Ex-Labor chief named APECO board director

President Benigno Aquino III has appointed former Labor secretary Bienvenido Laguesma as board director of the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Zone Authority (APECO), Malacañang announced on Sunday. Interviewed by Radyo ng Bayan, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte also announced the appointment of businessman Roberto Mathay to the APECO board representing the domestic investors sector. Laguesma will serve a six-year term while Mathay would serve the unexpired term of Joselito Dee Ong until June 16, 2014. Laguesma, Labor secretary during the Estrada government from 1998 to 2001, was a former member of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board and former director of Grow Inc., while Mathay was a former director of the Basic Ecomarket Farms Inc., a leading producer of dried cassava and subsidiary of Basic Energy Corp. Valte also announced the appointment of former Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) secretary general Rodolfo C. Severino Jr. as the Philippine Eminent Person in the ASEAN and United States Eminent Persons Group, and Ma. Lourdes Lilia Espinosa-Supnet as deputy commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission. Severino, author of several books about the Philippines and ASEAN, is the head of the ASEAN Studies Centre of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, while Espinso-Supnet, managing director of public relations company Maloli Espinosa and Associates, served as president of Masbate Community Broadcasting Company, and chairperson of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union's Copyright Committee. A member of the Manila Overseas Press Club and former Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), Espinosa-Supnet had worked for 17 years at the ABS-CBN where she rose to the position of vice-president for government, corporate affairs and entertainment PR before she quit to form her own company. She has also served in various capacities with the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, International Public Relations Association, Advertising Board of the Philippines, Ad Standards Council, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, National Centennial Commission and the Radio Research Council. Valte also announced the promotions of Patricia B. Luna and Wilma D. Naviamos to Acting Director IV of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Rhodora T. Babaran to Acting Director III also of the DSWD. Also promoted were Mark Edison Bandojo Belarma, Noel Orais Delos Reyes, Ricardo Cornejo Marquez, Willie Mogol Tolentino, all of whom now hold the rank of police chief superintendent; and Noel Baguitan Amoyen, Raul Araza Benitez, Larson Katalbas Dechino, Jose Bayani Legados Gucela, who are now all police senior superintendent. - KBK, GMA News