• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Third District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez on Tuesday (July 2) welcomed the appointment of Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara as the new secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Benitez, a co-commissioner of the Second Congressional Commission on Education, was among those endorsed as the next DepEd chief to succeed Vice President Sara Duterte.
“We need someone who intimately knows the ins and outs of our education system, and understands it from a finance and management perspective. In this regard, Senator Angara is the right man for the job,” Benitez said in a statement.
He added: “As we express our full support to his leadership, we look forward to continuing working closely with him and the education stakeholders to fix our education system and adapt it to changing times”.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, three lawmakers, and other local officials earlier endorsed Benitez to the post, citing his extensive background and competency in the field of education.
For his part, Angara vowed to work with all sectors of society to ensure that all Filipino students would have access to quality education.
He added that he would also work with his predecessor, Vice Duterte, who resigned from her post on June 19.
In a statement, the DepEd welcomed Angara as its incoming secretary.
“The DepEd community looks forward to working with the new leadership as we continue our relentless pursuit towards improving the quality of Basic Education in the country,” it said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) described Angara as a “much-improved choice.”
“ACT sees him as someone the alliance can work with,” it said.
The group added that the senator previously welcomed ACT’s request for dialogue and sought their positions on the education budget, teachers’ salaries, benefits and professional development, and measures for education recovery. | GB
