LWUA administrator named DPWH undersecretary

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo appointed yesterday Local Water Utilities Administration head Orlando Honrade as Public Works undersecretary, replacing Ramon Aquino who was gunned down last month outside his office in Manila.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced that Mrs. Arroyo also appointed Ronald Joves and Ann Blyte Tia, both from the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), to take over the duties of the late appointments secretary Marilou Frostrom who died in the crash of the presidential Bell 412 helicopter with seven other passengers in Ifugao.

Frostrom was both the appointments secretary and head of the Office of Regional Concerns under the PMS.

Ermita said the President also appointed Mark Glenn Millan as assistant secretary of the Department of National Defense and Jose Mamauag as commissioner of the five-member Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

Mamauag previously served as director of the CHR for Western Mindanao.

Mrs. Arroyo also appointed former Pampanga congressman Rey Aquino as president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

Aquino is Mrs. Arroyo’s provincemate who served as representative of the 3rd District of Pampanga.