De Vera stays as CHED chair; other Marcos appointees named

FILE PHOTO CHED chair Prospero de Vera III

MANILA, Philippines — Prospero de Vera has been reappointed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Press Secretary Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles announced on Saturday that Marcos has named 12 new appointees to serve under his administration, including de Vera who was at the helm of CHED from 2018 under former President Rodrigo Duterte until July 21, 2022.

Prior to his stint as chairperson, de Vera served as a CHED Commissioner from 2016 to 2018 and was later designated officer-in-charge of the government agency when former CHED chairperson Patricia Licuanan resigned.

READ: Duterte names officer-in-charge for CHEd

Marcos similarly reappointed Rosalia Villegas de Leon as the National Treasurer of the Philippines.

Lotilla, other appointees

Meanwhile, the designation of Raphael Lotilla as the new Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary has also been made official.

On July 11, Lotilla was nominated for the position “pending clarification of his employment status” since he is currently an independent director of Aboitiz Power and ENEXOR.

The Department of Justice later clarified that his nomination as DOE chief is valid and legal.

Lotilla also served in the same post from 2005 to 2007 under former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Cruz-Angeles also named the following Marcos appointees:

1. Franz Josef George Espina Alvarez: Acting President, Chief Executive Officer and Member, Board of Directors of the PNOC Exploration Corporation
2. Philippe Jones Lhuiller: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Spain, including the Canary Islands
3. Pedro Ramirez Laylo: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Israel
4. Emmanuel Buenaflor Salamat: Executive Director, National Secretariat of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict
5. Epimaco Verano Densing III: Undersecretary, Department of Education
6. Ferdinand Galvez Sevilla: President, Philippine Public Safety College, Department of the Interior and Local Government
7. Benny Diaz Antiporda: Acting Administrator and Member, Board of Directors of the National Irrigation Administration
8. Monica Prieto Teodoro: Special Envoy of the President to the United Nations Children’s Fund
9. Sandiganbayan Justice Alex Quiroz: Chairman Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations.

SB Justice to GOCC plum post?

Sought for comment on his appointment, Quiroz clarified that he has not yet accepted the position as of this writing.

“If appointed, mag-optional retirement [ako],” Quiroz said in a text message to INQUIRER.net.

Quiroz, in 2021, junked a civil case to recover the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their associates after the Philippine government supposedly failed to prove its allegations with a “preponderance of evidence.”

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