Duterte names DBM procurement director as Overall Deputy Ombudsman

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Warren Rex Liong, the procurement director of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), as the new Overall Deputy Ombudsman, Malacañang said Thursday evening.

Liong will serve the post for seven years.

In a message to reporters, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said they hoped that Liong shared the president’s values of transparency, accountability, and efficiency.

“We are confident that Mr. Liong similarly shares these ideals as our quest for good governance remains unyielding and uncompromising,” Roque said in a statement.

“The challenges may be enormous but we are hopeful that Mr. Liong is up to the task to accomplish his mandate,” he added.

Liong was the election lawyer of Duterte when he was the mayor of Davao City in 2007 and 2010, according to his profile information on the Philippine Reclamation Authority’s website.

It also stated that he was the legal consultant of the president when he was still vice mayor of the city.

Liong will replace former Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang who was dismissed from service in 2018 after he disclosed the alleged bank transactions of the president and his family.—Joahna Lei Casilao/LDF, GMA News