Catanduanes State University (CatSU) President Patrick Alain T. Azanza and the Board of Regents have been directed to file their answers to the petition filed before the Regional Trial Court last week by University Student Council (USC) President Virgilio S. Cortado Jr.
In Special Civil Action No. 0132 for Prohibition and Mandamus with an urgent prayer for issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction, the student leader seeks to prohibit Azanza and the Board headed by its chairperson, CHED Commissioner Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela, from deferring and holding in abeyance the oath taking assumption of office of Cortado as USC President and Student Regent.
It also asks the Court to prohibit the respondents from proceeding with the investigation on the alleged disqualification of the petitioner.
The petition filed on Sept. 23, 2024 also prays to the Court to command the respondents to recognize Cortado as the duly elected, duly proclaimed and full-fledged USC President and Student Regent of the university.
It may be recalled that Cortado was the lone candidate for the presidency in the March 18, 2024 USC elections, having been qualified by the CatSU COMELEC after the latter dismissed as “unmeritorious” separate but identical complaints filed by three students alleging that he was not qualified for the position.
One of the complainants later withdrew his consent from the disqualification move, claiming that two instructors coerced him into filing the complaint.
When classes opened in July, the duly elected USC officers expected that they would take their oath and assume office but the activity was delayed by the university administration for no reason.
On Aug. 8, Cortado received a memorandum from the Board Secretary that the BOR had deferred and held in abeyance his oath taking as USC President until the issues on his qualification are resolved by a committee to be chaired by Regent Ramil Joselito Tamayo.
The same memo allowed all other USC officers and College Student Councils officers to take their oaths.
In his petition, Cortado said the selective and discriminatory treatment is both unjust and unwarranted as the USC Constitution and By-Laws state that any other concern on the qualifications of officers is to be deliberated and decided by the COMELEC and not by the BOR.
“For the Board of Regents to defer and hold in abeyance Petitioner’s oath taking until the issues on his qualifications are resolved by the committee constituted by the BOR dues not only infringe on Petitioner’s right to due process but also encroaches on the power of the CatSU COMELEC, an independent body,” the petition stated.
In assailing the legality of the memorandum, the petition likewise underscored that the questioned memorandum did not state the BOR Resolution authorizing such act, with the subject not even included in the matters approved and confirmed during the meeting.
The BOR’s action on a matter already decided by CatSU COMELEC is “highly irregular and tantamount to grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction,” it added.
Nowhere in the University Code, Citizen’s Charter, Administrative Operations Manual, Student Handbook or even the USC Constitution and By-Laws is it stated that the oath of office of USC elected officials may only be done before the University President or any University Administering Officer, Cortado pointed out.
Defending his Aug. 11 and 12 oathtaking before Virac Mayor Samuel Laynes, he cited Sec. 41 of Executive Order No. 292, otherwise known as the Administrative Code of 1987, which enumerates officers, including the mayor and the punong barangay, authorized to administer oath of any government official including the President of the Philippines.
Cortado stated that while the assailed memo may have deferred his oath before the president or any university official, such deferment has not stripped him of his right and duty to assume the power and the office vested on him by university students.
This, he said, prompted him to notify the Board as well as various university offices of his oathtaking and assumption of office as USC President and Student Regent on Sept. 17, 2024.
In a Meta post, Azanza said the Board has yet to decide whether Cortado is qualified or not to sit as USC President and Student Regent and claimed that his oath before Mayor Laynes is not sanctioned by the BOR.
In appealing for the issuance of a TOR or writ of preliminary injunction, Cortado argued through his counsel, MESO Law Office, that he has a clear and unmistakable right to the office of the USC President and Student Regent, with the deferment of his assumption to office depriving him of his office for more than a month now.
Thus, he claimed, he continues to suffer irreparable injury due to the respondents’ refusal to recognize his right to office and his being subjected to an investigation of a committee acting without jurisdiction.
The same injury is being suffered by the student body, which have no student president to lead them and no student regent to voice out their concerns, protect their rights and be their true representative in the highest governing body of the university, he stressed.
“Petitioner cannot help but surmise that there are forces greater than him that are trying to thwart him from exercising his mandate as Student Council President and Student Regent despite having all the qualifications required under the governing laws of the university,” the petition emphasized.
According to informed sources, the BOR was supposed to convene for its quarterly meeting last Sept. 26, 2024 at CatSU but this was rescheduled to Oct. 10, just two days after the deadline for the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) of those running for various positions in the May 2025 elections.
Pres. Azanza is widely believed to be interested in running either as governor or congressman while Regent Tamayo is rumored to be the challenger for the post held by Caramoran Mayor Glenda Aguilar.
Political observers also noted that Azanza is also being wooed by Congressman Eulogio Rodriguez to run as governor, citing his meetings in Metro Manila with the solon’s political handler, former Mayor Sinforoso Sarmiento, and Regent Tamayo.