PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has named Interior Undersecretary for Operations John Castriciones as acting secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
The Office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed Castriciones' appointment Friday night, December 1.
MalacaƱang has yet to release a copy of the document.
Castriciones was appointed as DAR acting secretary after Rafael Mariano's ad interim appointment as Agrarian Reform chief was rejected by the Commission on Appointments (CA) in September.
Prior to his new appointment, Castriciones was appointed by Duterte in September this year as Department of Interior and Local Government's (DILG) undersecretary for operations.
Castriciones was among the three DILG undersecretaries who had a hand in the removal of former Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno following accusations that the latter was involved in corruption.
Castriciones, a lawyer, actively campaigned for Duterte's presidential bid in the May 9, 2016 national elections. (SunStar Philippines)