The public ought to know – given the half-truths and barefaced denials dished out by the Cañete MCC and its subalterns – how did this problem of its “graduates” come about?
Under Rep. Act 7722 (the Higher Education Act of 1994), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has jurisdiction over higher education institutions (HEI), both public and private. Hence, local colleges not authorized by CHED to offer programs/courses are “bogus” per se. Cañete has never recognized CHED; he only recognizes the Association of Colleges and Universities (ALCU), a mere private organization. Ergo, with no legal standing from CHED, Cañete has no business running a college and offer college courses.
Cañete had a colorable title under Sangguniang Panlungsod Ordinance 10-2005-324A that created the original Mandaue City College (MCC). However, it didn’t legally take effect immediately for failure of publication in a newspaper of general circulation until December 14, 2007, two years later. Besides, there was no consultation with CHED-7 as required; moreover, there was no application for approval of its programs by CHED’s Office of Programs and Standards (OPS).
Executive Order 1-A of Mayor Thadeo Ouano on January 2, 2006 was also flawed as it did not jibe with Ord. 10-2005-324A by directly designating Cañete as President. In said ordinance, the Board of Trustees (BOT) chaired by the Mayor appoints the college head, but Cañete’s designation was simultaneous with the BOT just created whose composition partly violated the ordinance. Under Ordinance 10-2005-419, the then opposition SP manipulated in relieving Mayor Cortes from BOT chairmanship which was violative of the law that local bodies and committees are chaired by the Mayor, like, the local school board, local health board, traffic board, peace and order, etc. However, said illegal amendment is superseded by Ordinance No. 12-2010-568 of the present SP to restore sanity to the BOT and the law.
Note this… Cañete was issued a Contract of Services as Administrator of MCC from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006, and not renewed or extended. Hence, he is with no more valid claim to the position after December 31, 2006, not even a mere color of title.
OIC Mayor Amadeo D. Seno, Jr. issued on June 28, 2007 a “cease and desist” order on Cañete for refusing to submit liquidation of MCC accounts; and, designated Dr. Susana Cabahug as OIC. When Mayor Jonas C. Cortes assumed as City Mayor, he renewed Dr. Cabahug’s designation. Cañete raised on certiorari Mayor Seno’s “cease and desist” order to the RTC Mandaue which dismissed the case; it is now pending appeal with the Court of Appeals.
On September 7, 2007, Director Virginia Palanca-Santiago of the Visayas-Ombudsman proposed to have a unified MCC jointly administered by Dr. Cabahug and Dr. Cañete which, to buy peace, both parties agreed. Surprisingly, a few days later, Cañete reneged from the agreement, despite his initiative for settlement with the Visayas-Ombudsman.
Cañete has filed many cases against Mayor Cortes and Dr. Cabahug, with the Ombudsman and the Courts on incidental issues. One wonders if the City lawyers interposed the affirmative defense of “forum-shopping”. If ever interposed and denied, has the denial been raised on certiorari on the jurisdictional issue of forum-shopping? Have they also filed a well-crafted motion for resolution of the case long pending in the Court of Appeals? The CHED has already issued two closure orders on the Cañete campus which, obviously have not been reconsidered and not been complied with, but both ignored.
The Cañete MCC, to reiterate, offers masteral and doctoral courses “on-line” sans CHED approval per its Memo Order No. 36, s. 1998 (Policies and Standards on Graduate Education). This is on-going in five towns in Leyte, and in Daanbantayan, Mandaue City, and Lapulapu City in Cebu. In their last “graduation” exercises in a plush hotel in Cebu City, there were many supposed “graduates”. Thus, the question: “Where in the world has a small and nascent college which does not recognize CHED, and the latter not authorizing it, graduate M.A.’s and Doctorates in droves?”