President Aquino appoints Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, Rene Villa, Ruel de Vera

President Benigno Aquino III has appointed new Ateneo de Manila University president Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin as an acting member of the board of trustees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, documents furnished by Malacañang showed.

Also appointed to the MWSS board was Guillermo Tabios. Villarin replaced Oscar Garcia while Tabios replaced Albert Balingit.

Ruel de Vera, associate editor of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine, was appointed to the Department of Education’s National Book Development Board as a representative of the private sector. Others appointed to the NBDB were Karina Bolasco, Ani Rosa Almario and Isagani R. Cruz.

Andrea Pasion-Flores was reappointed executive director of the NBDB.

Undersecretary Abigail Valte, meanwhile, defended President Aquino’s appointment of members of the Liberal Party who lost in the 2010 elections to government posts.

Valte made the remarks following the appointment of Customs Commissioner Rozzano Ruffino Biazon and Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim. Both Biazon and Lim were on the Liberal Party’s senatorial ticket but failed to make it to the top 12.

Former Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta, also a losing candidate on the LP slate, was earlier appointed Presidential Adviser on Environmental Protection.

“The President knows the people in his party and they are one in the reforms they are pushing for,” Valte said.

The President also appointed former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rene Villa as a member of the board of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).

Villa is a member of the Hyatt 10, a group of Cabinet secretaries of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who resigned at the height the ‘Hello Garci’ wiretapping scandal in 2005. The group includes Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman.

Valte vouched for Villa’s competence.

“Mr. Villa’s capabilities were assessed and it was found that he can discharge the duties as a member of the board of LWUA,” Valte said.

Valte said Villa won’t automatically replace former LWUA chair Prospero Pichay.

“He will have to be elected by the board. Since the LWUA is a GOCC, they have their own board. They have to have elections in the board to elect the chairman and the general manager,” Valte said.

Valte said Villa was also a presidential assistant under the Office of the President.