OUTGOING Davao City Mayor and presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio is “more than qualified” to assume the post of Department of Education (DepEd) secretary.
This was what Liloan, Cebu Mayor Christina Garcia-Frasco said in response to the comment of Sen. Risa Hontiveros that DepEd should be led by an “education expert.”
“Vice President-elect Sara Duterte possesses vast executive experience and keen knowledge of the challenges faced by schools, students and parents, having been chairperson of the Local School Board for many years,” Frasco said in a statement she posted on her official Facebook page on Friday night, May 13, 2022.
Frasco is the spokesperson of Duterte-Carpio.
She said it is also within the power of the incoming president to decide on the appointment, adding that Hontiveros “has her own set of qualifications for whom should be appointed as Secretary of Education.”
On May 11, presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced that Duterte-Carpio will be the next DepEd chief.
Marcos had said one of the reasons he chose Duterte-Carpio to lead DepEd is that she is a mother who wants to “make sure that her children are well-trained and well-educated.”
“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,” Frasco added.
She suggested to Hontiveros to focus her efforts to thank her supporters for giving her a fresh mandate in the incoming administration.
As of May 13, 2022, Hontiveros is currently in 11th place in the 2022 Senate race, with 15,273,594 votes, based on a partial result provided by the Commission on Elections.