Oban, Escudero's mother among P-Noy's new appointees

MANILA, Philippines - Former Armed Forces chief Eduardo Oban Jr. and the mother of Sen. Francis Escudero were among the government officials who took their oath before President Aquino in Malacañang yesterday.

Oban was appointed as acting member of the board of directors of state-run Clark Development Corp., replacing Cesar Villanueva, while Mrs. Evelina Buencamino Guevarra-Escudero was designated as member of the UP board of regents.

Escudero, 69, replaced Magdaleno Albarracin Jr. as board regent in the state-run University of the Philippines. She is the wife of Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III.

Escudero’s term will expire on Feb. 18, 2014.

She obtained her home economics degree, major in foods and nutrition, from UP in 1964. She also obtained her doctor of philosophy in education from the UP.

Yasmin Busran-Lao, who lost in her senatorial bid in the May 2010 elections, was appointed Presidential Assistant for Muslim Concerns, which carries the rank of undersecretary under the Office of the President.

Lao was included in the senatorial slate of the Liberal Party in 2010, of which Aquino was the standard-bearer. 

Other appointees who took their oath include Lucena Samson, Ma. Crisanta Flores and Lorna Flores – all part-time commissioners of the Commission on the Filipino Language, with individual and separate terms of office.

Samson represents Pampango language, Crisanta Flores with the Pangasinan sector and Lorna Flores with the Southern Cultural Communities – all of them with a fixed term until January 2017.

Francia Conrado was appointed member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board until September 2012; Marco Santiago with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office under former Rep. Manuel Mamba, who heads the PLLO.

Several member-representatives of the National Anti-Poverty Commission have also taken their oath, among them Rosalinda Manabat, Delfa Talaid, Norisa Sabirin, Ponyong Kaldos, Emmanuel Villafuerte, Gloria Madayag, Maria Cagay, Marilou Tapia, Marlon Manuel, Ma. Linda Paracuelles, Gibby Gorres and Teresa Fernandez.

Golda Ballesta also took her oath as member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in the first district of Northern Samar, Ana Maria Cadena as Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Management Staff; Jesus Leocario Barrera as member, representing the sugar millers at the Sugar Regulatory Administration under the Department of Agriculture whose term will expire in February 2014.

Emerson Palad took his oath as Agriculture Undersecretary, Ariel Cayanan as acting executive director of the National Agricultural and Fishery Council, and Irene Isaac and Teodoro Pascua as deputy director general and acting deputy director general, respectively, of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority headed by Secretary Joel Villanueva.

Eva Ponce de Leon was designated as regular member of the Dangerous Drugs Board while Mehol Sadain was named commissioner of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos with a fixed term until March 2016.

The colleagues of Sadain, a former election commissioner, include Salem Demuna, Edilwasif Baddiri, Esmael Ebrahim and Mirkarl Allian, all commissioners whose term ends in March 2016.