The rat is now off the hook and is running free. This is the case after Vice President Sara Duterte submitted her resignation to the President as Education Secretary and vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). While it has been expected for some time now, the end came too early. It formally ends the once formidable tandem that created political storms across the country.
It is needless now to explain the reasons behind the resignation of Duterte from the government as it has been a long time now since her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, has publicly criticized President Bongbong Marcos and even accused him of being a drug addict. Once, she got the ire of First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos as she was caught on camera laughing at the tirades of her father directed to the President.
The lady Duterte is now left with one role and that’s the most critical-being the vice president and successor of President Marcos in case of resignation, death, permanent disability and removal from office. Without such requisites under the Constitution, she will remain the vice president who could be ignored by the president until her term ends just like what her father did to former vice president Leni Robredo.
On one end, the administration will now have a bit of a hard time monitoring the actions of the vice president as the vantage point is with her strategically as they failed to keep the enemy closer. The lady Duterte has proven before that even doing away from what her father wants, she can manage herself. The question though is whether or not her resignation has the approval of the former president.
The ride is still moving and it’s a long way to go before the next presidential elections. What the president must do now is to make sure that he will appoint a more reliable and qualified education secretary who can manage the problems the education sector faces today. Sara may have had her plans and programs but her position was more of an accommodation than qualification. After all, everyone agrees that the education department is facing monstrous problems today that are still left unattended and resolved for a long time now.
