JVR takes flak for Talisay City College head issue

The cordial meeting between Talisay City Mayor Johnny V. delos Reyes (right), Dr. Paulus Cañete (left) and Talisay City College president Ritchel Bacaltos belied the tension over the dispute concerning leadership of the city college. (CDN PHOTO/ GABRIEL C. BONJOC)

Talisay City Mayor Johnny V. delos Reyes’ appointment of a new president of the Talisay City College (TCC) is being challenged by his vice mayor and  the school’s acting president.

The mayor together with city legal officer Alfredo Sipalay and his appointee, Dr. Paulus Cañete, went to the TCC yesterday morning to inform incumbent president Ritchel Bacaltos that he will be replaced.

Delos Reyes later told reporters that Bacaltos asked him for a 30-day reprieve and a copy of a Board of Trustees (BOT) resolution authorizing  Cañete’s appointment as his replacement.

Cañete was the president of a faction of the Mandaue City College that was at odds with Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.

Bacaltos is the city  administrator during the time of former mayor and now Talisay City Councilor Socrates Fernandez.

Delos Reyes said  Cañete is more qualified to hold the TCC presidency since he holds a doctoral degree.

Vice Mayor Romeo Villarante said Cañete’s appointment is illegal as he questioned the procedure on how the school’s president was replaced.

The mayor earlier issued an executive order appointing Dr. Paulos Cañete as TCC president.

Villarante said the mayor’s order is moot and academic since any development or appointment in the school should come from the school  board’s collective decision.

While the mayor is chairman of the TCC board, he is not  the school’s executive officer.

Villarante cited a provision in the amended ordinance that provides that “the administration of the college shall be vested in the President of Talisay City College who shall render full time service.”

SEARCH COMMITTEE

Villarante  said the mayor  also violated the ordinance which requires that the appointment of the TCC president should be based on the recommendation of a search committee created by the school board.

The vice mayor said the appointment of Bacaltos is  also flawed because  he is a faculty member of a university in Cebu City.

In a phone interview Sipalay said the TCC board passed a resolution last Dec. 10 authorizing Mayor delos Reyes to appoint a qualified person as TCC president.

Sipalay said seven of the 11 members of the board approved the resolution.

Bacaltos however said he was present during the meeting and he could not recall having approved any resolution.

Bacaltos said he would yield the post if the mayor followed due process.

Delos Reyes said he believes Bacaltos was a “midnight appointee” of Fernandez since the former TCC president, Dr. Tomas Ramos, was implicated in the alleged fund discrepancies in the school as noted by the Commission on Audit (COA).