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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Barbers questions CHEd's 'highly irregular' hiring of OSG

Barbers questions CHEd's 'highly irregular' hiring of OSG

Published Jan 24, 2024 01:36 am

At A Glance

  • Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has raised concern over what he described as the "highly questionable" involvement of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) with the Commission on Higher Education Education (CHEd).
  • If the inclusion of OSG is now the practice of CHEd, as revealed by ex-Commissioner Libre, Barbers said this renders the legal department of the commission "totally useless".

IMG-4ef08cb0b3656ef302db26ae8a914f27-V.jpgSurigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Screenshot from Zoom)

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has raised concern over what he described as the “highly questionable” involvement of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) with the Commission on Higher Education Education (CHEd).

In a statement on Tuesday, Jan. 23, Barbers said the OSG was allegedly being paid by CHEd to render legal advice and opinions on matters concerning the commission.

A particular law that CHEd cites is Republic Act (RA) No. 8929 or the Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997, which entails the “uniform composition and powers of the governing boards, the manner appointment and term of office of the president of chartered state universities and colleges (SUC)”.

Barbers noted that this information was “proudly revealed and announced” by former Commissioner Jo Mark Libre in one of the SUC meetings he presided over last December.

“Yet despite the presence of two OSG lawyers in the board meeting, the question on the prohibition of elected officials to be appointed in other government positions in any capacity couldn’t be addressed, when an elected barangay kagawad (councilor) continued to sit as member of the governing board of that SUC,” the veteran lawmaker noted.

“More importantly, when asked if the term limit of eight years for SUC Presidents has been amended already, both CHEd and the OSG lawyers could not categorically reply,” he added.

“It seems that at least in that instance, CHEd tried to evade responsibility in taking an official position and delegated that function to the OSG which is, to my thinking, highly irregular at the least,” stressed Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs.

If this is now the practice of CHEd as revealed by Libre, Barbers said this renders the legal department of the commission “totally useless”.

The OSG, which is headed by Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, is supposed to be the legal defender of the Philippines in cases where the government is taken to courts or made to state an official legal position.

Barbers said that if any government agency can seemingly hire the OSG in substitution of their legal departments and include it on their payrolls, then “there will be nobody left defending the government in courts”.

“This alleged practice violates the Constitution and the laws on double compensation and conflict of interest to say the least. The OSG could be tying its hands or be estopped should an actual controversy arise,” he explained.

“Nagtatanong lang po ako kung totoo itong mga sinabi ni ex-Commissioner Libre. Hindi pala libre ang serbisyo ng OSG sa CHEd,” he further said.

(I'm just asking if what ex-Commissioner Libre said is true. It turns out that the OSG’s service at CHEd is not free.)

The Office of the Ombudsman has recently ordered the dismissal of Libre as commissioner based on findings of grave misconduct and nepotism.

Related Tags

Office of the Soliciotr General Commission on Higher Education Robert Ace Barbers
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