Press Officer of Malacañang Speaks on Criticisms of VP Sara Duterte versus PH Education
Malacañang claimed that Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara cleans the alleged mess left by Vice President Sara Duterte.
Countless Filipinos noticed the souring relationship between Pres. Bongbong Marcos and Vice Pres. Sara Duterte when the latter resigned from being the secretary of the Department of Education in 2024. According to Duterte, her decision to resign as a DepEd secretary is because of her concern for the teachers and the students.
A few weeks after it, Vice Pres. Duterte admitted that her decision to leave the Marcos Cabinet includes both personal and work reasons. Currently, the Vice President is surrounded by several issues — her impeachment, her alleged misuse of Confidential Funds, and her frequent overseas travels.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte recently added Kuwait into the list of countries that she travelled to this year. According to the Office of the Vice President, her trip is authorized and is aligned to her mandate as vice president.
In Kuwait, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte attended the Hakbang ng Maisug event wherein she talked about some of the alleged problems in the Philippines. The Vice President claimed that the country supposedly lags behind when it comes to modernization in education.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte compared the PH education with the education in other countries. According to her, the country is allegedly stuck in “paper and pencil” while in other countries, robotics and coding are already taught.
The Vice President also claimed that while some high school students in the Philippines still do not know how to read, in other countries, kids as young as three (3) or four (4) years old already know how to read.
Recently, Malacañang reacted to the claim of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Based on a post of Inquirer on social media, Palace press officer undersecretary Claire Castro stressed that the Vice President has served as the education secretary for two years and she had her chance to solve the things that she complains about the PH education now.
Meanwhile, the Malacañang press officer assured the students, teachers, and the teaching staff that there is nothing to worry about. According to Atty. Claire Castro, DepEd Sec. Sonny Angara is cleaning the mess that is allegedly left behind by Vice Pres. Sara Duterte.
“Huwag pong mag-alala mga mag-aaral, mga guro, at mga teaching staff. Ang ating DepEd Secretary Angara ay nililinis naman kung ano man ang dumi na naiwan nung nakaraan,” she said.
Based on the post, Castro also reacted to the claim of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte that the country’s education allegedly lags behind when it comes to modernization. The Malacañang official stressed that gadgets, laptops, and other teaching materials procured to digitize the education process in the country.
“Kung modernisasyon lamang ang pinag-uusapan natin ‘yung 1,000 rather 1,000,5000 na mga gadgets, laptops, at ibang mga teaching materials ay ginawan naman po ng paraan ni Secretary Angara na nakabinbin lamang noon pa lamang 2020 na hindi nagamit. So 2024 lamang ito nasasaayos ni Secretary Angara,” the Malacañang press official said.
Aside from defending the efforts of the government and the DepEd to modernize the education in the Philippines, Malacañang called Vice Pres. Sara Duterte “a complete failure” as a DepEd secretary.