Aquino names new PDIC, NCIP heads

Manila, Philippines - Malacañang confirmed yesterday that President Aquino appointed banker Valentin Araneta as the new president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., the state deposit insurer.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an interview with radio station dzRB that Aquino signed Araneta’s appointment papers on May 30.

Araneta replaces former PDIC chief Jose Nograles Jr. whose resignation took effect last May 31.

Araneta earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1971 and completed his master’s degree in Economics Program at the Ateneo de Manila University. He also took the Advanced Management Program at Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania.

Araneta became the vice president and general manager of the International Department and Finance Management Office of the Philippine National Bank in 1982, and then its senior executive vice president and chief operating officer in 1998.

Araneta also served as president and chief operating officer of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. from July 2000 to June 2003 and then its executive vice president and treasurer from July 1999 to July 2000.

He is the chairman of Islands Merchants Corp., a Nestlé distribution company for Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.

Prior to his appointment to the PDIC, he had been the independent director of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. since April 2004.

At the same time, he was a member and a treasurer of the board of trustees of the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City.                                                       

Meanwhile, Aquino has appointed Brigida Hamada Pawid as the new chairman of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), cutting short the three-year term of chairman Roque Agton.                                                                      

Pawid represents the Cordilleras tribal community. Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles swore Pawid into office in a ceremony held in her office.                                                                                

Agton was a former judge and a long-time regional director of the defunct Office for Southern Cultural Communities (OSCC). He will remain as commissioner of the NCIP representing Southern Mindanao until his term expires in 2013.                                                                                            

His relief came amid the call by tribal leaders for the issuance of a certificate of pre-condition to mining firm Macroasia Corp. before it could conduct operations in Brooks Point in Palawan. 

The certificate of pre-condition is a prequisite to the issuance of the strategic environmental plan by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, the last document needed before the firm could proceed with actual mining operations. – With Perseus Echeminada