Noy swears in new Solgen, 35 other gov’t execs

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday swore in government officials, including retired military officers he appointed to civilian posts, the new solicitor general and 35 others.

Retired Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista was designated as undersecretary at the Office of the President (OP). He will serve as executive director of the Security, Justice and Peace Cluster in the Cabinet.

Former Philippine Coast Guard commandant Jose Luis Alano, meanwhile, was designated undersecretary in the office of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.

Aquino has in the past appointed retired AFP chiefs of staff to civilian posts in government, among them Ricardo David whom he fired from the immigration bureau, Eduardo Oban as undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications and Jessie Dellosa as deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Customs.

Retired Navy chief vice admiral Alexander Pama was initially appointed undersecretary under the OP but has been transferred to the Office of Civil Defense as executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

Retired police general Victor Batac, meanwhile, was designated as assistant secretary under OP but was assigned as to rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson, who was his classmate at the Philippine Military Academy Matatag Class of 1971.

Batac was one of the co-founders of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, which was responsible for the series of coup attempts during the term of Aquino’s late mother Cory from the late ’80s to the early ’90s.

Batac, along with then Army colonel and now Sen. Gregorio Honasan and Red Kapunan, formed RAM, a rightist group of soldiers within AFP who tried to topple the Cory Aquino government.

Newly appointed Solicitor General Florin Hilbay also took his oath, replacing chief government defense lawyer Francis Jardeleza whom Aquino promoted to associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Assistant secretary Virgilio Nadal of the Presidential Communications Operations Office was also sworn in. He heads Radio-TV Malacañang that takes charge of all video coverage requirements of Aquino’s official activities.

Aquino also transferred former Philippine Information Agency chief Jose Fabia to the Commission on Audit as one of its commissioners. Fabia has a fixed seven-year term.

Aquino also designated Governors Aurelio Umali, Joey Salceda, Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, Junie Cua, Art Defensor Sr., Edgardo Chatto, Hilario Davide III, among others, as chairpersons of the National Peace and Order Council in their respective jurisdictions.