Duterte appoints new CHEd chairman

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has appointed J. Prospero “Popoy” E. De Vera III as Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), according to the commission’s OIC-Executive Director Cinderella Filipina S. Benitez-Jaro.
“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has appointed Commissioner Dr. J. Prospero “Popoy” E. De Vera III as Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to serve until July 2022,” Ms. Jaro said in a press release as posted on the Facebook page of Mr. De Vera on Monday, Oct. 15.
Mr. De Vera, Ms. Benitez-Jaro also said, “is a known strong advocate for increasing state subsidy for higher education and has shepherded the formulation of the IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations) of RA 10931 (Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017) and the fast-tracking of its implementation.”
A separate press release by CHEd Executive Director IV Karol Mark R. Yee, as posted on CHEd’s official Web site, said Mr. De Vera “has served as Commissioner since September 13, 2016.”
“(Mr.) De Vera obtained his BA History and Doctor of Public Administration degrees from the University of the Philippines, where he also previously served as the Vice President for Public Affairs from 2011 to 2016. He was a Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in 2000 to 2001. He also specialized in Higher Education administration at the Rossier School of Education of the University of Southern California (USC), as a Fulbright Hays Visiting Scholar,” Mr. Yee wrote. — Arjay L. Balinbin