CHED chair to comply with Duterte order

Patricia Licuanan

Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chair Patricia Licuanan on Monday said she would comply with President Duterte’s order for her to stop attending Cabinet meetings but she would continue her work as head of the commission.

In a statement, Licuanan confirmed that she received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. on Sunday relaying Mr. Duterte’s instructions that she stop showing up in his Cabinet meetings starting Dec. 5.

Also barred from attending Cabinet meetings was Vice President Leni Robredo, prompting her to resign as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

Evasco cited Robredo and Licuanan’s “irreconcilable differences” with the Duterte administration as the reason for the President’s decision not to allow the two women to attend the Cabinet meetings.

“I assured Secretary Evasco that I would comply. In the meantime, I will continue my work as chair of CHEd,” said Licuanan, whose fixed term does not end until 2018. She is an appointee of then President Benigno Aquino III.

Under Republic Act No. 7722, also known as the Higher Education Act of 1994, the CHEd chair and four commissioners have a fixed term of four years, without prejudice to one reappointment. —JOCELYN R. UY