2 special envoys to China sworn in

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino swore into office yesterday newly appointed Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan as well as two special envoys to China, Domingo Lee and Cesar Zalamea.

Balisacan, also the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, replaces Cayetano Paderanga, who resigned on May 10 for health reasons.

“At this stage, we shall monitor how our various development programs have contributed toward attaining poverty reduction and rural development, which (are) for me the essence of inclusive growth,” Balisacan earlier said.

Balisacan said poverty is a rural phenomenon spawned largely by government’s neglect of agricultural development.

“For every three poor people in the country, two of them come from the rural areas,” he said.

A former dean of the University of the Philippines’ School of Economics, Balisacan said his tasks include facilitating the pace and addressing bottlenecks in building quality infrastructure in the country, particularly those that support rural development.

“The public-private partnership (PPP) program is just one of the many tools to achieve this goal. We will continue the initial strides of the PPP Center, and we hope to further make PPP projects attractive to investors even in rural areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lee’s task is to help attract more tourists to the Philippines while Zalamea’s is to seek more investments.

The two have been named special envoys to China while the President is still looking for a permanent ambassador. The Philippines and China are locked in a territorial dispute over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

Others who took their oaths were Philippine Coast Guard officials Vice Admiral Edmund Tan, Rear Admiral Cecil Chen, Rear Admiral Lino Dabi and Rear Admiral Luis Tuason Jr.

Also sworn in by the Chief Executive were the representative of consumer organizations to the Optical Media Board Elmar Ingles; deputy director for the PPP Center of NEDA Ferdinand Tolentino; and 10 representatives from various sectors to the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council of the Department of Agriculture.