Following Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli Lapus’ appeal to politicians not to use graduation ceremonies as venues for their campaign, former Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) president and now Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate Atty. Adel Tamano has expressed his disgust over Lapus’ “inconsistent remark.”

“That’s rich coming from Sec. Lapus who has his face in posters for DepEd in schools all over the Philippines,” Tamano blasted, adding that the DepEd has long “politicized” schools.

“Sec. Lapus must check first if his own department has kept schools free from politics long before the campaign period. Exactly how many large billboards do we see with his and his president’s face on them? You tell me,” the young lawyer mocked.

Tamano, who is running under the banner of the Nacionalista Party, is also known as the first ever Filipino commencement speaker in Harvard Law School and the first ever Filipino-Muslim scholar-graduate of the same Ivy League school.

“As someone who has spoken in numerous graduation ceremonies, definitely the focus should be on the students, to inspire them to face their new life as graduates. I do agree with Sec. Lapus that to overtly campaign would be in poor taste and unjust to the students. However, political leaders may provide inspiration and guidance to the young by being graduation speakers as long as their message is one of genuine inspiration and not the usual partisan politics. It’s really a matter of discretion and delicadeza,” Tamano stressed.

The senatorial bet also said that he was hoping the administration bets will heed Lapus’ call.

“It would be an insult if the administration bets themselves will be the first to ignore their Education secretary’s plea. Anyway, the Filipino youth are wise and they won’t vote for trapos [traditional politicians] anyway no matter how much they try to sell themselves in graduation ceremonies,” Tamano said.