CONCERNED employees of the Commission on Higher Education have filed an administrative and ethics complaint against CHEd chairman Shirley Agrupis, alleging nepotism, contract fragmentation and the misuse of public office for personal branding.
The complaint, filed collectively by staff fearing reprisal, calls for a formal investigation into the CHEd chairman’s leadership since she assumed office on May 29, 2025.
The complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times on Friday, was dated May 28, 2026 and addressed to the Office of the President.
The complainants also urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to consider appointing a new CHEd chairman.
“Our students deserve leadership that treats CHEd as a constitutional body entrusted with shaping the future of the country’s higher education, not as a platform for personal branding or legacy-building,” part of the 6-page complaint read.
The complainants alleged that Agrupis violated Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees; RA 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act; COA Circular 2013-004; and related civil service rules.
Nepotism
A major part of the complaint centers on what the employees described as nepotism and patronage appointments within the commission.
The complainants claimed that since Agrupis assumed leadership, a disproportionate number of senior positions at the CHEd Central Office, including chiefs of office and directors, have been filled by individuals previously affiliated with Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Ilocos Norte, where Agrupis served as president from 2017 to 2024, and CHEd Regional Office 1, which she oversaw as commissioner.
The employees argued that the concentration of appointees from Agrupis’ former institutions raised questions on whether “personal loyalty and institutional affiliation were prioritized over merit, fitness and qualifications.”
The complainants also cited Agrupis’ appointment of her daughter, lawyer Cheska Arla Agrupis, as Executive Assistant IV during her tenure as MMSU president.
According to the complaint, Atty. Agrupis directly served her mother in an official capacity and held multiple positions at MMSU simultaneously, as allegedly documented on the university’s official website.
The employees said the arrangement raised “serious concerns” about rules against nepotism.
They asked the Civil Service Commission to conduct a review of whether appointments, promotions, designations, and reassignments in CHEd since June 2025 complied with merit-selection processes required under civil service rules.
They also called on CHEd to produce a list of all officials with the rank of chief, director and above who were appointed, promoted, designated or reassigned since June 2025, including their prior institutional affiliation, manner of selection, and qualifications.
Contract fragmentation
The complaint also accused Agrupis of imposing policies that allegedly created unnecessary red tape for contract of service (COS) and job order (JO) workers.
They said that beginning fiscal year 2026, COS and JO contracts that could have been issued for up to one year were instead fragmented into three-month engagements.
The complainants said the three-month contract arrangement resulted in repeated documentation, processing and notarization requirements on the part of the employees.
They claimed this created unnecessary administrative costs, delays in service delivery, and prolonged uncertainty for workers who had no assurance that their engagements would be renewed after each quarter.
The complaint also said the practice placed an additional burden on CHEd administrative and finance personnel, who had to process multiple engagement cycles instead of one annual process.
“This was particularly concerning because around 90 percent of CHEd personnel are allegedly engaged under COS and JO arrangements,” the complainants said.
The employees also argued that the practice ran counter to government policy directions seeking to move qualified COS and JO workers toward regularization or absorption into plantilla positions, rather than subjecting them to greater employment precarity.
The Manila Times reached out to the office of Agrupis and is waiting for her reaction and statement to the accusations.
Personal branding
Another major allegation in the complaint involves what the employees described as Agrupis’ use of public office for personal branding and self-promotion.
The complaint said Agrupis allegedly engaged in a sustained pattern of personal branding through government resources and official events.
The complainants questioned CHEd’s adoption of the “Achieve Agenda,” which they said was the same acronym and framework Agrupis used as her personal presidential agenda at MMSU from 2017 to 2024.
“Rather than developing a responsive institutional strategy for CHEd, she imported her personal brand wholesale into a constitutional body. The ‘A’ in Achieve has become synonymous with ‘A’ for Agrupis,” the complaint stated.
The employees also alleged that Agrupis solicited or required diplomats, lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries, heads of other agencies and university presidents to perform a hand gesture forming the letter “A” during official CHEd events.
They also sought an investigation into a biographical film titled “Shirley,” which the complaint described as a film about the chairman’s life.
Institutional concerns
The complaint argued that the alleged personal branding occurred while CHEd was facing serious institutional issues.
The employees cited P20.171 billion in unliquidated Tertiary Education Subsidy grants flagged by the Commission on Audit as of Dec. 31, 2024, with only 40.8 percent reportedly resolved as of March 2026.
They also cited Edcom 2’s finding that CHEd has only “partially realized” its mandate after 30 years, including the alleged failure to designate new Centers of Excellence since 2016 and the absence of support for voluntary accreditation since 2020.
The complainants also cited widespread opposition to the proposed reframing of the General Education curriculum from the top universities in the country, as well as faculty unions and student groups.
The complaint said the opposition led to the postponement of pilot testing to 2028.
The employees also cited the chairman’s own alleged admission before Edcom 2 that CHEd has “no centralized data on the demand and thorough analysis of the demand from the industry and government sectors.”
They also pointed to what the complaint described as rising graduate unemployment, from 35.6 percent in December 2024 to 50 percent by mid-2025, based on CHEd-cited figures.
“The disproportionate focus on personal branding, biographical filmmaking, and staged group poses, while these fundamental problems remain unresolved, reflects a serious misalignment of priorities that undermines public trust in the Commission,” the concerned employees said.
