Ex-Iloilo lawmaker is new PCA board member

A former lawmaker from Iloilo province has been appointed as member of the board of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Malacanang announced on Sunday. Oscar Garin, current president and general manager of Garin Enterprises, replaces Luis Evangelista at PCA, said deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte in an interview on government-run Radyo ng Bayan. A licensed civil engineer and congressman of Iloilo from 1987 to 2004, Garin was named presidential assistant for Western Visayas and on agriculture after his stint as congressman. He was later named PCA administrator. In the interview, Valte also announced the appointments of lawyer Vicente D. Lasam as acting deputy administrator of the National Tobacco Administration; professor Felomino D. Mamuad as acting executive director of the Philippines Carabao Center; and agriculturists Josephine Regalado and Elizabeth Tortosa, as acting deputy administrators of the Bureau of Fiber Development and Inspection Services. She also announced appointments of lawyer Ribonette Rodriguez-Aguilar as Director IV, Legal Services Group of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council; and Teresita Daza and Francia C. Conrado as board members of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). Lasam, currently an assistant attorney of the ACCRA Law Firm, heads the Itawes Foundation, Inc. which is actively involved in assisting rice, corn and tobacco farmers. He was a technical assistant to the Minister of National Defense, and was a legal counsel of F. Jacinto Group of Companies, and a former Senior Associate of Barredo, Reyno and Tomacruz Law Office. Mamuad, who has been the deputy executive director of the Philippines Carabao Center since 2001, was formerly a professor at the Central Luzon State University, while Regalado who started working with Bureau of Fiber Development and Inspection Services in 1975, is a career official who handled different positions until her appointment as Chief Agriculturist in March 2003 like Tortosa, who also started with the agency in 1975 until she reached the position of Chief Fiber Development Officer in 2002. Rodriguez-Aguilar, prior to her appointment at HUDCC, was appointed to the Office of the Solicitor General in January until she was detailed to the Department of Justice from March to June 2010 this year. She was with the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel as Executive Director- Institute of Public Corporate Governance from 2008 to January 2010 and was acting corporate secretary of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management. Daza, who was vice-president of the Congressional Spouses Foundation, Inc. from 1992 to 1998m first served as member of the MTRCB board from 1998 to 2004. She is also a member of the Ephpheta Foundation for the Blind since 1993, while Conrado who is the Management Consultant Caribbean Enterprises, Inc. was a senior unit manager of the Colonial Mutual Group and proprietress of the Jubillah Marketing and Sales. Valte also announced the appointments of Constancio C. Maghanoy, Jr. and Eduardo M. Gonzalez, acting assistant regional directors of the Department of Agriculture; and Drusila Bayate; Andres M. Bojos; Juan D. Albaladejo; Nerio Casil; Dennis V. Del Socorro; and Ahadulla S. Sajili Al-Haj, as acting directors of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Maghanoy, a licensed agricultural officer who has been with the DA since 2009, is Master's Degree holder in Public Administration; while Gonzalez, who is an engineer, first joined the DA in 1975 as a Soil Technologist. Gonzalez also holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration. Bayate, who has been with the Bureau in Region 6 since 1985, is presently the Regional Director and holds a Masters Degree in Marine ecology from Free University of Brussels, Belgium while Bojos who first worked with the DA in 1975 held various positions until his appointment as BFAR Region 7 Director in Dec. 2007. Albaladejo, who first stated with BFAR in 1986 as a researcher, held various positions until his appointment as regional director of BFAR Region 8. He holds a Diplomate in Veterinary Public Health and Masters in tropical Health from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Casil, who started with BFAR in 1977, held various positions in the agency until his appointment as Regional Director in BFAR Region 13 while Socorro who is also a career official who rose from the ranks until his appointment as Regional Director in BFAR Region V. Sajili, who has been with the Bureau since 2004, is actively involved in fisheries monitoring and surveillance operations in Region IX. - KBK, GMANews.TV