Marcos may rope in losers for government posts
Published on: Wednesday, May 18, 2022
By: ABS CBN News
Marcos supporters with newspaper coverage of his landslide win, outside the campaign headquarters in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila.
MANILA: The camp of presumptive President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday said it is “looking” at the possibility of appointing to government positions some candidates who lost in the 2022 local and national elections.Under the law, losing candidates may only be appointed to a government office at least one year after the elections.
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“We’re looking at some possible personalities but I think most of them would rather enjoy their much needed vacation for 1 year,” Vic Rodiguez, Marcos Jr.’s spokesperson, told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.
“Pangit din naman magsabi ako ng pangala at hindi pa sila nakakausap. We have always been respectful of people’s preferences and their choices,” he said.
Marcos Jr. is not looking at party colors when choosing his appointees, his spokesperson said.
“After May 9, hindi na namin pinag-uusapan yung color-color,” he said, adding that Marcos Jr.’s call for unity was “not just a campaign messaging.”
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In terms of the qualities they are looking for in officials who will work under the Marcos Jr. administration, Rodriguez said: “’Yung may pagmamahal sa bansa, ‘yung may respeto sa Konstitusyon at ‘yung may pagkilala sa watawat.”
“’Yung kailanman hindi nanawagan sa pagpapabagsak ng gobyerno dahil bukod sa unity, we need stability at this point in time in our government and in our lives,” he said.
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“Kahit anong parti-partidong gawin we will not have an election between now and three years. We will not have a presidential election between now and 2028 so ano pa ba ang gagawin natin? Let us unite and rally behind at tulungan natin,” he said.
“Hanggat [nasa] tama, samahan natin at pag nagkamali-mali nang ginagawa at hindi na tapat sa bayan, be the first to condemn him or her or us,” he said.
Marcos Jr. is waiting for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to officially proclaim him as the winner of the 2022 presidential elections before he grants more interviews to discuss his upcoming administration, Rodriguez said.
“Tapusin lang natin yung proclamation. Baka sabihin atat or something,” he said.
“Antayin lang natin and that’s the start of when we move openly,” he said.
So far, Marcos Jr. has named incoming Vice President Sara Duterte as his Department of Education (DepEd) secretary, and campaign manager Benhur Abalos as chief of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
When asked about her plans as the incoming Education secretary, Duterte-Carpio said she is awaiting her proclamation so she can sit down with the team of incumbent Education Sec. Leonor Briones.
“Sec. Briones already said that they are following a medium-term plan under the administration of President Duterte. Once we get that proclamation, we will start talking to the Department of Education,” she said.
After that, she intends to consult with presumptive President Marcos, her Halalan 2022 running mate, for his directives.
Duterte-Carpio said she accepted the offer to take the helm of the DepEd because education is among her priorities, along with jobs and peaceful living.
“Our learners should be competitive among our neighboring countries, not just in Asia, but globally, worldwide, and the quality that our learners will produce,” she said in Cebuano.
Duterte-Carpio said she will also look into the learnings that the students may have missed during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been raging on for more than 2 years now.
“First, many students did not go to school during the pandemic. Second, many of our learners did not really adopt the modular or online classes. I think their learning in the past 2 years would have been different if they were in a classroom setup,” she said.
Duterte-Carpio will be overseeing the agency responsible for the K-12 curriculum taught to over 27 million students. This includes how it discusses the administrations of Marcos’ father, which was marred by human rights abuses and corruption, and of her father, President Rodrigo Duterte.
The DepEd is also trying to improve education quality following the Philippines’ poor standing in international learning assessments, and is in the process of gradually reopening schools for in-person classes, which were banned in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Duterte-Carpio agreed that face-to-face graduation ceremonies should be allowed again, noting that Davao City is the first local government unit (LGU) in the country that created an executive order that does not object in-person classes in all levels.
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