By Alex P. Vidal
“The seat of knowledge is in the head, of wisdom, in the heart.” —William Hazlitt
IN my opinion, Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio is not the most qualified to sit as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).
But because she reportedly personally asked for the position from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. days after the May 2022 presidential election, the president, as a courtesy, handed to her the DepEd top portfolio in a silver platter.
Truth is, he just couldn’t say no to his lady political partner, who now sits in the two powerful offices—Office of the Vice President and DepEd—with a whopping combined amount of P800 million in intelligence fund for her disposal.
Again, being the incumbent vice president and daughter of the fire-spewing former president, what Inday Sara wanted, Inday Sara got: a P500 million intel fund for the Office of the Vice President and a P30 million intel fund for the DepEd.
Congress, like President Marcos, couldn’t resist or say no to the pugnacious political spoiled brat.
This seemingly unethical act of the vice president, alone, should disqualify her from taking over the top DepEd position.
The president wasn’t given his primordial prerogative to choose his secretary for the education department because the vice president had salivated for it from the very start of the new administration in 2022.
-o0o-
With barely a year in office, Mrs. Duterte Carpio is at it again.
As if her egotistical resignation from the Lakas-CMD Party on May 19 wasn’t enough, she posted this arcane message in her social media account May 21: “Sa imong ambisyon, do not be tambaloslos.”
The message is loud and clear: Mrs. Duterte-Carpio is a plain and simple politician.
And she is on a political warpath; her hands are loaded in a political skirmish. Her feud with someone she referred to as “tambaloslos” (I have no English translation for this gutter and weird word) is just starting, or just a portent of things to come.
Based on her demeanor and choice of words in a social media platform, she’s not a true-blue educator, or a role model for education.
Mrs. Duterte-Carpio should have tendered her resignation, as well, as DepEd boss.
The Philippines needs a full-time DepEd secretary who is apolitical and one who focuses on the welfare and development of education alone sans any political distraction and wanton hurly-burly.
She can’t serve two masters, nay battle two adversaries at the same time: 1. Problems that plagued the education system in the country; and 2. Politicking or constantly picking a fight against fellow politicians and, possibly, her perceived rivals for the presidency in 2028.
She has resigned from a hitherto dominant political party, perhaps, in sympathy with former President and now demoted Deputy Speaker Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but not in her ongoing and protracted strife with fellow political combatants.
In the interest of the nation and in the name of delicadeza, Mrs. Duterte-Carpio should resign now as DepEd secretary.
-o0o-
AVOID MENTAL LAZINESS. From the chin down no man is worth much more than a dollar or two a day.
Even what we do with our hands depends for its value on the amount of sense we use.
We can train and improve our mind as well as our fingers.
Mental laziness is the most common disease.
Let’s put in a certain amount of time every day at making our brain more efficient.
Let’s read. Let’s study. Let’s think.
Let’s not fritter away all our spare time.
It’s all habit. We can get used to hard study as well as to hard work. And it pays.
Let’s improve ourselves from the chin up.
FRENCH OPEN. The French Open tennis tournament gets underway at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris May 22. Missing from the action is 14-time champion Rafael Nadal, who withdrew last week due to injury. Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, hopes to return to Paris next year for what he said will be his “last year” in professional tennis. Australian star Nick Kyrgios is set to miss the tournament after injuring his foot when his car was stolen earlier this month.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
