The implementation of the Legal Education Board (LEB)’s closure order against the Mindanao State University (MSU) College of Law and its extension programs in Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, and Maguindanao has been put on hold.
In a press briefer released on May 6, 2025, the SC said it had issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) in response to separate petitions filed by the MSU Board of Regents and a law student, Abdul Rahman Ltiph Nasser, challenging the LEB’s resolutions that revoked MSU’s accreditation and prohibited the university from offering law programs in its satellite campuses beginning Academic Year 2025–2026.
The high tribunal also ordered both parties to submit memoranda within 15 days, focusing on the effect of Article IX, Section 16 of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which guarantees educational autonomy in the Bangsamoro region and could potentially limit the LEB’s oversight in the area.
MSU argued that as a state-chartered institution created under Republic Act No. 1387 and amended in 1955, it is exempt from LEB regulation under Republic Act No. 7662, or the Legal Education Reform Act of 1993. Section 12 of that law, they claim, restricts the LEB’s authority to institutions previously under the Department of Education, Culture and Sports, not state universities.
“Despite persistent intrusive actions from LEB, MSU has remained resolute in its commitment to the continued operation of its College of Law,” the university said in a previous statement, adding that its legal action—backed by its highest governing body—was a defense of its charter and institutional autonomy.
The LEB, in a resolution issued in September 2024, revoked MSU’s accreditation on the ground that it launched extension programs without prior board approval and refused to comply with regulatory requirements.
“Consequently, MSU is no longer included on the list of Legal Education Institutions in good standing and authorized to offer the basic law program in the country,” the board said.
The dispute revolves around whether the LEB can assert jurisdiction over law programs at a state-chartered university in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, where special autonomy provisions under the BOL apply.
MSU maintains that the LEB has no legal authority to override its founding charter by ordering closures or withholding accreditation, and has asked the SC to declare the LEB’s actions unconstitutional as applied to state universities.
Follow Tan Briones & Associates on LinkedIn for more legal updates and law-related articles.