GMA to name 2 new PCGG commissioners

President Arroyo is expected to announce this week two new commissioners of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), a Malacañang official said yesterday.

The Palace official said the two new PCGG officials are former congressman Alvin Dans and lawyer Rick Abcede, national chairman of the Filipino Lawyers for Good Governance (FILGOOD).

Abcede was one of the private lawyers that staunchly defended Mrs. Arroyo last year at the sidelines of the contentious canvassing in Congress of the May 2004 presidential election votes. He used to hold regular press conferences defending the President from attacks by the opposition.

Dans was formerly Basilan representative and a member of the Liberal Party. Dans was also once considered as the successor of Roy Señeres as chairman of the National Labor Relations Commission.

The appointees, the Malacañang official said, would fill up two out of the three vacancies in the five-man PCGG.

Haydee Yorac resigned in April as PCGG chairwoman and was succeeded by Commissioner Camilo Sabio. Last month, PCGG Commissioner Vyva Victoria Aguirre also resigned from her post. The third PCGG post was vacated by Ruben Carranza, who resigned in 2003.

Because of the vacancies, the PCGG lacked quorum and thus could not make crucial decisions on pending cases.

PCGG chairman Sabio said the President has not yet decided on whom to appoint to fill up the last vacancy.

"There is a long list of possible candidates of the post," Sabio said, adding the two new appointees are very much qualified for the posts.

He said Abcede and Dans would greatly help in fulfilling the mandate of the PCGG.

"They are very much welcome at the PCGG," he said.