Deputy Executive Secretary named new COA chief

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has appointed Deputy Executive Secretary for legal affairs Michael Aguinaldo as the new chairman of the Commission on Audit (COA), replacing Grace Pulido-Tan who retired in February.

Aquino signed the ad interim appointment of Aguinaldo on March 24. Since the beginning of this month, audit reports expected to weigh on controversial government programs and projects have been pending at the chairman’s office.

Aguinaldo will have a seven-year tenure or until Feb. 2, 2022.

Aguinaldo has been a professor at the Ateneo School of Law since 1994 and was a partner in the Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De los Angeles Law Office, where he handled litigation and arbitration for foreign and local clients.

A graduate of Philosophy from De La Salle University in 1987, Aguinaldo took up law at the Ateneo and placed seventh in the bar examinations in 1993. He obtained his Masters of Law from the University of Michigan in 1997, with special concentration on international economic law.

The Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs oversees three divisions, following the abolition of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission pursuant to Executive Order No. 13.

ODESLA handles the Legal Division, Legislative Division and the Investigative and Adjudicatory Division, which has taken over the responsibilities of PAGC.

At ODESLA, Aguinaldo reviewed administrative cases on appeal before the Office of the President, provided the President input on legal matters and reviewed proposed legislation. Aside from Tan, Sixto Brillantes Jr. and Francisco Duque III retired as chairmen of the Commission on Elections and Civil Service Commission, respectively.

Lawyer Rowena Guanzon is reportedly being eyed as Comelec chief. Contrary to an earlier report in The STAR, Guanzon was not rejected by the Commission on Appointments as COA chief.

She is also not close to the lawyers led by Avelino Cruz who are identified with Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Meanwhile, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. will reportedly take the place of Duque. The President has also yet to name a new Philippine National Police chief, although he has interviewed PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina and Deputy General Marcelo Garbo Jr., chief of the PNP directorial staff, according to Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.