RETIRED Court of Appeals (CA) justice Melchor Quirino Sadang leads the list of the latest batch of presidential appointees which the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) released yesterday.
Sadang was named chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
The former magistrate served in the CA from 2011 to 2017 and was a former presiding judge of the Cavite City Regional Trial Court from 2000 to 2011.
He was one of the five-man committee that vetted the courtesy resignations of ranking police officers amid investigations into their possible involvement in illegal drug activities.
Sadang will join fellow former CA justice Elihu Ybanez who was appointed in March as PCGG commissioner.
The PCGG is a quasi-judicial government agency whose primary mandate is to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by the late Ferdinand Marcos, his immediate family, relatives, subordinates and close associates, whether located in the Philippines or abroad.
It was created by the late president Corazon Aquino shortly after she became president in the aftermath of the 1986 People Power revolution.
In addition to recovering the Marcos wealth, the PCGG is also tasked with investigating other cases of graft and corruption, and institution of corruption prevention measures.
Aside from Sadang, also appointed by the President was Rose Marie J. Arenas as member of the Board of Directors of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO). It was not immediately clear, though, if Arenas is the same person as the former Pangasinan Rep. Rose Marie J. Arenas.
PCO said the other appointees were Charlito Martin Mendoza and Domini Velasquez as undersecretaries of the Department of Finance, Jesus Nathaniel Martin Gonzales as undersecretary of the Department of Transportation, Asis Perez as undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture, and Grace Baluyan as assistant secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Also appointed were Ethel Agnes Valenzuela as commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education, Gilbert Sosa as acting chairman and member of the Board of Directors of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Data Center Inc, Nathaniel Arevalo as deputy director general of the Intellectual Property Office, and Martin John Yasay as deputy commissioner of the Insurance Commission.
Also appointed by the President were Eduardo Saguil as member of the DBP Board of Directors, Eva Arcos as member of the Social Security Commission board, Gregorio Montenegro as member of the board of trustees of the Home Development Mutual Fund, Bienvenido Niles Jr as member of the board of the Philippine Racing Commission, and Salma Angkaya-Kuhutan, Mohamad Raizuli Dimaporo, Analiza Flores, Catherine Magana, Ma. Cristina Malab, and Ronaldo Tepora as members of the board of the Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines.
The President also named Jason Barlis as chairperson of the Legal Education Board, and Manuel Barrios and Voltaire San Pedro as members; Roberto Zozobrado as General Manager/Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of trustees of the Philippine Retirement Authority, Godwin Hernaez as Chief of Medical Professional Staff of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, and Noah Dimaporo and Alexandra Lumontad as customs collector VI at the Bureau of Customs.
Marcos also appointed Raymond Fel Sajor as Director III of the Department of Labor and Employment, Dahlialyn Dait-Cawed as Director IV of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Raymond Panhon as DTI Director IV, Alexandria Louise Cariño as Director IV of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, Eric Arevalo as Director III of the Department Of Agrarian Reform, Claire Yvonne Aznar as provincial agrarian reform program officer I, and Ella Karina Mitra as Foreign Service Officer, Class I.
