SENATE Majority Leader Francis Tolentino stressed that the local government unit-operated colleges and universities should participate in the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program or ETEEAP.

Tolentino asked Senator Joel Villanueva, sponsor of Senate Bill No. 2568, or the proposed ETEEAP Act, if local colleges and universities can be involved in the program.

“May I know if in the proposed measure, if there is a possibility of involving local colleges and universities, and to what extend would be the involvement of the local colleges and university? Because they belonged to another realm not directly supervised by the CHED but more or less supervised by the local government itself,” Tolentino said.

“I am a believer of local autonomy and I am of the belief that LGU initiated colleges can likewise and should participate in this measure,” he added.

Under the bill, the Commission on Higher Education as the lead agency that will implement the program will determine and approve the academic degrees to be opened for the Program.

After thorough evaluation, the CHED is also mandated to certify the pertinent work experiences and knowledge of expertise acquired by individuals from high-level, non-formal and informal training toward awarding an appropriate academic degree.

It will also determine the deficiencies of an applicant/awardee that would need remedial studies or academic supplementation through formal coursework to satisfy pertinent requirements for an academic degree applied for.