He didn't last very long. Why? Because he attempted to go after the growing number of schools that are essentially functioning as diploma mills.
Though he had once served as his university's rector, Father de la Rosa still regarded himself as a political virgin. (Perhaps it is the reason he got the job, he jests.) Unlike most politicians in the Philippines, he had no allegiances and owed favors to no one. Having taken a vow of poverty and chastity, he was not easily led into temptation. Father de la Rosa did not even pocket a government salary. He returned each night to his simple room in the seminary at the University of Santo Tomás and ate communal meals with the brothers in his order.
But once on the commission, which is charged with regulating the country's universities and colleges, Father de la Rosa wasted little time. Even during his swearing-in ceremony in October 2004, he spoke of the need to tighten supervision of the poor-quality educational programs that were mushrooming across the country.
Within weeks of his becoming chairman, the commission began to clamp down on the so-called diploma mills that had sprung up in recent years here. Flimsy programs were told to raise their standards or be shut down. Permits of those that had been warned were revoked. Owners were outraged. Members of the Philippine Congress with angry constituents and their own vested interests told him to back off.
But not until a warrant was issued for Father de la Rosa's arrest did he finally give up the fight.
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