Sonny Angara is new DepEd secretary

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named Sen. Sonny Angara as the new secretary of the Department of Education.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) announced Angara’s appointment as the new DepEd chief on Tuesday.

“Sonny has agreed to take on the brief of the Department of Education,” Marcos said in the PCO news release.

Angara is set to replace Vice President Sara Duterte, whose resignation as DepEd secretary will take effect on July 19 — the last working day before Marcos delivers his third State of the Nation Address.

In a statement on Tuesday, Angara thanked the president for appointing him, saying that the education portfolio is a “significant responsibility” that he has “accepted with humility and a profound sense of duty.”

The senator added that he is committed to working with all sectors, including Duterte, and is looking forward to “building upon [Duterte’s] accomplishments” at DepEd.

Duterte resigned from all Cabinet positions on June 19 and has been tight-lipped about the reason why, only saying that she did not do it out of “weakness” but out of “concern” or “compassion” for teachers and students. Days after, Marcos said Duterte did not explain her resignation and simply asked “not to talk about it.”

DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa on Tuesday welcomed Angara’s appointment, saying in a statement sent to reporters: “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.”

Angara’s ‘track record,’ ‘education experience’ cited

Angara is on his last term as senator after having been elected to the Senate twice, first from 2013 to 2016 and then from 2022 to 2025. This bars him from running for re-election in the upcoming 2025 midterm polls.

Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia said Angara’s Senate seat will remain vacant unless there is a call from the upper chamber to hold special elections.

The senator is currently a commissioner of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), a three-year congressional body tasked with assessing the problems of the Philippine education system and recommending legislative solutions.

Angara was, until recently, the chairperson of the Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes. During one Senate committee deliberation on the proposed Charter change, Angara insisted on retaining Filipino control of basic education amid proposals to open higher education to foreign ownership.

Angara also previously served as the chairman of the Senate committee on youth, where he “shepherded” reforms in the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), including the issuance of monthly honoraria to SK members, sectaries and treasurers, according to his bio in the Senate website.

Senate President Chiz Escudero had earlier expressed his support for Angara to take over DepEd’s top post, saying that the senator was an “excellent choice.” Escudero also said he was the first to recommend Angara for the job “given his competence, given his track record, given his experience in the education field.”

Senate basic education panel chairperson Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian also congratulated Angara, calling him a “ lifelong education champion” who “will bring to the DepEd the expertise and leadership needed to usher in reforms in the basic education sector.”

Sprawling education crisis

Angara is set to lead the education department, the government’s biggest bureaucracy and, in Marcos’ words, “arguably the most important department” in the executive, at a time when it is shepherding key education reforms and curriculum revisions.

DepEd will roll out this school year its first phased implementation of the Matatag curriculum, which aims to arrest earning losses and increase students’ mastery of numeracy and literacy in the early years.

Rep. Roman Romulo (Pasig City), chairperson of the House basic education panel, told reporters in an interview that there is an urgent need for DepEd to speed up its rollout of the decongested Matatag curriculum to reduce the number of subjects and competencies that students need to focus on, which includes functional literacy, reading, math, and age-appropriate sciences.

Prior to Angara’s appointment, he was one of several lawmakers and education experts endorsed by two private-sector-led education advocacy groups to lead DepEd, namely the Philippine Business for Education (PBed) and the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA).

PBed endorsed Angara’s appointment due to his “policies that have significantly impacted education, employment, entrepreneurship, and the economy in general.”

In a new statement on Tuesday, PBed welcomed Marcos’ decision to pick Angara to lead the education department, saying that his “swift appointment” is necessary to prevent any disruption in students’ education.

“We acknowledge the significance of emphasizing competence over political considerations in this appointment. With this foundation in place, Senator Angara, as a politician, is expected to use his political savvy to navigate legislative processes, build partnerships, and secure resources and support for learners and teachers,” PBed said.

Angara’s father, the late Sen. Edgardo Angara served as the University of the Philippines’ 15th president from 1981 to 1987. — Cristina Chi