Mosquera to assume post as deputy ombudsman on June 1

MANILA, Philippines - Former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) commissioner Gerard Mosquera will assume his new position in government as Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon on June 1, 2012.

President Aquino earlier picked him from a shortlist submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which also included Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer II Roque Dator, Commission on Elections (Comelec) director Ferdinand Rafanan, and Ombudsman consultant Melchor Arthur Carandang.

Mosquera replaces former Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Francis Jardeleza who had been appointed Solicitor General, replacing Jose Anselmo Cadiz.

The new official of the Office of the Ombudsman earlier served the anti-graft agency as Graft Investigation Officer III in 2003.

He also worked in various United Nations and United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded projects from 2003 to 2010 as Chief of Party for the Justice Institutions Strengthening Project in East Timor (JISP); as senior legal adviser and program manager for anti-corruption for the Rule of Law Effectiveness Project (ROLE); as UN anti-corruption adviser to the Inspector General of Timor-Leste for the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET); and as rule of law task manager for the Economic Growth Technical Assistance Project (EGTA).

Mosquera obtained his BS Management as well as his Bachelor of Laws degrees from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he graduated with honors and was given a silver medal for academic excellence.

He earned his Master of Laws degree from the Kings College London and a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was a recipient of the 2010 Lucius N. Littauer Award for Academic Excellence and Leadership.

Mosquera, who shall serve as Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon for a fixed seven-year term, placed 2nd in the 1992 Bar examinations.