A new leader for DepEd

Many regard the resignation of Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte as a positive development. The DepEd’s problems were already painfully obvious when she accepted the appointment. She came with little preparation for the education ministry, any track record for successfully managing an organization in crisis, or even much interest in the job. Insiders believed she would have preferred the defense portfolio. She was content to continue the remedial measures her predecessor, Leonor Briones, had initiated at DepEd. She leaves without much evidence of achievements for which she can claim credit during her two years in office.

That said, any unplanned change at the top of an organization is inevitably disruptive. However difficult the current situation at DepEd, those who rejoiced at Duterte’s resignation in mid-term should expect that things are likely to get worse before they get better. Even the predictable change of Cabinet secretaries at the end of an administration’s six-year mandate, which presumably allows more time for the vetting of nominees, inevitably involves some disruption. New secretaries also typically bring their own team of trusted subordinates. Perhaps, necessary now; relying on the existing staff may not be a viable option because some senior people, perhaps anticipating Duterte’s move, had apparently resigned even earlier than she did. The new teams taking over the agency will have to acquaint themselves with the organization’s operating systems and establish rapport with the people they will manage. The adjustment process will likely take more effort and time with a bureaucracy as large and as centralized as DepEd.

But turning a new page in DepEd may achieve one crucial result: It should give the public a real-time reading of the state of the agency. Reforms to decongest the curriculum started in 2016. Corruption issues in procurement contracts, required by the 2019 pandemic, had not been resolved in 2022. The DepEd appointment gave Duterte a solid platform to display merit and worthiness for higher office. But the issues that have marked her DepEd stay—budget appropriations for her expanded security detail, for satellite offices more related to her vice presidential office, questionable use of funds—did not address the agency’s core concerns of education quality and management control. Duterte cannot be held accountable for DepEd’s preexisting problems. But she never detailed on her arrival an assessment of how these were being addressed, nor her own plans to deal with them. As she leaves the office, it would serve her interest to render an exit report on how she had managed the issues she had inherited. Or risk being unfairly blamed for failures or even crimes for which other parties are mainly responsible.

This possibility should also concern nominees for the DepEd job. Whoever is appointed would be wise to do what Duterte did not think necessary: to document as fully as possible the agency’s baseline balance sheet at the start of the new administration. Not only to limit accountability for issues already critical before the changeover. This is necessary also to determine the priority goals that should be pursued, especially given an abbreviated term of only three years. The documentation must also be maintained, moving forward. Only with a clear accounting of the “before” and “after” that tracks the flow of assets and resources, problems, and liabilities can the public assess whether the designated leader has left the agency in a stronger or weaker position.

It was right for the president to take more time to make the choice. The candidate had to meet at least three conditions. Competence, as evidenced by credentials and experience relevant to the education portfolio, will not be the main problem. Those with the required qualifications would already have established a record of success in the offices they have occupied to deserve consideration. But they must also be willing to give up the bird in the hand, for the bird in the bush—a risky, high-stake, high-pressure, short-term job, with no assurance of extension. Third, the DepEd portfolio is ultimately a political appointment. The prospective secretary must be acceptable to those who wield political power. Most of the names proposed for DepEd came from among politicians, who were better positioned to negotiate the criteria, particularly the condition on political acceptability. But the appointment should not be a stop-gap measure for short-term political advantages.

The President has given the post to Sen. Sonny Angara, who had also been nominated by the Philippine Business for Education. No question for Angara’s fitness for the post. But, assuming competent performance, would he be prepared in principle to serve at DepEd beyond three years? Now, more than ever, education demands sustained effort, commitment, and support.

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Edilberto C. de Jesus is professor emeritus at the Asian Institute of Management.

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