Malacañang, the office of the President, gave very strong words on Wednesday about Vice President Sara Duterte’s time as the leader of the Department of Education (DepEd). They said her leadership was a “complete failure.”
Why did they say this? It all started when VP Sara gave a speech in Kuwait. She said the education system in the Philippines is still stuck at the “paper and pencil” stage. She compared it to other countries where kids are already learning high-tech things like robotics and computer coding.
Because of these comments, the Palace answered back. Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said that Sara Duterte was the DepEd Secretary from 2022 until 2024. She explained that the President trusted her and gave her two whole years to make changes.
Castro stressed, “She was given the chance. She was trusted by the President to lead DepEd. In those two years, she should have solved the problems she is now complaining about. Since she did not, this only shows her time at DepEd was a complete failure.”
In short, the Palace is saying:
👉 Sara Duterte is criticizing the problems in education.
👉 But she was the one in charge for two years.
👉 So, if nothing changed, then she also failed to fix it.
The camp of VP Sara Duterte was asked for a comment about what Malacañang said, but as of now, they have not given any reply.
To recall, in 2024, Sara Duterte resigned as DepEd Secretary and also quit her role as vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). She said in her resignation letter that even though she was leaving those positions, she would continue to serve the people through the Office of the Vice President’s different programs and projects.
This heated exchange shows a growing clash between Malacañang and VP Sara Duterte—with the Palace saying she wasted her chance as DepEd chief, while Sara insists the country’s education system is far behind compared to the rest of the world.
