New LRTA, government aircraft repair firm chiefs named

MANILA, Philippines - Cavite politician and Liberal Party member Rafael Rodriguez has been named as the new administrator of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) while former Asian Spirit president Antonio Buendia Jr. has been appointed to be the president of state-owned aircraft repair firm Philippine Aerospace Development Corp. (PADC).

Dante Velasco, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Undersecretary for Public Information, confirmed that Rodriguez and Buendia have already taken their oath of office at Malacañang.

“We have just received their appointment papers here at the DOTC,” Velasco told The STAR. He said that he was personally not aware of the background of the two new officials.

However, insiders at the DOTC said Rodriguez is allegedly a protégé of former Cavite governor Erineo Maliksi and was a former board member of the province’s Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

Rodriguez replaced Melquiades Robles, while Buendia replaced retired Philippine Air Force general Ildefonso Dulinayen as PADC president.

Maliksi had recently lobbied aggressively for the implementation of the extension of the LRTA-managed Light Rail Transit Line 1 to Bacoor, Cavite from its south end station in Baclaran, Parañaque City.

DOTC insiders, on the other hand, said Buendia had allegedly been pushed by former DOTC secretary Leandro Mendoza to replace then Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director general Ruben Ciron.

Asian Spirit, which Buendia headed for several years as president, was bought by Filipino-Chinese beverage magnate Alfredo Yao, owner of juicemaker Zesto Corp., a couple of years ago and has renamed Zest Air.