THE Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced that it will launch an investigation on Bestlink College Philippines after it conducted an out-of-town activity that allegedly compromised the welfare of its students.
CHED Chairperson Prospero “Popoy” De Vera said that a show cause order will be issued against the private college after it held its founding anniversary activity in Hermosa, Bataan without submitting the required documents for an off-campus activity.
“The CHED Commission en banc has discussed the matter and a show cause order will be issued against Bestlink College for conducting off-campus activity without submitting the required documents with CHEDRO,” De Vera said.
He said that he also gave instructions to Jimmy Catanes, CHED’s director in the National Capital Region, to look into the viral posts online that have accused the school of forcing the students to pay for the event while failing to deliver proper transportation and appropriate safety measures.
Many students, claiming to be from BCP, took to social media to share the difficulties they faced during the founding anniversary celebration. Their complaints included a lack of accommodations, extreme exhaustion, and a bus that overheated during the trip.
“There were no accommodations, no proper guidance, and students were left under the sun without preparation. Many students even fainted due [to] exhaustion and lack of care from the organizers. This didn’t just affect us, it also caused heavy traffic and inconvenience to others on the road,” said Bhrier Pola, a fourth-year Bachelor of Science in Accounting Information System student.
In a video shared in a post, students were seen inside a bus as thick smoke, seemingly coming from the vehicle, surrounded them.
“Our bus even overheated and started smoking, leaving us in a panic. It brought back haunting memories of the 2017 tragedy caused by the same negligence of this school,” added Pola.
She was referring to the February 2017 incident involving the same college, when a BCP bus carrying students lost its brakes and crashed into an electricity post in Tanay, Rizal.
It resulted in 15 deaths and an estimated 40 injured students.
After the 2017 incident, CHED imposed a moratorium on field trips, but it was lifted in December of the same year.
Bestlink College’s Response
On Wednesday, January 29, Bestlink issued a statement on their Facebook page about the incident. They claimed that some of the information on the internet about the out-of-town activity were untrue.
“To shed light on the current situation, we would like to rectify some reports that led to misinformation/disinformation that came out or have been circulating on Facebook and other social media platforms concerning said event. We wish to clarify that these reports are not true, fabricated as they are, since they do not reflect what actually happened on the ground at the time,” they said in a post.
They accused the posers as tarnishing their image and reputation. They said that they are open for any investigation about the event.
“In this regard, the Administration of this institution is open for any independent fact-finding investigation with an end towards establishing the truth about what really transpired before, during, as well as after, the event. This can be done in particular by the Local Government of Hermosa, Bataan, which has adequate, relevant, and material information on the matter.”
BCP also assured the public that they are determined to investigate the root of “the fiasco”, which they attribute to unforeseen circumstances.
“Moving forward, we are committed from learning from this experience and ensuring that future events are better planned and executed, minimizing if not completely avoiding the potential risk for similar challenges,” they said.
