Sara blames rallies for 2 million drop in enrollment  

MANILA, Philippines — Protest rallies are to be blamed for why the Department of Education was over two million short of its target enrollment for school year 2023-2024, according to Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, who slammed ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro for taking the drop in the figure against her.

“And then France Castro would say, ‘Look, the DepEd is short of two million in enrollment. Ask Inday Sara where the enrollment is,’ ” Duterte said in Filipino in her keynote speech during the opening of the three-day Peace Village Exhibit at SM City Davao last Monday.

The Vice President stressed that the lawmaker should not be asking her that question as she “did not kidnap” those kids.

“She’s looking for those two million students from me as if I kidnapped all of them and I don’t want them to study,” Duterte said.

“Take note, I am not the one who has a kidnapping case. I am not the one who has a human trafficking case,” Duterte added, alluding to the cases filed against Castro, former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo and 16 other individuals who, during a National Solidarity Mission, transported 14 minors on Nov. 28, 2018 from Talaingod, Davao del Norte to “rescue” them from harassment by the paramilitary group Alamara and the military.

The parents of the minors, who were students of the Salugpongan Community Learning Center, a school for Lumads that the military accused of being a communist front, had denied that their children were kidnapped by the National Solidarity Mission, according to a report by MindaNews.

“France Castro plucked the children from Talaingod to bring to Manila and hold a rally,” Duterte said.

The Vice President shrugged off the lawmaker’s attack as a futile attempt to prevent the discovery of her connection with the New People’s Army (NPA).

“We should expose the lies employed by the terrorists to survive,” Duterte said.

She added that intentionally misinterpreting the letter of the law surrounding her department’s confidential fund is what Castro is doing.

“They said do not read anymore those three words there. Just listen to our interpretation. That’s what France Castro and the Makabayan bloc are doing because they know that we are using the money to trace their connection to the NPA,” Duterte said, without specifying and expounding on what those “three words” were.

The Vice President also challenged her critics to provide concrete evidence that she did something wrong.

“They keep attacking, they keep attacking. Give me something concrete that I did something wrong. But there’s none,” she said.

“But they go on with their attacks in the hopes that the lie will take root in the minds of the people. That’s what they’re doing,” she added.

Duterte thanked those who have spoken on her behalf and defended her, but at the same time advised them to stop.

“We’ve already released a statement. We’ve already thanked those who spoke out, but privately, we’ve been telling them to stop speaking out because there is no use defending an attack meant to run repeatedly until in the end, the lie becomes the truth in the minds of the people,” she said.

The Vice President is waiting for her critics to file a case against her, but none has been filed yet.

“Every day, I am asked. Have they given a paper? Have they filed a case? Has there been anything to really show that the Office of the Vice President has done something wrong. There’s none,” she said.

Services

Meanwhile, providing communities with increased access to government services will make communist rebels less tempted to engage them, according to Duterte, co-vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

In the same keynote speech, she said the government needs to allow communities increased access to education, economic opportunities, health care and other government initiatives.

“A government that genuinely serves the people will not suffer the doom of being betrayed by its people,” she added.

Stressing that good governance is vital to achieving peace in the country, the Vice President also cited the impact of Davao City’s Peace 911, which helped the city become insurgency-free.

“When the NPAs were lording over Paquibato, Calinan and Marilog, peace and development were something to be desired. The only things constant in the lives of people under the shadow of the NPAs were misery, fear and complete desolation,” she said. - Neil Jayson Servallos