Benguet school exec denies fund misuse, mismanagement

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The president of the state-run Benguet State University has denied allegations of fund diversion and violation of the school promotion rules hurled against him.

Ben Ladilad said it was his decision to retire on Dec. 5, contrary to earlier reports that he was ordered to step down from the post by the Commission on Higher Education.

Earlier, the CHEd said Ladilad failed in the evaluation conducted by the commission. He was said to have received a rating of 3.5. He needs a rating of five to hold on to the post, Ched said.

Ladilad said the evaluation is not under the jurisdiction of CHEd, but that of the university’s board of regents, which is composed of the directors of the Department of Science and Technology, National Economic Development Authority, Department of Agriculture and CHEd, among others.

He said the board of regents decided not to renew his appointment as a four-year term is required and he is turning 65 next month.

Ladilad said he refused an offer to teach at the university, noting that it is time for him to attend to his family.

He said the fund misuse and mismanagement issues hurled against him were baseless.

He said the P50-million school fund was not diverted but was reverted back to the national treasury.

“Otherwise, audit reports could have pointed it out,” he said

He said BSU for years consistently appeared in the country’s academic map in terms of passing rate. “In fact, the university’s passing rate is higher than the national passing rate in nine out of the 10 fields of licensure examinations. With this, enrollees continue increase in number from 17,429 of SY 2011-2012 to 19,204 as of second quarter of this SY 2014-2015. In the granting of scholarships, the university yearly increased their student scholars from 1,558 of 2012 to 2,280 of 2014.”

Manpower development among teaching personnel was also a highlight with 88 percent or 22 out of 25 of masteral degree aspirants of 2012 increasing to 100 percent in 2013 and 2014.\

This, while PhD percentage is constant at 100 percent since 2012, he said. The university also sent 107 teaching personnel international for studies or  events while 1,806 were sent to nationwide seminars/workshops during Ladilad’s administration.

Ladilad cited vital role of the university’s research and extension function, in which he increased research and extension programs of the institution. Ladilad said he acquired counterpart funds for programs with international agencies for research.

A total of 440 research projects were conducted and completed on schedule. From these, 105 were granted intellectual property rights. Among these were copyrighted manuals, brochures, monographs and literary works.

A total of 145 were journal publications, conference proceedings, books and training manuals/workbooks. All of these will be used for the university’s instruction programs.

Research paper presentations also increased during Ladilad’s administration from the 149 and 122 of 2012 and 2013 to 215 of 2014 a total of 486 which were presented nationwide and overseas.

“These research projects notably brought honor to BSU. From 2012 to 2014, BSU bagged a remarkable number of 97 awards. 52 of which were institutional, eight were regional, 27 were national and the remaining 10 were international awards”, said Ladilad.

Development and upgrading of laboratories was also done among others.