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2 Ched execs quit, slam Abad for P10B anomaly

By Christine F. Herrera | Posted 4 hours ago | 591 views

Two ranking officials of the Commission on Higher Education on Tuesday submitted their resignation to President Benigno Aquino III after accusing Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and CHED chairperson Patricia Licuanan of allegedly ‘bleeding’  the national coffers dry to benefit a United States university.
CHED Commissioner Nona Ricafort and CHED Director Carmina Alonzo resigned in protest of the “anomalous” P10-billion scientific research project to be based in the US that is being pushed by Abad and Licuanan even “without legal basis” and “without the benefit of public bidding.”
Ricafort and Alonzo said the US did not have counterpart funds and all inventions and discoveries to be made by the research team in the US would carry patents and intellectual property rights according to US laws with the Philippine government not having to own the patents.
“Following recent developments at CHED, it has come to my realization that I will be unable to give my full support to the P10-billion CHED-PCARI (Philippine-California Advance Research Institute) Collaboration Research Project initiated by CHED Chair P. B. Licuanan,” Ricafort told the President in her September 12, 2013 resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by Manila Standard.
Ricafort acknowledged the PCARI projects were good and directed to uplift the research standard in the Philippines.
“However, I find it difficult to comprehend how to reconcile the magnitude of this collaboration (specifically the budget costing per individual project) to meet the level of perception of the Filipinos, especially the students and their parents, as appropriate answers to their current needs,” Ricafort added.
Ricafort, who had been with CHED for eight years, and Alonzo, lamented the lack of details and legal basis justifying the five-year P10-billion research project.
In her resignation letter dated September 17, 2013, Alonzo said she could not understand why the P10 billion was “parked” with the CHED when basically the jurisdiction falls within the ambit of the Department of Science and Technology “and not the CHED.”
Alonzo, chairman of the Bid and Awards Committee, said while the General Appropriations Act explicitly named the PCARI for the project, the procurement of the engagement for collaboration was “template or tailored-fit” for the University of California Berkley, which she said was “contrary to the bidding process.”
Alonzo said that Abad approved the government funds to be “awarded to private institutions or foundations.”
“It is with reservation that the undersigned is wanting of legal basis or document from the DBM to show that foundations are allowed to use government funds and in this collaboration, it is not the UC Berkley, which will be paid but the individual researchers who are chosen not by the BAC through a bidding process but by the Philippine PCARI focal persons,” Alonzo said.
“How the US-based researchers’ services will be procured is likewise wanting of lawful basis in the same manner that private schools and SUCs (state universities and colleges) may be classified as foundations,” she said.
Alonzo also asked Licuanan to be relieved of any obligation and involvement in the PCARI transactions.
She added that she “personally feel that it is not the opportune time for this project implementation in our country.”
Ricafort furnished the SUCs under her copies of her resignation letter to the President.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Fisheries Salvador Salacup took a leave of absence effective Tuesday to prepare himself for the graft charges filed against him for his alleged involvement in the P10-billion pork scam. With  Ana Leah Estrada  and Fred Villareal