CHED commissioner put on 90-day suspension

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) over the weekend announced the 90-day suspension of Commissioner Aldrin Darilag for supposed grave misconduct, neglect in the performance of duty, and abuse of authority.

According to CHED, the suspension was issued by the Office of the President (OP), as Darilag is a presidential appointee. The OP has also tasked CHED to conduct a fact-finding investigation to determine whether formal charges should be filed against Darilag.

“This preventive suspension is imposed so that Commissioner Darilag cannot use his office and position to influence the investigation and due process can be observed in the process,” CHED chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said in a statement.

“I call on the CHED officials and employees, including the higher education community, to exercise their duties and power consistent with the principle that public office is a public trust,” he added.

The CHED statement did not specify the reason for Darilag's suspension, but last year he denied at a Senate hearing that he was using public funds to pay for his family’s travel expenses.

De Vera will assign Darilag’s duties—including chair-designate of the Board of Regents of the 30 state universities and colleges (SUCs)—to other commissioners while the suspension is in place. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA Integrated News