J. Prospero de Vera’s CHED chairmanship now official

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has formalized the appointment of Commission on Higher Education officer-in-charge J. Prospero de Vera as CHED chairman.

De Vera will serve a four-year term until July 21, 2022, according to CHED executive director Cinderella Filipina Benitez-Jaro. 

De Vera was the first commissioner to be appointed by Duterte to the agency in 2016. 

He served as officer-in-charge following the resignation of former CHED chair Patricia Licuanan earlier this year. 

“I am humbled and challenged by the trust given to me by President Duterte,” De Vera said. 

“I promise to do whatever is necessary to ensure the successful implementation of Republic Act 10931 and all reforms necessary in higher education,” he added, referring to the Universal Access to Quality Higher Education law.

Before joining the Duterte administration, De Vera was a professor of public administration at the University of the Philippines. 

He also served as vice president for public affairs of the university from 2011 to 2016. 

De Vera is a known political analyst, hosting among others a television program with Permanent Philippine Representative to the United Nations and incoming Foreign Affairs Secretrary Teodoro Locsin Jr. 

De Vera obtained his Bachelor of Arts in History and Doctor of Public Administration degrees from UP, where he taught since 1993. 

He specialized in Higher Education Administration at the Rossier School of Education of the University of Southern California as a Fulbright Hays Visiting Scholar from 1990 to 1992. 

He was a Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland from 2000 to 2001. 

De Vera vowed to fully implement the free higher education law, describing it as Duterte’s most important social justice program.