Ex-CHED exec seeks reinstatement after Sandigan acquittal

MANILA, Philippines — Dismissed Commission on Higher Education (CHED) executive director Julito Vitriolo has called for his reinstatement following the dismissal of the graft charges filed against him before the Sandiganbayan. 

Vitriolo recently said his acquittal bolsters the earlier Court of Appeals (CA) decision reinstating him as executive director of CHED. 

“I thank the (Sandiganbayan) justices for the swift and just disposition of the case, which was based on trumped-up charges largely as there was no iota of  evidence whatsoever to prove liability,” he said. 

In a resolution dated Aug. 22, the Sandiganbayan First Division granted Vitriolo’s demurrer to evidence, which sought the dismissal of the case due to insufficient evidence presented by the prosecution panel. 

The Office of the Ombudsman in 2016 dismissed Vitriolo for supposedly failing to investigate an alleged “diploma mill” education program between the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) and the National College of Physical Education (NCPE).

The program, created following a memorandum of agreement between PLM and NCPE in 1996, was suspended in 2008 after the Commission on Audit found it prejudicial to the interest of the university.

The graft case against Vitriolo was filed after he supposedly failed to comply with requests for information on the program and conducting an investigation on the existence or implementation of the program.

He was also accused of allowing in 2010 the issuance of transcripts to the graduates of the program despite its suspension.

The CHED official appealed his dismissal before the CA, which ordered his reinstatement in August last year. 

It was not implemented supposedly because the appelate court’s order was not yet final and executory. 

With the dismissal of the graft case in Sandiganbayan, Vitriolo called on CHED commissioners to recognize his reinstatement.