TARLAC CITY, Tarlac (March 28, 2026) — A legal firestorm has paralyzed the search for the next president of Tarlac State University (TSU) after a disqualified aspirant dragged the institution’s Board of Regents (BOR) to court, alleging “shifting rules” and “arbitrary” exclusion.
Gherold Benitez, a prominent contender for the top academic post, filed a Verified Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition on March 27, 2026 — the same day a public forum for the candidates was scheduled to take place.
The Regional Trial Court has since issued a status quo ante order, effectively freezing the selection process and leaving the province’s premier state university in a leadership limbo.
THE ‘JURIS DOCTOR’ DEBATE
At the heart of the controversy is a technical dispute over academic credentials. Benitez alleged that the Search Committee (SC) and the BOR unfairly disqualified him by refusing to recognize his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree as a terminal doctorate. This can turn into a watershed moment for
In his petition, Benitez argued that the board’s refusal contradicts existing national policies that equate the J.D. to a Ph.D. for the purposes of employment and academic ranking. He described the move as a classic case of “changing the rules in the middle of the game,” claiming that the specific type of doctorate required was never narrowed down in the initial vacancy announcements.
In a 2019 resolution by the Legal Education Board (LEB), it declared that “the JD degree is considered equivalent to doctoral degrees in other non-law academic disciplines for purposes of appointment, employment, ranking, and compensation.”
The LEB is an independent government agency in the Philippines that regulates and reforms legal education. The agency is attached to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for budgetary purposes and administrative support.
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE QUESTIONED
The investigation into the disqualification also reveals a disagreement over what constitutes “high-level management.”
Benitez served as a member of the TSU Board of Regents for four-and-a-half years. He contended that this tenure — serving in the university’s highest policy-making body — should more than satisfy the requirement for administrative experience. However, the Search Committee reportedly did not credit this period, a move the petitioner described as a “gross misappreciation” of the board’s functions.
ALLEGATIONS OF ‘ULTRA VIRES’ ACTS
Beyond his personal qualifications, Benitez’s petition took aim at what he calls “inserted” requirements that appear nowhere in the standard Omnibus Rules of CHED.
Among the contested new rules are: a strict age limit of 61 years, and the disqualification of any applicant with a pending appeal in administrative or criminal cases.
The petition argued that by adding these layers of qualifications, the BOR acted ultra vires — or beyond its legal authority — effectively “tailor-fitting” the criteria to exclude certain individuals while favoring others.
IRREPARABLE INJURY
The timing of the petition underscores the urgency of the rift. Filed just hours before the candidates were set to face the TSU community, the prayer for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was based on the premise of “irreparable injury.”
Benitez claimed that if the selection process were allowed to proceed to the final interview and appointment stage without resolving these legal questions, his right to a fair and transparent pursuit of the presidency would be permanently extinguished.
As of press time, the TSU administration and the Board of Regents have yet to release a formal statement regarding the specific allegations of the petition, citing the sub judice rule now that the matter is before the court.
For now, the halls of TSU remain quiet, the public forums are cancelled, and the search for a new leader is sidelined by a high-stakes legal battle over fairness and institutional integrity.
