Vice President Sara Duterte rejected claims that she was a “complete failure” as Education secretary, saying President Marcos’ attempts to persuade her to remain in the Cabinet prove otherwise.

Duterte said this after Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro described the Vice President’s stint at the Department of Education (DepEd) as a “complete failure” following her remarks that the country was still at a “paper and pencil” stage compared to modernized systems abroad.

In a media interview in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday, Aug. 20, the Vice President recounted how Marcos tried to persuade her to stay in the Cabinet when she handed him her irrevocable resignation in June 2024.

“Nung binasa na niya, ang sabi niya, ‘Why? Why?’” (When I handed it to him, he said, ‘Why? Why?’),” she said.

According to Duterte, the President urged her to stay, offered her another position in government, and even asked if she could help in the 2025 midterm elections.

“Action yun ng taong tumitingin na kailangan niya yung trabaho ko (those were the actions of someone who needed my work),” she said.

“So, clearly, lahat nung attempts niya to make me reconsider my resignation… hindi yun actions ng taong tumitingin as failure ako (those were not the actions of someone who saw me as a failure),” she added.

Meanwhile, the Vice President defended her statement that the Philippines remains behind other countries in education.

“Unang-una, masabi ko yun na (First of all, I could say that) we are truly behind sa education system natin compared to more developed countries around the world. And that is true,” she said.

She argued that acknowledging weaknesses was necessary to find solutions.

“Saan ba tayo magsisimula mag-isip ng mga solusyon kung hindi natin tanggapin na mayroong problema yung bayan? (Where else would we start thinking of solutions if we do not first accept that the nation has problems?),” she said.

Duterte stressed that her comments were an exercise of her freedom of speech and expression.

“So dapat siguro walang magalit (So maybe no one should be angry),” she said.

Vice President Duterte formally resigned as education secretary in June 2024, less than two years into her term, citing personal and political reasons.