CHAIRPERSON PATRICIA B. Licuanan of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has been “dismissed” from his position, President Rodrigo R. Duterte confirmed on Monday afternoon, Jan. 15.
“Let me just say I have dismissed Licuanan today….Many will follow,” Mr. Duterte said during the turnover of Mitsubishi patrol vehicles and the inauguration of the new regional crime laboratory office building in Davao City on Monday afternoon.
But earlier that day, Presidential Spokesperson Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. said “the President has received the resignation of CHEd Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, who also issued what she called a “resignation statement.”
Ms. Licuanan is an appointee of the previous administration and is supposed to be on a fixed term until 2018. Yet she and Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo had been barred by Mr. Duterte from attending Cabinet meetings.
Commenting on Ms. Licuanan’s resignation, Senator Francis Joseph G. Escudero, chairperson of the Senate committee on education, said: “It is unfortunate given the reforms and good job that she has done in the past years; however, I respect her decision and wish her well in her future endeavors.” — Arjay L. Balinbin
