The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) welcomed the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte as secretary of the Department of Education today, June 19. Duterte also resigned as vice chairperson of NTF-Elcac. The group said she was a “thorn in the side.”

“VP Sara has finally resigned from DepEd. She should have done it earlier so that the appointment of a DepEd secretary who really comes from the education sector and knows what she is doing (could have been done). More than two years were wasted to immediately remedy the country’s education crisis and the benefits and wages of teachers and education support personnel,” Rep. France Castro of the ACT Teachers Partylist said.

ACT hopes that the NTF-Elcac will also be disbanded as it nothing more but the state’s instrument for violating people’s rights.

Teachers are aware that Duterte’s resignation from the Marcos cabinet is part of the intensifying rift between the two camps. They hope that the next appointee to the department will truly serve the education sector.