- CHED chair said she received text message telling her not to attend Cabinet meetings anymore
- She said she will comply with president’s order, but won’t resign though
- She said she will still continue her work as CHED chair
MANILA, Philippines – It’s not only Vice President Leni Robredo who’s getting the boot?
A day after the vice president announced her resignation as housing czar after being texted not to attend Cabinet meetings anymore, another official also said she received a similar message from President Rodrigo Duterte.
Dr. Patricia Licuanan, chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), said she was instructed thru text not to attend Cabinet meetings starting December 5, 2016.
“On Sunday, December 4, I received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr. relaying President Rodrigo Duterte’s instructions to stop attending Cabinet meetings starting this Monday, December 5, 2 PM”, read her statement.
Unlike Robredo who resigned as head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) however, Licuanan said she will continue on her work as commission chair.
“I assured Sec. Evasco that I would comply. In the meantime, I will continue my work as Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education,” she said.
“Where do I go from here?” Licuanan added. “Definitely not Cabinet meetings! I am still processing this. In the meantime, there is a lot of work to do at CHED.”
Ateneo de Davao University President Fr. Joel Tabora previously said Duterte had offered the CHED chairmanship to his former political science professor Jose David Lapuz despite the fact that Licuanan still has two years to finish her fixed term which ends in 2016.
The offer came on the heels of CHED’s P1.2B unreleased allowances for poor students under its financial assistance programs based on a 2014 Commission on Audit report.
However, CHED Executive Deputy Director Napoleon Imperial said Duterte had committed to respect Licuanan’s term as the commission had undertook to release the funds to the students in compliance with the report.
