CHED hands off UST abuse case

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has distanced itself from the supposed failure of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) to impose appropriate sanctions against a student accused of physically abusing his former girlfriend.

CHED officer-in-charge J. Prospero de Vera III last Tuesday said universities have their respective disciplinary procedures and that the commission cannot just simply intervene and dictate higher education institutions (HEIs) on what to do in such cases.

De Vera said CHED may intervene only if the students elevate the matter to the commission after exhausting all efforts at the university level.

“The CHED cannot take the form of (disciplining authority, order HEIs to adhere to it and tell the university to implement sanctions). We cannot do that because we have to respect the procedures (of) the university,” he said.

“(The student) can go back to (CHED) and ask (the commission) to intervene but we must exhaust all the procedures in the university first,” he added.

Last week, the university drew criticism online after a female student shared her experience of being physically abused by her former boyfriend, a fellow UST student.

She claimed that UST only imposed a penalty of community service to the offender despite the gravity of what he did. UST has yet to address the matter.