Prof. Jose David Lapuz. PHOTO from his Facebook page
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—President-elect Rodrigo Duterte was eyeing to appoint his former professor at Lyceum of the Philippines as the new chair of the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), Ateneo de Davao President Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J. said.
In a blog post on Monday, Tabora confirmed that Duterte “publicly designated” Prof. Jose David Lapuz as Ched chair in a gathering at the Department of Public Works and Highways compound here last Wednesday, June 8.
“In fact, last Wednesday, June 8, at 2:30 a.m. in a room filled with people in the Panacan Malacañan of the South, President Duterte had publicly designated Professor Lapuz, long-time professor of political science and of the life and works of Jose Rizal at the Lyceum of the Philippines, CHED Chair. To the professor’s self-deprecating query, ‘Are you really nominating me CHED chair?’ the President replied emphatically, ‘Yes!’” Tabora wrote.
Lapuz will replace incumbent Ched chair Patricia Licuanan, who was appointed by outgoing President Benigno Aquino III in 2010. Lapuz’s term will expire in 2018.
Asked about the reportedly looming appointment of Lapuz, incoming presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said no official announcement had been made yet.
“Hindi pa kami nag-uusap ni President Duterte about that. Wala pang official announcement (President Duterte and I haven’t talked about that yet. No official announcement had been made yet),” Panelo told reporters in a chance interview at Marco Polo Hotel here on Tuesday.
Duterte’s anointed Cabinet secretary Leoncio “Jun” Evasco Jr. told INQUIRER.net that he was not privy to the President-elect’s choice of Lapuz, but noted that Licuanan enjoys a fixed terms.
“I understand Ms Licuanan enjoys a fixed term as Ched Chair. I am not privy to [the] [President’s] choice in [the] person of Mr[.] Lapuz,” said the mayor of Maribojoc, Bohol in a text message who also served as Duterte’s campaign manager.
Asked about her possible replacement, Licuanan, meanwhile, said: “Let it come from the President-elect himself.”
Citing the World Heritage Encyclopedia, Tabora said Lapuz, an alumnus of the University of the Philippines, took his post-graduate studies in international politics and foreign policy at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He started teaching at the University of Santo Tomas in 1970.
Lapuz served as consultant of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo “for matters related to international relations, global politics, comparative foreign policy, moral and humanitarian issues in international affairs, and the changing nature of world politics.”
Lapuz was also a board member and commissioner of the National Historical Society under the Arroyo administration. With a report from Jovic Yee, Philippine Daily Inquirer/AC/RAM