CHEd commissioner suspended for 90 days calls penalty ‘unfair’

Aldrin Darilag —COMMISSIONER ALDRIN DARILAG FACEBOOK PAGE

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines — A Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) commissioner is fighting his suspension for 90 days by the Office of the President, which also ordered an investigation into allegations that his family’s travel expenditures were financed by the state universities and colleges under him.

Aldrin Darilag told the Inquirer in an interview that he was surprised when he was informed by CHEd Chair Prospero de Vera III about his suspension. Among the grounds cited were alleged grave misconduct, neglect in the performance of duty, abuse of authority, and violation of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

No full information

The suspension order was issued on Jan. 16 and signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin. CHEd is an attached agency under the Office of the President. “I have no full information about the cases filed against me. I did not receive a copy of the complaint. This is so unfair,” Darilag told the Inquirer.

As CHEd commissioner, he served as board chair of five state universities in Eastern Visayas: Leyte Normal University in Tacloban City; University of Eastern Philippines in Catarman, Northern Samar; Samar State University in Catbalogan City; Southern Leyte State University in Maasin City, Southern Leyte; and Biliran Province State University in Naval, Biliran.

He was appointed to the commission by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019 and reappointed in 2020. His term was set to end this July.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, on the other hand, welcomed the suspension order against Darilag, which was signed barely a week after another CHEd commissioner, Jo Mark Libre, was ordered dismissed for nepotism and grave misconduct.

Barbers said an investigation should also be opened for the other two CHEd commissioners as well as their chair “even if there are no pending charges against them.”