An official of the regional office of the Department of Education (DepEd 11) guaranteed on Wednesday that the region will throw its full support to the next Education secretary who will succeed the resigned former DepEd chief Vice President Sara Duterte.
“Currently, we are busy preparing for the transition for those who will come ang amo lang ika garantiya kung kinsa man muabot the current DepEd populace will give its full support to those who will be chosen by the President,” said Jenielito “Dodong” Atillo, spokesperson of DepEd 11 during the Davao Peace and Security Press Corps media briefing at The Royal Mandaya Hotel.
In terms of requirements in choosing the next DepEd secretary, Atillo said they leave it to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to decide.
“There were questions about dapat taga DepEd gyud, dapat teacher gyud, dapat those who rose from the ranks para makasabot kung unsay kahimtang sa departamento, we’ll we live it to the wisdom of the President and what we can really say, we’d like to reiterate that whosoever will be the very fortunate chosen will be supported by DepEd,” he added.
Atillo also emphasized that DepEd is not a headless department following Vice President Sara Duterte’s resignation as education secretary.
He explained that Duterte’s resignation will still take effect on July 20, 2022.
“It’s public already that Secretary Sara has resigned but officially, technically she is still the one handling the department because her resignation will take effect on July 20. We would like to confirm to the public that DepEd is not a headless department or agency, we still have the vice president as our secretary,” he said.
Atillo also urged stakeholders, particularly those who are supporting the department because of the vice president, to continue supporting for the future of the children.
Meanwhile, DepEd 11 is preparing for the opening of classes on July 29 while it is also busy closing the school year 2023-2024.
“Let me clarify this because there are still those who believe that the opening of classes will be June. Dili pa na karon mahitabo kay SY 2025-2026 pa na siya mahitabo nga mag-abri ta ug June and will end in March. Sa pagka karon we’ll start July 29 and we will end SY 2024-2025 on April 15, 2025,” he said.
He explained that the reason is they might be stepping into the basic, human, and constitutional rights of the teachers if they force it to revert to the June opening.
“We will be violating the constitutional rights of our teachers nga dapat makapahulay sila ug sakto nga gitugot sa atoang kagamhanan,” Atillo said.
