3 more Cabinet officials named

(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has reappointed J. Prospero “Popoy” de Vera 3rd as chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Malacañang announced on Saturday.

Press Secretary Rose Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz-Angeles said the President also named Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alex Quiroz as chairman of the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations and former lawmaker Franz Josef George Alvarez as acting president and chief executive officer of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC).

De Vera was previously appointed CHEd commissioner by former president Rodrigo Duterte with a tenure lasting from October 2018 to July 21, 2022.

Before joining the Duterte administration, de Vera was University of the Philippines vice president for public affairs from 2011 to 2016.

De Vera was the very first CHEd commissioner who openly supported the Free Tuition Bill, an election promise of Duterte, pending in the Congress since 2016.

CHEd’s biggest mandate is the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 10931 — Free Higher Education — Duterte’s foremost social justice program.

De Vera, a strong advocate of state subsidized higher education, has led the formulation of the implementing rules and regulations of RA 10931.

Quiroz, on the other hand, has more than 25 years of experience in the judiciary, starting as a Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) judge then as Regional Trial Court judge.

Prior to his appointment to the anti-graft court, Quiroz was presiding judge of Pasig MeTC Branch 156 and also worked for the Office of the Solicitor General.

Alvarez, meanwhile, has served as representative of the first legislative district of Palawan Province.

He ran unopposed in the May 2019 elections under the banner of the National Unity Party.

Alvarez, son of former Palawan representative Antonio Alvarez, had voted against the granting of fresh broadcasting franchise to ABS-CBN.

Marcos also named Rosalia Villegas de Leon as treasurer of the Philippines, Emmanuel Buenaflor Salamat as executive director of the National Secretariat of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, Epimaco Verano Densing 3rd as undersecretary of the Department of Education, Ferdinand Galvez Sevilla as president of the Philippine Public Safety College, and Benny Diaz Antiporda as acting administrator and member of the Board of Directors of the National Irrigation Administration.

The other new appointees were Monica Prieto Teodoro as special envoy of the President to the United Nations Children’s Fund, Philippe Jones Lhuiller as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Spain, including the Canary Islands, and Pedro Ramirez Laylo as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the State of…