THERE is no turning back in Vice President Sara Duterte’s resignation as a cabinet member and former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo says this is a big loss for the Marcos Jr. administration.
“I sought an audience with the president and tended my resignation as a Secretary of Education…” according to Vice President Sara Duterte, Republic of the Philippines.
Vice President Sara Duterte’s resignation as Education Secretary and Vice Chairperson of the National Task Force to end Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is a huge blow and loss to the Marcos Jr. administration.
These were the remarks of former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo regarding the Vice President’s surprise move on Wednesday, June 19th.
Why a big loss?
Atty. Panelo already previously said that VP Sara is just one of the very few performing cabinet members of the Marcos Jr. administration.
In fact, the Department of Education is the most-trusted government agency in the Philippines based on recent surveys.
He also highlighted VP Sara’s numerous programs to improve the quality of education in the country.
Despite this, VP Sara’s resignation from the cabinet is somewhat anticipated. Many of her supporters have already been calling for her to leave the Marcos Jr. administration to prevent the president’s declining popularity and trust rating from affecting hers.
Atty. Panelo added that the vice president’s silence on national issue has been too obvious.
Panelo also stressed that Duterte’s character is far from that of the previous Vice President Leni Robredo.
“She’s a principled person. And because she’s principled, there’s also that thing we call her moral ethics – being well-mannered as her being a member of the cabinet does not allow her to openly speak against [the government] because unlike [former] Vice President Robredo back then, that she wanted to eat her cake, she wanted to have her cake and eat it too. VP Inday Sara is different because she does not want to be criticized for being a cabinet member yet she’s denouncing every move of it. She’s not like that,” Atty. Salvador Panelo, Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel.
With her resignation from the cabinet, the vice president is now free to express her opinion – even to denounce every wrong move the government makes.
“Even the spouse of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. publicly revealed her displeasure on VP Sara. So that environment is becoming uncomfortable and hostile for her, so she needed to be free from the chains that were tied to her – she needs to be out of the cage in order for her to fully express what she feels, whatever she wants to express to the people regarding the many things [happening] in our country,” added Atty. Panelo.
It can be remembered that just recently, Vice President Sara Duterte strongly condemned the inhumane and illegal raids conducted by armed authorities on the religious compounds of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Davao City on June 10th.
Not only that but the vice president also denounced the agreement the government made with the National Democratic Front in Oslo, Norway on having peace talks. VP Sara called it an “agreement with the devil”.
On the other hand, Atty. Panelo stressed that there is no turning back in the irrevocable resignation which Vice President Duterte submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
As of now, President Marcos Jr. has not yet released a statement regarding his vice president’s recent resignation as cabinet secretary – something which the public cannot wait to hear.
Meanwhile, Atty. Panelo has a message for whoever will replace Vice President Duterte as Secretary of Education.
“Number one, you have to be competent. You have to have intellect. You have to be creative, and most of all, you cannot be corrupt – you must be honest. That’s all that is needed,” he ended.
