Vice President-elect Sara Duterte and outgoing Education chief Leonor Briones will meet face-to-face on Saturday, June 25, to discuss their plans for the agency, her spokesman said.
Lawyer Reynold Munsayac, who was just named Duterte’s spokesman replacing Liloan Mayor Christina Frasco after she was appointed Tourism chief, confirmed that the meeting between the outgoing and incoming Education chiefs will take place this weekend.
This will be the first time Duterte will meet Briones after the former accepted the appointment from President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who instructed her to review the implementation of the K-12 education program.
Duterte is expected to focus on three issues once she assumes office at the Department of Education.
“Tatlo ‘yun, unang una ‘yung (That’s three, first and foremost the) effect ng (of the) pandemic sa ating mga (to our) learners and sa sobrang tagal nila na hindi nag (and for the longest time they didn’t have) face-to-face classes,” she said in an earlier interview.
Duterte plans to resume full in-person classes in August.
“Pangalawa (Second), the question on sending them all back to school, face-to-face classes, full on face-to-face classes. And then number three, thorough discussion on the K-12 program,” she added.
READ: Incoming DepEd chief VP Sara Duterte to review K-12 program
The Vice President-elect is confident that she can manage the two posts—as the country’s second highest official and as head of the department that receives the biggest chunk of the national budget.
“Time management. It’s not alien, ang (the) time management sa mga (to) mothers, we do that all the time. We take care of our families and we work. It’s just that in my case, dalawa ang opisina na hahawakan ko (I’m going to hold two offices),” she explained.
Duterte will hold office at the Central Office in Pasig City for the Department of Education (DepEd), while she plans to use the Quezon City Reception House (QCRH) as a temporary office for her work as vice president.
QCRH is the same office that outgoing Vice President Leni Robredo had been using for the past six years.
Unlike Briones, Duterte might not meet face-to-face with Robredo anymore.
However, she reported that their transition teams have already met. Robredo even toured Duterte’s transition team at the QCRH.
The Vice President-elect, however, was invited by Robredo’s team to her last general assembly on Monday, June 27.
It is not yet clear if the incoming Vice President will attend the meeting.