MANILA, Philippines — Vice president-elect Sara Duterte-Carpio is qualified to lead the country's education department, her spokesperson said Friday in response to a lawmaker's remarks that education experts should helm the agency instead.
Presumptive president-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. earlier said Duterte, who is leading in the vice presidential race based on the partial tally, has agreed to take over the Department of Education (DepEd) as its secretary.
On Friday, Duterte's spokesperson and Liloan, Cebu mayor Christina Garcia-Frasco took to Facebook to defend the likely vice president's track record, saying she had "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."
"Beyond theoretical ideas of managing the education sector...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," she added.
Frasco made these remarks days after Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a previous TV interview that she did not know about Duterte's track record in education, adding that perhaps other education experts should be in charge of a department which gets the highest budget from Congress.
Frasco also said it is the incoming president's prerogative to decide on who to include in his or her Cabinet.
In an earlier interview on ANC, Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) President Chito Salazar said Duterte's experience in local governance will help her in improving the education sector.
"It's also good that [she] does have a lot of experience at the local level and it seems from her track record that she has contributed a lot to the education of her own city in Davao," he said.
Salazar explained that many of the changes and reforms in education need to take place at the local level.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones has welcomed the nomination of Duterte as her successor, saying they are ready to work with her team for the orderly transition of the leadership.
Teachers group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, however, strongly opposed Duterte's appointment as DepEd chief, saying that her vision of "peace and discipline" will not solve the problems which the education sector is facing.
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Duterte was reported to have been vying for the defense secretary position.