Marcos appoints Kenneth Cobonpue to DTI’s creative development council

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has appointed award-winning industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue as a member of the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council under the Department of Trade and Industry.

Cobonpue will be the private sector representative of the design domain, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a Facebook post yesterday.

Cobonpue finished industrial design at the Pratt Institute in New York and worked and studied in Italy and Germany, according to his official website.

He returned to the Philippines in 1995 to manage his mother’s furniture company and established his own brand three years later. His company now employs more than 300 people from Cebu and has offices and showrooms in Manila, Germany, Portugal and the US.

Cobonpue is a recipient of several awards, including Japan’s Good Design Award, Design for Asia Award, International Contemporary Furniture Fair Craftsmanship Award and Asian Designer of the Year.

The PCO also announced the appointment of Peter Corvera, Trygve Olaivar and Mel Verzosa as education undersecretaries; Malcolm Garma as education assistant secretary; Urdujah Alvarado, Francesca Huang and Amante Liberato as Career Executive Service Board members; Roberto Diciembre as executive director of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board; Teresita Mabunay as provincial agrarian reform Office II; and Crispian Lao and Dwight Ramos as members of the National Solid Waste Management Commission.

Also appointed were Crizaldo Nieves (Office for Transportation Security administrator III), Jose Mejia (Judicial and Bar Council member representing the private sector), Anastacia Notarte, Maria Eden Piadozo and Lilia Portales (members of the Professional Regulatory Board of Agriculture).