President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said choosing the replacement of Vice President Sara Duterte as education secretary is harder than he thought.

"It turns out it's harder than I thought so because we have to absolutely get it right so I'm giving myself more time," he said in a media interview in Makati City on Saturday following his previous announcement to appoint the new education secretary "by the end of the week."

Duterte resigned as education secretary on June 19. She also quit her post as vice chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

"As I told you before, we have to see really what the DepEd (Department of Education) needs. Of course, there are many calls for the new secretary to be an educator. There are many calls for the new secretary to be an administrator. There are new calls to be a historical professor. All of these and they are all valid concerns," he added.

Marcos said he has "gone through so many curriculum vitae" but he is having a hard time choosing because the job of an education secretary is very complicated.

"I have gone through so many CVs, many of them are excellent. We have to choose somebody who has an understanding of what is important in terms of being an educator. we also have to find, the same person also has to have those qualities that they can galvanize this very, very large bureaucracy which is the DepEd and to achieve all of those gains or all of those changes to make the educational standard better," he said.

"We have to bring up the test scores... That requires a very good hand on the pillar of the DepEd who can manage it properly, who understands the bureaucracy, who understands how to use the budget properly. All of these things. That is what is hard in working for the DepEd. That's why we have to thank Inday Sara for really, the effort that she put in. There’s a great deal more work to be done and we'll find the right person to do it," he added.

Duterte did not say why she resigned but she added it will be effective after a month. Robina Asido/DMS