CHED steps up Cha-cha info drive

The CHED’s acting chief said the commission is in talks with former Chief Justice Reynato Puno (Photo by Commission on Higher Education)

MANILA — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will enlist the support of state universities and colleges (SUCs) nationwide to conduct an intensive information campaign to help the youth fully understand Charter change or Cha-cha.

The network of state universities in the country will be an effective venue to hold forums and workshops on Charter change, according to CHED Officer-in-Charge Commissioner Prospero de Vera III.

“We’re going to mobilize the SUCs for the Charter change. The state universities network is the most logical network to do information dissemination. We’re talking of 112 SUCs of more than 300 campuses. All of these campuses have venues for meetings and forum,” De Vera said in an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the first Philippines-United Kingdom Transnational Education Conference held in Makati City on Friday.

The CHED’s acting chief said the commission is in talks with former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, chair of the consultative committee tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to review provisions of the 1987 Constitution and to hold public consultations on the proposed constitutional amendments.

“Because a lot of frustrations on discussions on the proposed shift to federalism is that we only focus on the political side. We must focus as well on the substantial side — how will education look like, how will social work look like, what are the economic realities on the region when we talk about federalism? The once who can provide answers to that are actually the universities in the region and their experts,” De Vera said.

CHED is eyeing to start the initiative as early as next month.

The University of the Philippines has offered its campus in Bonifacio Global City for experts to conduct meetings with members of the Puno committee regarding discussions on Charter change.

De Vera hopes that holding forums and workshops in SUCs will encourage the involvement of the youth in discussions on amending the Constitution and how this will benefit them.

Duterte has long advocated federalism to decentralize government power from Metro Manila and create economic opportunities in the provinces.

The consultative committee is planning to submit its report on the proposed amendments by July, in time for the President’s third State of the Nation Address.