Presidential Security Group chief steps down Tuesday

MANILA, Philippines – A new head of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) is expected to be announced when Brig. Gen. Celedonio Boquiren Jr. steps down this Tuesday.

Boquiren has served in the post for almost a year.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde declined to identify Boquiren’s replacement during an interview over Radyo ng Bayan yesterday.

“I am not in a position to announce who is the next chief of the PSG,” Remonde said.

Boquiren, who headed the 205th Presidential Airlift Wing prior to his appointment as PSG chief, assumed his post in June last year following the appointment of his predecessor, Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, as head of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

It is not clear if President Arroyo would attend the turn over ceremony since she is going to Cebu on the same day for the Cabinet meeting and other activities.

Remonde said that the President would be signing the Tourism Act of 2009 in Cebu in recognition of the province as the center of tourism in the country.

He said the President would also inaugurate one of the biggest hotels in Cebu during her visit this Tuesday.

As for the Cabinet meeting, Remonde said the main agenda would be the bi-monthly report by the National Economic and Development Authority on the global recession improvement monitoring or GRIM.

Apart from the updates on the status and impacts of the global financial crisis, Remonde said that the concerns of Cebu and Bohol provinces would also be tackled during the meeting.

Remonde said the President is constantly monitoring the situation in the affected areas, even though the impact of the recent typhoons that hit the country is not part of the agenda.

“I will not be surprised if she would personally visit these areas,” Remonde said.