Not ‘VP-Secretary’, or ‘Secretary-VP’: Duterte prefers her title to be just simply ‘Inday Sara’


Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte wants President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to simply call her “Inday Sara” after the latter was jokingly confused about whether to call her “VP-Secretary” or “Secretary-VP.”

Vice President Sara Duterte (Photo from Inday Sara Duterte Facebook page)

Duterte is the concurrent vice president and Education chief under the Marcos administration.

“How do I address you? VP-Secretary? Secretary-VP?” Marcos asked in a video stream uploaded on the social media pages of Radio-Television Malacañang.

“Inday Sara, sir,” Duterte replied, drawing laughter from the other Cabinet secretaries.

But Marcos was not done teasing the Vice President.

“We will be briefed by Secretary-VP-Inday on her plans for the DepEd,” he said.

Marcos presided over the third Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, July 19, days after recovering from Covid-19, the second time he contracted the virus.

The agenda for the meeting was briefings from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

This was after Duterte released Department Order No. 34, which set the start of the 2022-2023 classes on August 22, while giving public and private schools only until the end of October to begin transitioning to full face-to-face classes.

READ: DepEd chief VP Duterte stands firm on Aug. 22 class opening

Duterte ordered that all schools hold five-day in-person learning beginning Nov. 2.

The video stream was cut before the Vice President and Education chief can begin her briefing on the DepEd’s plans.