the even tougher academic standards. MSU to them was almost like heaven here on earth.
But that MSU is no more Mr. President.
MSU today is no longer exclusive. Squatters have built mansions inside the campus. Many of them owned by Mayors and leaders of the various municipalities of Lanao. They stake lands, build their fortresses, tag along their armed guards with impunity.
MSU is no longer serene and beautiful. It is dirty, noisy, unkempt, and stinky.
MSU is no longer safe. Unlike before when the library was open til nightime. UNlike before when university activites could be held at night and students freely roamed around in safety. MSU today with rampant criminality seems to be a haven for drug dealers, thieves, rapists, and killers. Everyone can freely enter the campus. Nobody checks. Nobody cares. You could literally walk into the campus wearing a Bilibid uniform and nobody will stop you.
Recently, a Philospohy professor who helped many scholars finish college, who helped introduce debating and speaking to students all over mindanao, who was visonary enough to have put up the first internet cafe on campus, who has mentored many lives, was robbered, killed, strapped in a chair and burned together with his internet shop. We cry justice for Othello Cobal!
His death is just one of a series of incidents in MSU. Many of them unreported. Many victims and their families opting to just keep quiet thinking that nothing can be done and nothing will change.
The leadership seems helpless Mr. President. And the general feeling is the leadership does not care.
The last time MSU had the semblance of order and direction was when former PNP general Ricardo De Leon was appointed President. Those were some of the most peaceful months. It was then that MSU somehow reclaimed its lost beauty and stability. It was then that many MSU constituents reclaimed their dreams. But as soon as Mr. De Leon left, the Univerisity slid back, even deeper, in the quagmare of apathy and mediocrity.
Some protested in the supposed "militarization' of MSU during President De Leon's term. But knowing the kind of threat currently existing, many are beginning to think that maybe a stronger hand might be necessary. There are so many complications. There is even a Ponzi scheme in Marawi that is bigger than any ever seen in the country; that is threatening the stability of the University too. We do not know the exact solution Mr. President. We suggest you meet with former MSU President De Leon and other members of the MSU alumni to form an intervention plan. We hope you would do so very soon.
Why do we still care sir when we have all left MSU? Because so long as MinSUPala is poor, we know the bright students of the region who come from the poorest families will continue to flock to MSU every year, despite the risks, because they do not have a choice. MSU to this day remains as the only University in the country that offers the cheapest fees, cheapest cost of living, with nationally competitive academic standards.
Mr. President i work as the main Male anchor of PTV 4. I have hosted the official RTVM coverage of your SONA for the last two years. I am proudly an MSU graduate. So for the sake of poor MSU students like me before, I plead you to please help save MSU.
May God give you wisdom as you act on this matter. I pray you act swiftly so lives can be saved.
Very truly yours,
Atty. Marc B. Castrodes
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