There is still a confusion on the appointment of Lapuz to the government agency that oversees public and private higher education institutions as well as degree-granting programs in all tertiary educational institutions in the country because while others say the position is co-terminus with the appointing authority, there are also those who say that the head of CHED has a fixed term and that of the current chair, Patricia Licuanan, is up to 2018.
The designation of Lapuz as CHED chair was first mentioned by Ateneo de Davao President Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J. In his blog more than a week ago.
According to an Inquirer report, Tabora related: “In fact, last Wednesday, June 8, at 2:30 a.m. in a room filled with people in the Panacan Malacañan of the South, President Duterte had publicly designated Professor Lapuz, long-time professor of political science and of the life and works of Jose Rizal at the Lyceum of the Philippines, CHED Chair. To the professor’s self-deprecating query, ‘Are you really nominating me CHED chair?’ the President replied emphatically, ‘Yes!’”