Parents, students set case vs ‘fake’ school

By Jun Elias

SAN FERNANDO, La Union – Parents and students of a local school here are set to file charges against the institution for allegedly operating without proper permits.

The complainants recently sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation regional office for the filing of a class suit and criminal charges against the officials of California University-Foreign Credential Evaluation Ideal Center (CU-FCE) in Barangay Sevilla.

One of the complainants, Ruth Villaruz, said the CU-FCE is not registered with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and other government agencies.

“I discovered this when I tried to transfer my daughter to Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University. The DMMMSU officials told me the school where my daughter came from was not registered. Other students from CU-FCE were also not accepted at the DMMMSU,” Villaruz said.

CHED Region 1 director Cherrie Melanie Ancheta-Diego confirmed to another complainant, Rebecca Carreon, that the CU-FCE is not in the list of institutions authorized to operate higher education programs in the region.

“In September 2014, the CU-FCE applied for a permit  to operate an auxiliary service for transnational education. It has not complied with the policies, standards and guidelines for transnational education program,” Ancheta-Diego said in a letter to Carreon.

On its website, the California University Education based in Los Angeles, USA posted that the CU-FCE in San Fernando City is not affiliated with them.