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As to who will be the next Commission on Higher Education chair
remains a guessing game, as Commissioner Nona Ricafort apparently
failed to get from Malacañang her appointment to be the education
commission’s new head.
The name of Angeles University Foundation
Chancellor Emmanuel Angeles is also being floated as the next
chairman of the education commission, replacing outgoing head Romulo
Neri.
Sources inside the Education commission and
Malacañang said that Angeles, the former president and chief
executive of the Clark Development Corp., is President Gloria
Arroyo’s first choice to replace Neri.
The sources said should that happen, it would be
“heart break” for Ricafort, who earlier indicated that she is
ready to take the top post of the education commission should she be
appointed.
It is no secret to the education commission’s
officials and employees that Ricafort is eyeing the top position.
She has been very visible during the past few Cabinet meetings,
which was taken as a cue that she will take over Neri’s post.
But when Malacañang officially announced
Neri’s appointment as president of the Social Security System on
Wednesday, Ricafort’s supposed appointment never materialized and
was apparently being withheld for a still unclear reason.
Commission insiders said President Arroyo
appointed Ricafort as Neri’s replacement and signed her
appointment papers before the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
It was also reported that Neri and Ricafort are
to assume their new posts “right after the President’s State of
the Nation Address” on July 28.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita declined to
confirm Ricafort’s supposed appointment. However, he said that
Ricafort, being with the commission, would “probably be appointed
in some capacity as an officer in charge, or in an acting
capacity.”
Arroyo is reportedly close to the Angeles family
since her father, the late former President Diosdado Macapagal, was
chairman of the board of the Angeles University Foundation, which is
owned by the Angeles family, until he passed away in 1997.
Angeles is a lawyer by profession, having
obtained his Bachelor of Laws at Ateneo and Harvard Law Schools
during the 1960s, and his Master of Laws and Doctor of Philosophy in
Political Science at the University of Santo Tomas in 1968 and 1971,
respectively.
On May 25, 2005, he took oath as the First
Chancellor of Angeles University Foundation and committed himself to
the societal transformation thrust of the university.
-- James Konstantin Galvez
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