Vice President Sara Duterte resigned from her position as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), prompting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare on Thursday that he would soon name a new secretary.
Addressing the National Employment Summit at the Manila Hotel, Marcos underlined that the department must continue in spite of Duterte’s exit, citing her resignation as vice chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) as confirmation of her departure.
“The Department of Education is arguably the most important department because of the critical role education plays. Regardless of the change in leadership, the work must continue,” Marcos said to reporters. “I hope to announce the new DepEd secretary by the end of the week.”
According to Marcos, the appointment process is moving more quickly since he has asked for the names of other candidates for the role. “We cannot leave the department without a secretary. That’s why I’m rushing this. I asked for a lot of names,” he replied.
He went on to say that part of the selecting process is determining what the DepEd now requires. “We need to closely examine the status of DepEd to determine what is required—whether we need an educator, an administrator, or an accountant. That’s what we are trying to determine right now.”
The President did not name any particular candidates that were being thought about.
The decision to step down was not given any particular reason by Duterte, who visited Malacañang on June 19 to offer her resignation to Marcos. “She didn’t give any reasons. I asked her if there were any particular reasons for resigning from DepEd and NTF-Elcac, but she said, ‘let’s not talk about it.’ So, I did not press the issue,” Marcos recalled.
