BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan on Friday, November 9, recognized the prerogative of Pines City Colleges as a private educational institution to institute its own rules and regulations.
This following a recent order by the school requiring applicants seeking to enter its College of Medicine to undergo a pregnancy test.
"I have just learned of that but I do not know the rules pertaining to the mandatory pregnancy test for female students that would enter the College of Medicine. I am sure that maybe, the coverage of the order covers those single female wanting to enter the colleges and we can also foresee that there is a problem if single females would be pregnant while studying in the College of Medicine," Domogan said.
In a statement, Pines City Colleges explains the memorandum "is a policy agreed to by our students upon their enrollment in this institution."
If the students are found to be pregnant, they will not be allowed to enroll in Clinical Dentistry or any subject that will "endanger both mother and children."
"This is a private institution and I do not have any authority over them. It is the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) if ever the issue on authority would be looked at to resolve this. The way I look at it, this is taken in an objective way which would help a lot to our children because at present, one of our problem is teenage pregnancy and we can just imagine if the student would be pregnant, then it would affect her education," the mayor said.
A copy of the memorandum allegedly from Pines City Colleges was circulated on social networking sites, with people saying it may be violating the students' right to privacy.
"Again, as a private institution which is not under me, that is considered as a management prerogative and if there are any questions pertaining to this, it would be the Ched that has authority to resolve this and I am sure the Ched will rule on the said policy without violating the rights of the female students," Domogan added.
