SEN. Juan Edgardo Angara is “open” to the possibility of being the next Department of Education secretary following the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte from the top DepEd post that will take effect on July 19.
Angara, however, said he has not received any offers for him to take over the DepEd post.
He added, however, that if the post is offered by President Marcos Jr. “it might be impossible to turn down.”
“Opo, open tayo kung sakaling pagkatiwalaan (Yes, I am open if given the chance),” Angara said in a chance interview in Baler, Aurora where he attended the 22nd Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day and the 126th anniversary of the Siege of Baler.
“Let’s see if the President needs us and you know, we’d like to help him also. We’re helping him in the Senate. So, if we can help him in other ways, why not?” he added.
Angara’s Senate colleagues have been expressing full support for him to be the next DepEd secretary, saying he would be a good choice for the job.
Senate President Francis Escudero earlier said: “I was asked by some people close to PBBM (President Bong-bong Marcos) who I thought would be a good replacement for VP Sara at DepEd and the only person I thought of and mentioned was Sen. Angara.”
Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. said Angara, being the co-chairman of the Congressional Commission on Education 2, “has a grasp and good understanding of the education system.”
Angara is one of the five “graduating” senators who have served two consecutive six-year terms and are not eligible for re-election until after three years.
If he is offered and accepts the post, Angara will have to vacate his Senate seat by July 19, losing only a few months of his term as a senator.
Angara is a graduate of Xavier School, the London School of Economics, the University of the Philippines College of Law, and Harvard School.
He served as a member of the House of Representatives for three full terms, from 2004 to 2013, before being elected as senator in 2013.
Last week, Malacanang said the President was poised to name the new DepEd chief but the Chief Executive said he needs more time to decide.
“It turns out it is harder than I thought because we absolutely have to get it right. So, I’m giving myself more time,” Marcos said last Saturday.
“We have to choose somebody who has an understanding of what is important in terms of being an educator. But then we also have to find the same person has to have those qualities that can galvanize this very, very large democracy which is the DepEd and to achieve all those gains or all of those changes to make the educational standard better,” Marcos added.
Vice President Sara Duterte tendered her resignation as DepEd secretary and as vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict but gave no reason for her move.
