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Thursday, September 07, 2006
Ex-national police head appointed as irrigation chief (10:24 a.m.)
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo named former PNP chief Arturo Lomibao as administrator of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and
Government Mass Media Group (GMMG) chairman Cerge Remonde as chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).
Arroyo also appointed former Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA) chairman and later NAPC chairman Zamzamin Ampatuan as executive officer of the reactivated Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA), former Oriental Mindoro vice governor Thaddeus Venturanza as commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and former Sulu governor and former undersecretary for external affairs Habib Tupay Loong as presidential assistant I for Muslim Concerns.
She also named former SPDA administrator Habib Mudjahab Hashim to his former post and former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) officials Saeed Daof and Yusop Jikiri as board directors along with former Department of Social Welfare and Development-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) secretary Hadja Bainon Karon and Mohammad Ali Basir Lucman of the Mindanao Peace and Development Fund (MPDF).
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said there would be an official announcement on the appointment of Remonde later this month. Remonde is scheduled to join the President in her September 9 to 18 trip to Finland, Belgium, Unite Kingdom, Cuba and Hawaii.
He said Remonde might eventually leave the GMMG but details would be finalized on his return. Remonde, former Kapisanan ng mg Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) chairman, was first appointed by Arroyo as her press undersecretary.
Lomibao, who is reportedly eyeing a senatorial seat in the mid-term elections in 2007, retired from the police on July 5 after serving as PNP chief for more than year. He succeeded Edgardo Aglipay on March 2005.
Ermita defended the appointment of Lomibao saying it is the prerogative of the President. "The President feels that a person like General Lomibao with very extensive management and executive skills can be utilized. His talents as being chief of the PNP should be harnessed, not to mention that he has the confidence of the appointing authority, the President," he said. (JMR) |
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