SENATE President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda called on the Commission on Higher Education to ensure that all State Universities and Colleges followed the provision on the Higher Education Act on the establishment of Centers for Excellence.

Legarda said that one of the provisions of Republic Act 7722 or the Higher Education Act is the establishment of centers of excellence in program areas needed for the development of world-class scholarship, nation building and national development.

The senator asked Dr. Tirso Ronquillo, president of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges, whether that provision has been changed, updated or upgraded and whether all the 114 SUCs have centers of excellence.

“I would also like to know not just the name of the center of excellence or the discipline or the study, but what kind of standards of excellence would merit a center of excellence?” Legarda asked.

The senator was informed that a number of SUCs have established centers of excellence.

However, CHED Executive Director Cinderella Filipina Benitez-Jaro said the guidelines are being revised.