MALACAÑANG on Wednesday, July 11, released the appointments papers of the new head of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) and high-ranking officials of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
President Rodrigo Duterte on July 9 appointed lawyer Saidamen Pangarugan as NCMF chair, with a cabinet rank of secretary. Pangarugan will serve as NCMF chair for two years.
Also on July 9, the President delegated Pangarugan as commissioner of the NCMF, replacing Yasmin Lao. As NCMF commissioner, Pangarugan will hold office for four years.
Pangarugan was a former governor of Lanao del Sur province from 1988 to 1992. He also served as local government undersecretary under the leadership of the late president Corazon Aquino.
Meanwhile, Duterte also tapped the wife of Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and three other lawyers as high-ranking officials of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Emmeline Aglipay-Villar, a former representative of the Democratic Independent Workers' Association party-list, was appointed by Duterte as DOJ undersecretary on July 11.
Aglipay-Villar graduated magna cum laude in 2002 with economics degree from De La Salle University before she completed a law degree from the University of the Philippines in 2006.
Apart from Aglipay-Villar, Duterte also appointed lawyers Adrian Ferdinand Sugay, Mark Parete as Justice undersecretaries.
Prior to their new appointments at the DOJ, Sugay served as special assistant to the corporate head at the Philippine Ports Authority, while Parete was assistant secretary for legal affairs at the Office of the President.
Duterte also named Neal Vincent Bainto, a former senior associate at the Villaraza and Angangco Law Office, as Justice assistant secretary. (SunStar Philippines)