Mar's new team may give clue on DOTC leadership thrust

MANILA, Philippines - The credentials of the new team of Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II may well provide a clue to the thrust of the leadership at the department, with all three undersecretaries being lawyers.

In a profile provided by the DOTC, the litigation experience of Rafael Antonio Santos and Jose Perfecto Lotilla was cited. They were described as “seasoned lawyers.”

Rene Limcaoco, also a lawyer, was hailed as an “entrepreneur,” with “the discipline of the private sector and how to run a business.”

Santos, according to the profile, is an industrial engineer who graduated from University of the Philippines, and had gone to the Ateneo de Manila University College of Law, graduating eighth in his class with a dean’s medal for academic achievement.

Santos had previously served as undersecretary of the Department of National Defense for operations for two years and reportedly has “extensive expertise and experience in the field of litigation and dispute resolution.”

He is an experienced litigator and has practiced law for over 20 years, the profile said.

Limcaoco has a BA in Economics from Stanford University (1986), and also graduated with honors from Ateneo Law School in 1990.

He worked for multinational audit firm Price Waterhouse restructuring build-operate-tranfer (BOT) projects.

Limcaoco had specialized in banking and finance law when he worked for Quisumbing Torres & Evangelista Law Office (Baker McKenzie Manila).

As an entrepreneur, Limcaoco was a founding member of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization of the Philippines, currently a member of the Young Presidents Organization of the Philippines and is vice president of the Stanford Alumni Association of the Philippines.

Lotilla, on the other hand, has an economics degree from the Ateneo, graduated from the UP College of Law, and was a senior partner at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan Law Offices.