De Vera appointed CHED Chair

Photo courtesy of Dr. De Vera

NCPAG faculty and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Commissioner Dr. J. Prospero E. de Vera is now the Chairperson of CHED.

His appointment, which is effective until 21 July 2022, was announced by CHED On October 15, 2018.

De Vera, according to the announcement released by CHED, is the “first-ever Commissioner who openly supported the Free Tuition bill pending in Congress in 2016 because it was an election promise of President Duterte.”

De Vera was appointed officer-in-charge of the Commission on January  24, 2018 following the resignation of chairperson Patricia Licuanan.

De Vera is a Full Professor at the National College of Public Administration & Governance (NCPAG) and served as Vice President for Public Affairs of the University of the Philippines System. At NCPAG, he also held the Directorship of the Center for Policy and Executive Development (CPED) and the Center for Leadership, Citizenship, and Democracy (CLCD).

Outside the academe, de Vera is known for his service in extending expertise in public policy, social development, legislative process and political management, among others, to a number of legislators. He served as Technical Assistant, Chief-of-Staff, Senior Consultant, and Senior Adviser to former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Senate President Pro-Tempore Sotero Laurel, Leticia Ramos-Shahani, and Juan Flavier and Senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Gregorio Honasan.

Dr. De Vera earned his Bachelor and Doctoral degrees from UP. He was also a Fulbright-Hays Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California and the California State University-Sacramento (1990-1992), and Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University (2000-2001).