A poll watchdog on Sunday slammed the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for supposedly endorsing vice presidential bet Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and five senatorial bets.
Kontra Daya represented by convenor Danilo Arao of the University of the Philippines accused CHEd chairperson Prospero de Vera III for his endorsement.
In an interview over Super Radyo dzBB yesterday, Arao said the endorsement was part of the sixth episode of CHEd’s PILI-PinaSkolar Halalan series of voter’s education forums aired through Facebook Live.
The forum was broadcast on the official Facebook page of CHEd, citing De Vera’s action was a “misuse and abuse” of government resources during the campaign period.
“We call on the Commission on Elections to investigate chairperson Prospero De Vera for what he did,” Arao said. “This is clearly using his position to advance the candidacy of several candidates,” he added.
The election watchdog said CHED endorsed Duterte, and senatorial aspirants Gregorio Honasan, Gilbert Teodoro, Emmanuel Piñol, Loren Legarda, and Herbert Bautista.
The Omnibus Election Code cited it is illegal for government officials or other individuals to use media owned by the government for “any election campaign or for any partisan political activity.”
The video was taken down been taken down from CHED’s Facebook page.
“I just hope that the Comelec listens, and I hope this can be investigated. Even if the video has been deleted, other people can provide the saved copy,” Arao said.