Bello to MECO, Nograles back at CSC under Marcos admin

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has chosen outgoing Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to lead the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan as its chairman and resident representative.

Marcos also nominated former Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles as chairman of the Civil Service Commission.

Bello served as President Rodrigo Duterte's first and only secretary of labor since 2016.

He has spent decades in public service and has held various positions such as acting secretary of Justice and as Solicitor General in 1998 during the term of former president Fidel Ramos.

Marcos also re-nominated Nograles to lead the CSC.

Nograles was among Duterte's ad-interim appointees who were bypassed for lack of quorum by the Commission on Appointments (CA) early this June.

Nograles expressed gratitude to Marcos for his trust and confidence on him as new CSC chairperson.

"Maraming maraming salamat po for this opportunity to continue our efforts to further professionalize the civil service, not only to make it world-class but, more importantly, to better serve our fellow Filipinos especially during these trying times," Nograles said in a statement.

"I am very excited to return to the Civil Service Commission and lead it into the better normal, together with its committed and dedicated public servants," he added.

Nograles served as Davao City's 1st district Representative for eight years before the outgoing president appointed him to several posts in the executive branch.

He served as spokesperson of the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, acting presidential spokesperson, and chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger. —NB, GMA News