CHED chair Patricia Licuanan blames leaked documents for ouster

MANILA, Philippines — Erstwhile Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chair Patricia Licuanan blamed leaked documents for her forced resignation from the agency.

In her resignation statement, Licuanan cited a well-coordinated campaign to tarnish her leadership at the commission.

Licuanan cited the release of CHED internal documents to a lawmaker, who then released a series of media statements criticizing her.

“What I cannot understand is how Rep. Jericho Nograles got hold of my internal travel documents for the past five years. Only a few offices in CHED had access to these,” she said.

Nograles, of party-list Partido ng Bayaning Atleta, confirmed receiving the documents, which he said were given to him as part of the efforts to boot Licuanan out. 

“I am confirming that I receive the internal documents of CHED from a disgruntled teacher-scholar. It was given to me freely in the hope that changes will be made in the commission,” Nograles said.

Nograles said no less than “disgruntled” teacher-scholars wanted Licuanan out of the institution.

Facing leadership challenges since the new administration took over in 2016, Licuanan – an appointee of former president Benigno Aquino III – repeatedly stated her intention to remain in her post until the end of her second and final term in July 2018.

But on Monday, Licuanan faced CHED employees to announce her decision to step down following a call from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea over the weekend.

“It has become obvious that there are persons determined to get me out of CHED by hurling false and baseless accusations against me in what appears to be a fishing expedition and a well-orchestrated move in media,” she said, referring to the latest flurry of attacks against her earlier this month.

“These are internal documents to support the administrative release of funds and while I sign the internal document for my own travels, my signing is always based on an official travel authority from Malacañang. The question is, who put these together and who offered it to the congressman?” Licuanan said, referring to the documents leaked to Nograles.

Nograles used the leaked internal travel documents to accuse Licuanan of approving her own travel authority, a claim later belied by travel authorities coming from the Office of the President.

What made it better, according to Nograles, is that Licuanan herself “confirmed the authenticity of the documents containing her own approval of business class tickets.” 

“Congress has the power of oversight and documents like these are enough to start a congressional investigation,” Nograles declared. “I am also confirming that there are forces out to get Dr. Licuanan.” 

And these are no less than the “11,000 Teacher Scholars of the K to 12 Transition Program who are suffering from the delayed releases of the promised stipend leading to mountains of debt just to make ends meet.” 

“I have hundreds of letters from these scholars suffering grief, anxiety and depression. We will still pursue working with the CHED to make sure the problems of these teacher-scholars will be given top priority,” Nograles said.

Licuanan said her critics turned to her health after she was able to dispute claims on her travels.

“My ability to attend to CHED work for health reasons was maliciously peddled in social media even if I have worked consistently in CHED from 6:45 a.m. to after 6 p.m. on most days and took a sick leave only for half a day in 7.5 years in office,” she said.

“When the travel-related accusations proved baseless, those who are dying to remove me from office then turned to mismanagement and corruption in the release of allowances to faculty scholars in the K to 12 Transition Program,” she added.

For Licuanan, who expressed hope last week that the situation would not become unbearable enough for her to resign, the next step was clear: it was time to go.

“Although I vehemently deny the accusations against me, it is time to resign as my continued presence in CHED is inimical to the interest of the institution,” she said.

“It will only serve as lightning rod to attract more controversy that is distracting the agency from vigorously pursuing urgent reforms that will redound to the benefit of future generations of Filipinos,” added the former CHED chair.

Spare the CHED

Rep. Salvador Belaro Jr. of party-list 1-Ang Edukasyon welcomed Licuanan’s decision to relinquish her post and “spare the CHED from further controversies” like what transpired in recent weeks.  

“Her decision to resign also has the effect of giving President Duterte a free hand to appoint a new chairman to become part of the administration team as a team player. We need a CHED chairman who has vision, will and heart for the Filipino people,” he said.

Belaro believes it’s about time the CHED’s charter is given a boost. 

“Some 24 years have passed since the CHED was created in 1994. RA 7722 is ripe for updating and upgrading. We also need new education laws,” he said.

“It is also time to give the CHED a new boost by updating and upgrading its charter, Republic Act 7722. We need bold, revolutionary steps to follow through on the success we achieved in making free college education in SUCs a reality for the Filipino youth and college faculty. With the shift toward federalism, we need strong regional university systems,” Belaro declared. 

Licuanan’s camp, on the other hand, declined to comment on the announcement of President Duterte that she was fired, contrary to official statements noting that she tendered her resignation.

Duterte said technically, he could not remove Licuanan as she is serving a fixed term.

Replacements

President Duterte said yesterday he had not yet picked a replacement for Licuanan.

But agency insides say the clear favorite is CHED commissioner J. Prospero de Vera, Duterte’s first appointee to the commission.

De Vera, a former vice president of the University of the Philippines, has yet to comment on the impending leadership changes at the commission.

Another name floated was Jose David Lapuz, Duterte’s former professor at the Lyceum of the Philippines University.

In 2016, Lapuz claimed Duterte promised him the CHED’s top leadership post following his election. He was later appointed as presidential consultant for education and international organization.

Despite the leadership vacuum, CHED executive director Karol Mark Yee said operations will remain unhampered while waiting for the appointment of a new chair.

No graceful exit

Critics yesterday said Licuanan should not be allowed to gracefully exit the commission she led for the past seven years.

Militant group Anakbayan said Licuanan should be held accountable for what it called “anti-Filipino education policies” that she approved during her leadership.

“The youth movement will never forget the six Iskolars ng Bayan who took their lives due to education’s rising cost,” said the group. – With Delon Porcalla