PNoy names new food security czar

Malacañang on Wednesday announced new appointments to various government positions, including that of the post vacated by administration senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. 

 

President Benigno Aquino III named Undersecretary Fredelita Guiza as the new head of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization.

 

Pangilinan resigned from the Cabinet post effective September 30 ahead of his announcement that he will run for senator in the 2016 national elections. He filed his certificate of candidacy Wednesday.

 

Aquino also named Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Reynaldo Antonio Laguda as an undersecretary to replace the late Francis Valera, who died in a vehicular accident last month. 

 

The chief executive likewise appointed Jose Alejandro Payumo as the deputy secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) replacing Wendel Avisado.

 

Avisado was previously accused of conflict of interest after the Senate Blue Ribbon committee investigating corruption allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay learned that he was also the senior vice president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP).

 

Binay, the president of the BSP, was HUDCC chairman until he resigned from the Cabinet in June.

 

Other appointments include: Erdelyne Go as the deputy chief presidential legal counsel; Ireneo Galicia, government corporate counsel; and Josephine Rima-Santiago as director general of the Intellectual Property Office. —ALG, GMA News