CHED Chairperson Also Ordered To Stop Attending Cabinet Meetings

Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Patricia Licuanan on Monday, December 5 confirmed that Vice President Leni Robredo “was not the only one” who got a text message banning her from attending cabinet meetings.

Licuanan, in a text message from the CHED Office of the Chairperson, confirmed that like Robredo, she too, was asked to stop attending cabinet meetings under the Duterte administration.

In the said message, Licuanan confirmed that on Sunday, December 4, she received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. relaying President Rodrigo Duterte’s instructions to “stop attending Cabinet meetings” starting December 5, 2:00 p.m.

On Sunday evening, the Vice President issued a statement announcing her resignation as the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council head under the Duterte administration due to “irreconcilable differences.”

Robredo announced her resignation after receiving text message from Evasco asking her “to desist from attending all Cabinet meetings starting this Monday, December 5” as per President Duterte’s instructions.

However, unlike Robredo, Licuanan said that she will not vacate her position.

In her reply to Evasco, Licuanan assured that she would comply with the instructions of President Duterte and added that, “in the meantime, I will continue my work as Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education.”

In an interview last August, Licuanan reassured concerned education stakeholders that she will remain in post under the Duterte administration until July 2018.

Licuanan is an appointee of former President Benigno Aquino III. She is serving a fixed term until 2018.

Earlier, it was reported that Licuanan would be replaced by President Duterte’s former mentor, Jose David Lapuz.

The news broke out when Ateneo de Davao University President Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J. wrote in his blog account that President Duterte indeed offered the chairmanship of CHED to Lapuz, the president’s former professor at the Lyceum of the Philippines University. Soon after, Lapuz himself confirmed the said designation.

Licuanan denied these reports and maintained she still has two years to complete her term. Under Republic Act 7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994, she is entitled to a four-year term as CHED chair. In 2014, she was reappointed for another four-year term.

Despite being the only cabinet secretary to take a holdover position, Licuanan said that she has been “quite at home” during cabinet meetings.

Source: Manila Bulletin