Erap names ex-Cabinet officials as PLM execs

MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has appointed his former Presidential Management Staff (PMS) chief Leonora de Jesus as president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM).

He also appointed his former budget secretary, Benjamin Diokno, as chairman of PLM’s board of trustees.

“Both are UP (University of the Philippines) professors and are very well respected in the academe,” Estrada said.

De Jesus – called the “Dragon Lady” – worked as Cabinet secretary and head of the presidential management staff in Malacañang during the administration of Estrada and former President Fidel Ramos.

For his part, Diokno served as Estrada’s budget secretary from July 1998 until Estrada’s ouster in January 2001.

Diokno also served as undersecretary for budget operations at the Department of Budget and Management from 1986 to 1991, during the administration of President Corazon Aquino.

During the Aquino administration, Diokno provided technical assistance to several major reforms such as the design of the 1986 Tax Reform Program, which simplified income tax and introduced the value-added tax and the 1991 Local Government Code of the Philippines.