The facts are beyond twisting - I

Cutting loose on Dr. Paulus Cañete’s inexplicable intransigence in operating a local college without recognizing the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as its main source of authority and for its being, this paper’s editorial last Sept. 6 captioned “Time to Cut Losses” is not mere flick on the wrist. It is more of a number of lashes on the butt, and could include a couple of “Mirisi kang bata-a ka.”

Quoting its opening paragraph, the editorial didn’t mince words in castigating Cañete, thus: “Dr. Paulus Cañete can call it whatever he wants. But at the end of the day, with almost every agency that matters for the survival of his school already ranged against him, it is time he realizes his is a losing battle and that the time to cut losses has come.”

When his “graduates” were barred to take the licensure exam, Dr. Cañete desperately sought whichever power-that-be for help. He went to Rep. Luigi Quisumbing and the Cebu Provincial Board, and the media. Unfortunately, they have only taken side with the students, but no chastisement on Cañete’s intentional blunders in insulting defiance of the CHED. His sticking to the Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ALCU) as alleged source of authority, despite ALCU’s lacking legal power, does not speak well of his doctorate “toga.” Not even a college freshman could have the same temerity, or ignorance of the law.

Cañete’s adamance in going his own way could have triggered the Joint Circular of CHED and the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) effective January 2011. It requires graduates of state universities and colleges, and of local colleges and universities to submit proof of the “authority from CHED to operate board programs” in order to take licensure exams. Pursuant to the joint circular, PRC-7 originally disallowed a few graduates of Cañete’s school which made Cañete threaten the two PRC-7 lawyers with disbarment. But since PRC-7 stood on its ground, Cañete, to repeat, went desperately almost everywhere for SOS.

Quisumbing took the cudgels for them and, PRC-7 and CHED-7 have accommodated him. With the legitimate Mandaue City College of Dr. Cabahug as their choice for remedial measure, PRC-7 and CHED-7 officials have pampered a couple of students by personally herding them as if they’re innocent victims. C’mon they’re not unsung heroes as they knew long time ago that their MCC version didn’t honor CHED… The Board of Trustees resolved that the students must submit authentic transcripts of records, among others, and must take a validating test. The question is: Why is the Cabahug campus the only college picked to kowtow to these questionable students? Because all other schools refused them?

 There’s also the need to clarify the ballyhooed passing of nursing graduates in the board exams, and the alleged 90% rating in the nursing RQUAT evaluation. There had been 246 freshmen nursing students enrolled in Cañete’s MCC. Some 30 of them who later transferred to another school took the board exams, but only 10 or 11 made it. And yet, their one-page newspaper ad boasted as if they were their own graduates. Besides, the percentage of passing is just one-third of the takers. The nursing program of Cañete didn’t have the compulsory affiliation with any tertiary hospital in Cebu. The alleged 90% RQUAT showing made by Dr. Jucel Ann Jumao-as turned out as “under pressure” by Dr. Cañete and a former congresswoman.

  To quote the last paragraph of this paper’s editorial: “Allowing them to take the board on the basis of education acquired under questionable circumstances does the larger community a great disservice and places people at a disadvantage, if not outright peril.”

 In fine, what happens to succeeding “graduates” if the Cañete MCC is tolerated to continue operating, and to those who had “graduated” in the past, and/or those supposed to have passed licensure exams? Will they undergo “revalida” to legitimize them? And, what about those who have allegedly earned units in, and/or finished their, M.A. or doctoral “on-line” studies in “take-a-base” fashion, do they enjoy the “fruits of the poison tree” syndrome?

(To be continued)