Duterte appoints Negros board member

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has appointed a new member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Oriental.

In an order dated April 14 and released yesterday, lawyer Achilles Arturo Umbac Jr. was named to replace his relative Arturo Umbac.

The order was coursed through the office of acting Department of the Interior and Local Government secretary Eduardo Año.

The elder Umbac, 83, was attending an official trip in Aklan on Nov. 9 when he collapsed while walking in a mangrove area. 

Under the rules of the Commission on Elections, permanent vacancies in the provincial board where automatic successions do not apply shall be filled by appointment. The President, through the Executive Secretary, may issue appointments in highly urbanized cities and independent component cities.

The appointee shall come from the same political party of the board member who caused the vacancy and serve his unexpired term.