PALACE spokesperson Atty. Claire Castro confirmed that an investigation has been ordered on the goings on at the Mindanao State University (MSU) and its president, Atty. Paisalin Pangandaman Tago, in response to the increasing number of complaints against Tago’s leadership since assuming the top university post last year.
“Ipinagbigay-alam natin mismo ito kay CHEd Chair (Shirley) Agrupis, at sa ngayon ay tinitingnan na po nila ang isyu at paiimbestigahan po ito para po matugunan kung ano man po ang problemang kinapapalooban ng nasabing unibersidad,” Castro said in reply to the question raised by the Malacañang Press Corps during the regular press briefing last Monday, May 18.
Castro is referring to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) that has supervisory jurisdiction over the country’s higher educational institutions.
In April, a splash of dismay and frustration expressed thru social media rocked the MSU community.
This, after Tago denied the participation of more than 60 medicine and agricultural students to attend two separate student assemblies held outside the main campus in Marawi City by refusing to issue a travel authority (T/A).
While Tago cited a directive from Malacañang for all government agencies to disallow all “unnecessary travel” in view of the sudden oil supply crisis brought abo
ut by the war between the United States, Israel and Iran, the students and the school’s faculty accompanying them viewed their trip differently.
They noted that the MSU management has been notified of ahead of time of their participation in the scheduled student assemblies that is also part of their course requirements for graduation.
They also noted that MSU would not spend a single centavo as they and their families would pay for all the attendant expenses, from air fares to hotel accommodations and their pocket money.
Parents of the students who met with Tago afterwards to discuss the incident and the possibility of their being “reimbursed” for the expenses they incurred for the cancelled trip were also reportedly not convinced by Tago’s assurances.
Even prior to this incident, a rumor that has circulated over the alleged monthly “payola” from a private company involving a relative of Tago has also scandalized the MSU community.
Members of the faculty who declined to be named also pointed to the alleged questionable repairs that Tago ordered after he took office of the Administration Building, Office of the University System President and the Guest House that also serves as his official residence.
They alleged there was no ‘Program of Works’ for the repairs thus hiding the amount already spent and suggested for the Commission on Audit (COA) to look into the matter.
They also described as “hotel-like” the changes ordered by Tago, which also allegedly deviated from the structures’ original plans intended to preserve their historical significance as the government center of higher learning in Mindanao.
Tago is also accused of questionably claiming that the repair of the King Faisal Mosque at the Marawi campus was done thru his initiative despite the funding allegedly coming from a donation from Malaysia.
Tago is being viewed as a ‘political appointee’ as he has no background in the academe. He is a former Deputy Speaker at the Bangsamoro (BARMM) Parliament and Minister for Transportation and Communications before being appointed at the MSU in June 2025, allegedly thru the intercession of his cousin, then Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.
Tago formally assumed as MSU President and Marawi Campus Chancellor on August 13, 2025.
He is allegedly so confident of getting the top MSU post with Pangandaman’s help that in May, a month prior to his appointment, he decided to resign from all his posts at BARMM.
Before her disgraceful resignation in November 2025 after being linked to the trillion-pesos flood control project scandal, Pangandaman is acknowledged as among the most “influential” in the Marcos Cabinet.