CEBU CITY, Philippines – Outgoing Davao City Mayor and presumptive Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio is more than qualified to be the next education secretary, a Cebu ally said.
Liloan Mayor Cristina Garcia-Frasco, who is also Duterte-Carpio’s spokesperson, said the Davao City Mayor had been chairperson of the Local School Board for many years giving her “vast executive experience and keen knowledge” of the challenges faced by schools, students, and parents.
Garcia-Frasco issued her statement Friday night, May 13, in response to Senator Risa Hontiveros’ remark that an “educational expert” should be appointed to lead the Department of Education (DepEd).
She added that it is also within the powers of the President to decide on said appointment “notwithstanding that Senator Risa Hontiveros has her own set of qualifications for whom should be appointed Secretary of Education.”
“Beyond theoretical ideas of managing the education sector, which seems to be the extent of Senator Hontiveros’ preferred qualifications for DepEd Secretary, VP-elect Sara will certainly bring to the DepEd actual performance and solution-oriented leadership necessary to uplift the quality of education in our country,” Garcia-Frasco said in a statement which she posted on her official Facebook page.
“We respectfully suggest to Senator Hontiveros that instead of substituting her judgement for that of the President-elect, she may want to instead give thanks to her supporters who elected her Senator for giving her a fresh opportunity to support our incoming government that it may succeed for the benefit of all Filipinos,” she added.
In an interview with a national media outlet on Thursday, May 12, Hontiveros said the announcement of presumptive President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to appoint Duterte-Carpio as his DepEd secretary came as a surprise especially that there were previous talks about making her the next secretary of the Department of National Defense.
“I don’t know what the presumptive vice president’s track record is in education; I would’ve guessed other education experts to helm that important department,” Hontiveros said.
She said it is important that an education expert be appointed to lead the department especially with the pre-pandemic educational crisis that the country now is in and with the issue of historical revisionism.
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