Perhaps the brewing controversy over his potential position turned him off.
Peter Laurel — a former Batangas vice governor and current president of the Lyceum of the Philippines Batangas and Laguna — has declined the offer of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to serve as Department of Education (DepEd) chief.
“Duterte has yet to look for someone to replace Laurel, a son of former senator Sotero Laurel and grandson of former President Jose Laurel,” reports Edith Regalado in The Philippine Star.
In earlier interviews, Laurel didn’t really say much about Duterte tapping him to be DepEd secretary. In a phone interview, he told ABS-CBN News, “I’m studying it and consulting my family and loved ones.”
Various reports also noted that people were wary of Laurel as DepEd chief after he had invited Senator Bongbong Marcos, son of the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos, as a speaker at a Lyceum event. There is now a clamor to include a discussion of martial law atrocities in school books.
Duterte earned his undergraduate Political Science degree at Lyceum Manila.
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