Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said she emphasized the campaign against the New People's Army (NPA) and the importance of education during her "Bisita Sacada" in La Castellana town, along with Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao.
"We gave our early Christmas to them, and it was an opportunity to emphasize with them our campaign against the NPA rebels and the importance of giving education to their children," Duterte said Thursday, November 16, after her courtesy visit at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City, where she met with Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer.
She said it was a courtesy visit and that she thanked the governor and the vice governor for their support during the campaign in the last May 2022 elections.
Ferrer said it was the first time that the Vice President visited his office and that he was very honored.
Duterte said she also had several activities with the different sectors in Bacolod City.
He said she is very thankful to the people of Negros Occidental for their support and votes that she won vice president and the support for the Department of Education, which she leads now.
“Bisita Sacada” is a three-day gift giving of Antiqueño migrant sugarcane workers (sacadas) working in haciendas in Negros Occidental, especially in La Carlota City and Isabela, from November 15 to 17.
Cadiao earlier said the initiative aligns with Duterte's mandate as co-vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
Antiqueño sacadas, she added, are vulnerable to recruitment by the NPA.
Every year, Cadiao and Antique Capitol executives visit sacadas from Antique who are working in vast sugarcane plantations in Negros to check on their conditions and give out rice, bread, family food packs, and lechon.*