President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed CHED Commissioner Shirley Agrupis as the new chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
He accepted the courtesy resignation of Chairperson J. Prospero De Vera III, who had led CHED since 2018.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the President may have considered that De Vera was already serving his second four-year term.
“Maybe the President wanted to give a fresh start to the CHED. Or maybe there were other reasons,” Bersamin said at a Palace presser.
“A collegial body like the CHED always comes under such pressure from within. But I’m not going to say that was the reason. I’m just guessing that played a lot in the acceptance of the resignation,” he added.
De Vera was first appointed as CHED commissioner in 2016, became officer-in-charge in January 2018, and was named chairperson in October 2018. Marcos Jr. reappointed him in 2022.
Dr. Agrupis, an experienced academic, researcher, and public servant, became CHED commissioner on September 6, 2024. Before joining CHED, she was a full-time professor and president of Mariano Marcos State University in Ilocos Norte.IMT
