THE Legal Education Board (LEB) has issued a cease-and-desist order to Mindanao State University (MSU) for its law extension programs in its Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi campuses.
The decision was reached by the LEB during its en banc meeting held last July 19.
In issuing the order, the LEB said that the university offered its law extension programs without authorization from the Board.
It cited MSU’s “continuing inability and deliberate refusal” to comply with the standards set under LEB Memorandum Order No. 2, Series of 2013, for the operation of extension law programs.
“The MSU was ordered to immediately cease and desist from offering its extension law programs in its Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi Campuses,” the LEB said in its August 8 “Notice to the Public” signed by Board chairperson Jason Barlis.
It said that MSU, aside from refusing to be bound by regulatory issuances pertaining to policies and standards on legal education, has likewise rejected LEB’s regulatory jurisdiction and supervisory authority.
It added that while the parties, during a dialogue held last June 20, agreed to maintain the status quo while the issue on regulatory jurisdiction is being resolved, the MSU supposedly violated the agreement when it “conducted a Law Admission Test on July 2-4, July 6 and July 13, 2024 in its Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Maguindanao campuses.”
Such action, the LEB, prompted them to issue the cease-and-desist order.
“This is without prejudice to future legal action of LEB against the MSU for its refusal to recognize the supervisory and regulatory jurisdiction of the LEB over its law program,” it said.
The MSU, in a statement, said it shall continue its law program in its extension campuses in Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
“The University assures the public and all the stakeholders of its law program, particularly the extension campuses at MSU-Tawi-Tawi, MSU Sulu, and MSU Maguindanao, that MSU College of Law and all is extensions shall continue and are continuing to operate legally in accordance with the Charter of MSU, independent from the Legal Education Board,” it said.
“In accordance with the Charter of MSU and Section 12 of Republic Act 7662, our law extension programs at MSU Tawi-Tawi, MSU Sulu and MSU Maguindanao will continue to operate by order of the MSU System president and upon authority of the MSU Board of Regents,” it added.
The MSU insisted that LEB has no jurisdiction over its College of Law programs and that its position on the issue is grounded in the LEB Charter that, it added, exempts law schools like MSU from its coverage.
“As far as the University is concerned, the prevailing status quo has always been, and will continue to be, that our law program is not subject to the regulatory authority of the LEB.
This status quo shall continue to be so until the issue is resolved with finality in the proper forum,” it said.
The LEB is an independent government agency responsible for the regulation of legal education in the country.
