ILIGAN City ― In a statement to reporters over the weekend, city mayor Frederick Siao said that operations of the “Colegio de Iligan” have been temporarily suspended.
This is pending findings from a Technical Working Group that has been formed to address issues regarding its operations, most especially its accreditation with the Commission on Higher Education requirements which to date have not been complied with.
The mayor then added that this is “not a political move” and the people composing this group in the TWG are people who do not have politics in their minds. So their recommendations should be “objective” he said and the city will be able to act accordingly.
To recall the “Colegio” was established in 2019 by the previous administration of Mayor Celso Regencia with its venue situated at the shuttered National Steel Plant with the buildings and rooms there used too for said purpose.
Among CHED’s requirements for accreditation, it was learned, was that this institution should have its own land and building structures.
The NSC area to note is located at barangay Tomas Cabili and the city is claiming ownership of it. This is because of unpaid real estate taxes due it by the said plant which is supposedly amounting to over P4 billion. But it is locked too in an ownership battle against the liquidator representing 10 banks which the plant too had owed in the amount of over P10 billion.
Earlier, it was learned that the past administration had planned to purchase some land and build structures for said “Colegio” but it was not able to do so even if classes there were already held at said location.
Former councilor Roy Openiano, who is among the key members of Siao’s transition team said that there is “doubt” that if ever CHED requirements would be complied with, “it might not be retroactive.”
So, there is some worry as to what will happen to the students there who had been studying there since 2019.
