THE House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by San Jose del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes on Monday began its investigation, in aid of legislation, into the alleged misuse of funds and mismanagement of the affairs of the Surigao del Norte State University (SNSU) raised in House Resolution (HR) 1319.
According to Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, author of HR 1319, the SNSU president has been unfit for the position from the beginning due to alleged anomalies, falsification, dishonesty and grave misconduct.
“I will also show that his continued stint is illegal and violative of the law prescribing the term of office of the president of chartered state universities or Republic Act 8292 and its latest IRR by the Commission on Higher Education, Memorandum Order No. 07, s. of 2022,” he said.
Barbers questioned the appointment process of SNSU president Dr. Gregorio Gamboa Jr., a former associate professor at Cebu Technological University (CTU), deeming his qualifications significantly inferior to those of other applicants, all of whom are locals from Surigao.
He also presented evidence to the committee suggesting possible manipulation of evaluation forms used in his promotion to SNSU president.
Gamboa faced additional scrutiny over various issues, including the hiring of entry-level staff at the assistant professor level instead of the instructor level, accepting thesis defense fees without being physically present, acting on verbal instructions without written documentation, and conducting a Commission on Higher Education (CHED) internationalization seminar in October 2019 that was supposed to last three days but was completed in one day.
Robes asserted that Gamboa should resign if he continues to charge and accept a P1,500 fee as a defense panelist chairperson without attending the theses defenses.
The panel will reconvene on July 1 to further discuss HR 1319 by questioning additional resource persons and examining additional pertinent documents pertaining to the alleged fund misuse and mismanagement of SNSU.
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