Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) has accepted the offer of leading presidential candidate former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for her to be secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) of the incoming administration.

In a statement, Duterte-Carpio, Lakas-CMD and regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) chairperson, thanked her UniTeam running mate for the offer.

“I wish to express my gratitude to presumptive President Bongbong Marcos for the confidence in me to lead the Department of Education,” she said in a statement this Thursday morning.

Duterte-Carpio said before the election campaign, she and Marcos talked about the possibility of her leading the Department of National Defense (DND).

“But seeing the way things are at the moment, I expect that people who want to see the new administration to fail will fabricate intrigues about my loyalty and the DND position to break the UniTeam,” Duterte-Carpio said.

She revealed that on Wednesday, she and Marcos Jr. “once again talked about how I could help the country.”

“It was decided that I would work on producing skilled learners with the mindset to realize their full potential as individuals. Our country needs a future generation of patriotic Filipinos that advocate peace and discipline in their respective communities,” Duterte-Carpio stressed.

She thanked Education Secretary Leonor Briones and the entire DepEd organization “for their readiness to work with our team for the transition of leadership after the proclamation.”

“We recognize the sincerity, hard work, and dedication of Sec. Liling in implementing education reforms under the Duterte administration,” Duterte-Carpio said.

Based on unofficial election results, Marcos and Duterte-Carpio are on the way to winning by a landslide and a more than majority vote.

However, they would have to wait for the official canvass and proclamation by Congress, which is set to reconvene on May 23. Lakas-CMD