CHED Executive Director Vitriolo is requesting President Duterte to appoint an officer in charge as Commissioner Licuanan can no longer be an effective chairperson.
President Rodrigo Duterte is being sought by the top officials of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to fill the power vacuum after he prohibited CHED chairperson Particia Licuanan from attending Cabinet meetings.
CHED Executive Director IV Julito Vitriolo asked President Duterte, in a letter sent to Malacañang dated December 8, to appoint a replacement to Licuanan to lead the agency.
Vitriolo cited the reasons of the Malacañang Palace for barring Licuanan in attending Cabinet meetings and said that she could no longer be an effective chairperson because of her “irreconcilable differences” with Duterte and the President’s loss of trust and confidence in her for not voluntarily leaving the post.
The highest-ranking career executive in the commission also said that the refusal of Licuanan to tender her resignation is equivalent to gross insubordination, describing it as “stubborn” and in disregard to the “time-honored principle of delicadeza”.
In his letter, Vitriolo humbly requested the guidance from President Duterte on how the officials and staff of the agency shall relate to their chairperson in view of the circumstances indicating that she might no longer posses the authority to govern the Commission.
Vitriolo suggested to President Duterte newly appointed Commissioner Prospero de Vera to act as an officer in charge while a regular chairperson has not yet been picked.
Why De Vera, Vitriolo explained that the former is the only one commissioner appointed by Duterte and that he is the only one openly and aggressively pursuing the programs of the current administration in the Commission.
De Vera was the vice president for public affairs of the University of the Philippines (UP) when he was chosen to be a CHED commissioner last September.
Vitriolo’s letter came a week after Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. relayed the instructions of the President through a text message on December 4 that Licuanan, and Vice-President Leni Robredo, should stop attending the Cabinet meetings.