New CSC commissioner named

President Arroyo has appointed Mary Ann Mendoza as a civil service commissioner in place of Waldemar Valdores, who has finished his seven-year tenure.

The Civil Service Commission has been controversial recently due to the allegations of CSC Chairwoman Karina David that the President was abusing her prerogative in appointing people to posts in government.

Mendoza will complete the three-member constitutional body along with incumbent commissioner Cesar Buenaflor.

Mendoza was assistant CSC commissioner before she assumed the post of executive director of the Career Executive Service Board in 2004.

She joined CSC in 1995, "where she introduced and implemented various programs such as gender mainstreaming, public service ethics and accountability, mentoring, seven habits of highly effective people, technology of participation and service delivery excellence," a CSC statement read.

The CSC said Mendoza rose from the ranks, starting out in 1972 as researcher at the then National Manpower and Youth Council, now the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

She also served at the National Economic and Development Authority, then Ministry of Labor and Employment and Malacañang as part of the Cabinet secretariat and later on the Presidential Management Staff. — Aurea Calica