PRESIDENT Arroyo canceled the reported
appointment of former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay to
the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) board and his
nomination as its chairman but continued to dole out government
posts to defeated 2007 candidates.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced
late Thursday the appointment of losing Pasay City mayoralty bet
Consuelo Dy as deputy director of the National Anti-Poverty
Commission, former Court of Appeals justice Nicolas Lapeña Jr.
as acting chairman of the Professional Regulatory Commission,
and lawyer Villamor Ventura Plan as acting executive director of
the Finance Department’s One-Stop-Shop Interagency Tax Credit
and Duty Drawback Center.
She also swore into office Friday morning
defeated San Fernando (Pampanga) mayoralty bet Reynaldo Aquino
as acting president and chief executive officer of the
Philippine Health Insurance Corp., defeated Manila vice
mayoralty bet Grepor Belgica as commissioner of the Presidential
Anti-Organized Crime Commission, Ma. Victoria Cardona as
commissioner on Human Rights; former Commission on Higher
Education executive director William Merdano as acting CHED
commissioner; and Benigno Ricafort, president and chief
executive officer of the Clark Development Corp.
Plan, a managing partner in the Sorplan
Shoppers Plaza and legal officer of the Department of Health
Center for Health Development for Cagayan Valley, served as
member of the board of directors of Government Service Insurance
System Mutual Fund Inc. and later as chairman of the Subic-Clark
Alliance for Development Council Bids and Awards committee.
Lapeña, who assumed his post Tuesday, began
his career at the Central Bank in 1954 then taught law at the
Philippine Judicial Academy, UP, San Sebastian College, Ateneo
de Manila, University of Manila and at the Iglesia ni Cristo’s
New Era University where he became president from 1978 to 1983.
He also served as president of the Eagle Broadcasting Corp.
(1973 to 1978) and is concurrent chairman of the Philippine
Postal Savings Bank.
Dy, a member of the Kabalikat ng Malayang
Pilipino, served as Pasay congresswoman from 2001 to 2007 then
ran unsuccessfully against oppositionist Mayor Wenceslao
Trinidad.
Aquino, a doctor by profession, was
representing the third district of Pampanga at the Lower House
from 2004 to 207 before he ran for mayor, a post he held in
2001. Belgica served a prison term in his youth, became an
evangelist and was a former councilor of Manila before he ran
for vice mayor.
Cardona, a lawyer, would head the CHR’s
children rights and women’s right division while Ricafort, who
replaced CDC president Liberato P. Laus, was a member of the CDC
board in 1992 during the Ramos administration. Ricafort, who
earned his master’s degree in Business Administration from St.
John’s University in New York, is married to CHED commissioner
Nona Ricafort.
Pichay, also a Kampi member, owns the
printing press Carlo Commercial Publishing and the Carlo
Publishing that produces the tabloid Remate. He also a part
owner of the AM radio station DZME.
His appointment papers to the LWUA were
reportedly held back because Pichay does not fancy serving as
LWUA administrator. His name had earlier been floated as
possible Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration chief but this
was met with opposition from recruitment agencies and other
players in the migrant workers sector.
If he does get appointed, Pichay would be the fourth Team
Unity defeated senatorial bet to get a post in government after
Arroyo earlier named Ralph Recto Planning secretary, Vicente
Sotto III head of the Dangerous Drug Board, and Michael Defensor
head of the Presidential Task Force on the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport (NAIA) 3. Defensor has since moved on, in
a private capacity, to the Northrail project. – Jocelyn D.
Montemayor
