No time for rewriting history — VP Sara
VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said the Department of Education (DEPED) is preoccupied with so many important tasks that it has no time to revise country’s the history.
Duterte is responding to allegations that the DEPEDis “rebranding” the country’s dark period under martial law as the new society.
She said the DEPEDas well as the entire administration is focusing on its programs which are intended to improve the quality of basic education in the country.
Likewise she said the DepEd is working harder to ensure that Filipino students will be competitive.
“Bilang Education Secretary, wala po sa aking mandato ang pagsira sa integridad ng ating kasaysayan,” she said in a statement.
“Ang Department of Education — na kasalukuyang abala sa mga programang naglalayong maiangat ang kalidad ng basic education sa Pilipinas — ay walang panahon para sa historical revisionism na pilit na iginigiit ng ilang mga anti-Marcos groups,” Duterte added.
The former Mayor of Davao City then denied there was “rebranding” of martial law in history.
Duterte has issued a statement following the allegations of the government critics that the DEPED’s teaching materials in the Southern Tagalog region where the martial law perpetrated by Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father and namesake of incumbent President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, was “rebranded” as “the “period of the new society.”
According to Durterte, the terms “new society” or “bagong lipunan” are both historical facts that refer to the program launched by Marcos Sr. during his administration.
She added that both terms have been used in DEPEDtextbooks since 2000 “within their proper context.”
“DEPED is not in the business of erasing these facts and replacing them with something else,” she also said.
Meanwhile, she assailed the social media post about a DEPED module with the word “new society” which only focuses on one line and failed to show the entire page where the martial law regime was tackled at length.
“Ibig sabihin, kulang ito sa konteksto at maaari itong baluktutin ayon sa naratibo ng mga bumabatikos sa DEPED at nagpapakalat ng kasinungalingan tungkol sa rebranding at historical revisionism,” the Vice President said.
“Hinihikayat ko ang lahat na mag-ingat sa mga pagkilos na malisyoso at naglalayong pag-alabin ang mga damdamin ng ating mga kababayan laban sa Martial Law gamit ang DEPED,” Duterte added.
