President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has appointed Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Commissioner Shirley C. Agrupis as the new CHED chairperson.
President Marcos accepted the courtesy resignation of CHED Chairperson J. Prospero E. De Vera III who has held the position since 2018.
According to Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, the President may have considered that De Vera is already in his second four-year term as chairperson of the body that oversees higher education.
“Maybe the President wanted to give a fresh start to the CHED. Or maybe there were other reasons,” Bersamin said in a press briefing in Malacañang on Thursday.
“A collegial body like the CHED always comes under such pressure from within. But I’m not going to say that was the reason. I’m just guessing that played a lot in the acceptance of the resignation,” Bersamin added.
De Vera was appointed as CHED commissioner in 2016, and as officer-in-charge in January 2018.
He was appointed as CHED chairperson in October 2018 and re-appointed by President Marcos in 2022.
Agrupis, a seasoned and published academician, researcher, and public servant, assumed as CHED commissioner on September 6, 2024.
Prior to her appointment to CHED, she was a full-time university professor and the immediate past president of Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Ilocos Norte.
As CHED commissioner, Dr. Agrupis oversees 22 state universities and colleges (SUCs) across Northern Luzon, Central and Eastern Visayas, Central and Southern Mindanao, CARAGA, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The three other CHED Commissioners are Marita R. Canapi, Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela and Desiderio R. Apag III.
The CHED was created through the passage of Republic Act 7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994.
An attached agency to the Office of the President, CHED is headed by a chairperson and four commissioners, each having a term of office of four years.
The CHED acts as a collegial body in formulating plans, policies and strategies relating to higher education. | PND
