Mindanao State University Has New President

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 09, 2008) — Philippine leader Gloria Arroyo has named a respected Muslim as new president of the Mindanao State University (MSU) in the southern Philippines.

Dr. Macapado Muslim will replace former Police Deputy Director General Ricardo De Leon, who has served as interim president of the university since September 2005.

The turnover ceremony will be held on Jan. 21 at the university’s main campus in Marawi City. It will be presided by Commission on Higher Education Secretary Romulo Neri.

“I leave MSU with sadness because I have grown to regard you all as family and will surely miss you. I also leave it with joy and pride, knowing that I have given it my best shot; that I gave it all that I am and have. Should our paths cross again in the future, rest assured that I hold the same affection in my heart. I thank you for giving me the highest title a University President dreams and wishes to achieve, to be endeared as ‘Daddy Pres’,” De Leon said to a group of MSU alumni.

Muslim, a native of Marawi City, is an alumnus of the MSU. He received his masters degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines.

He obtained his MA and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the University of Hawaii as an East-West Center scholar. Muslim was a chancellor of MSU in General Santos City for 11 years and was a concurrent member of the MSU Board of Regents.

Both the appointment of Muslim and the term of De Leon have been marked by controversy and disappointments.

De Leon, who holds a doctorate degree in police and security administration, was an unpopular choice for the post; he is not an alumnus of MSU.

Arroyo’s appointment of De Leon as MSU president in 2005 came just shortly after her surprise designation of Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan as chief of the Southern Command in “an already discontented and restive military.”

Critics said the appointment of a military man like De Leon in a non-military establishment, such as MSU, is tantamount to militarization of the establishment.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, however, said that De Leon’s appointment was necessary to “clean the mess” in the university brought about by supposed intervention of “warlords” in the selection process for the MSU presidency.

De Leon replaced Dr. Camar Umpa, whose term expired on September 1, 2005 as MSU president. He was reportedly to serve only from six months to one year.

Like in Adan’s case, De Leon’s designation bypassed the search committee constituted by Malacañang.

However unlike Adan, who was also among those considered by the Board of Generals, De Leon was not among the 21 candidates screened by the search committee.

Of the 21 applicants, a short-list of three was submitted to Malacañang to which Muslim was the unanimous choice of the committee for the post.

The other two nominees were Dr. Nasroden Guro, dean of the College of Public Affairs, and Dr. Abubakr Otinggue Mohammad Masnar, vice chancellor for research.

Critics said if Arroyo was “serious in giving due recognition to MSU’s contribution to peace and development in Mindanao, she should appoint someone to the academe on the basis of merit via the institutionalized process of the search committee,” Alecks P. Pabico, head of Multimedia Desk of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported.

It was the first time that the “long-respected institutional processes observed in the academe has not been followed,” an alumnus of the university said.

Critics claimed while it is the prerogative of President Arroyo whom to choose, the previous appointees were all chosen from the results of the selection process.”

All the past presidents of MSU, except for its first president, Dr. Antonio Isidro, were from Mindanao and either a graduate of the university or a member of the Board of Regents that governs the university.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also assailed the appointment of De Leon as “bad for the morale of professional educators” and “bad for our educational system.”

“If the justification is for a retired military man to clean up the mess, I beg to disagree,” said former faculty regent Prof. Norkaya Mohamad.

De Leon had been accused by some groups as anti-Muslim and was planning to build a cathedral and forbid the use of scarves by Muslim women in the campus, an allegation he had strongly denied.

Critics further said there has been “severe deterioration of the academic standards” of MSU’s main campus, an allegation dismissed by supporters of De Leon as “a sin of past administrators.”

Muslim’s appointment was hailed by its supporters saying that “he is the best man for the job” to “restore the lost academic excellence of MSU, especially of its main campus in Marawi City.”

“As a former university president, I am alarmed by this years dismal performance of our graduates in the engineering and nursing board examinations compared to the past years where we almost got 90 percent and above as board passers. The choosing of Muslim as president shall save the institution from further academic deterioration,” said Umpa.

Dr. Jose Abueva, the former president of the University of the Philippines argued that President Arroyo did not respect the selection process which chose Muslim to be the president of MSU when she appointed De Leon to the post.

UP professor columnist Solita Monsod said “as an academic and an administrator,” Muslim “stands very tall indeed.”

De Leon also appealed “for sobriety and calmness to ensure a peaceful turnover” and calls “the same support” for Muslim as “you have extended me.”

The Mindanao State University was established in Marawi City on September 1, 1961 by virtue of Republic Act 1387. It is the only university in the Philippines with a special mandate to integrate the cultural communities, specially the Muslims into the mainstream Philippine society. (Norodin Makalay)