Vice President Leni G. Robredo was not the only Cabinet official who was ordered banned by President Duterte from Cabinet meetings.
Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Patricia Licuanan said yesterday that he also received a text message from Malacañang banning her from attending Cabinet meetings.
Licuanan said that received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. last Sunday relaying a message from the President to “stop attending Cabinet meetings” starting this December 5, 2016, 2 p.m.”
However, unlike Robredo, Licuanan said that she will not vacate her position.
In her reply to Evasco, Licuanan assured that she would comply with the instructions of Duterte and added that, “in the meantime, I will continue my work as Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education.”
In an interview last August, Licuanan reassured concerned education stakeholders that she will remain in her post under the Duterte administration until July 2018.
Licuanan is an appointee of President Aquino. She is serving a fixed term until 2018.
It was reported that Licuanan would be replaced by Duterte’s former mentor, Prof. Jose David Lapuz.
The news broke out when Ateneo de Davao University President Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J., wrote in his blog that Duterte indeed offered the chairmanship of the CHED to Lapuz who is his former professor at the Lyceum of the Philippines University in Manila. Soon after, Lapuz confirmed the designation. (Ina Hernando Malipot)