Retired Marine general appointed to MWSS board

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has appointed a retired general of the Philippine Marines as board member of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and at the same time transferred the water agency’s former chairman to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

Retired lieutenant general Emmanuel Salamat has been named MWSS board member while former chairman Franklin Demonteverde has been designated as ad interim JBC board member representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, according to data released by Malacañang yesterday.

Duterte also reappointed MWSS vice chairman and administrator Reynaldo Velasco as board member of the water agency.

Last June, Duterte offered the post of MWSS administrator to Salamat, who was then chief of the Northern Luzon Command.

Velasco previously said he would become MWSS chairman because Demonteverde would be moved to the JBC.

Last March, Duterte berated MWSS officials and water concessionaires over the service interruptions in some parts of Metro Manila and Rizal province.

He also threatened to terminate the contracts of the private concessionaires if the supply issues are not resolved.

Duterte also appointed Australian businessman Peter Wallace as member of the Ease of Doing Business and Anti-Red Tape Council representing the private sector.

Other new appointees are Gonzalo Duque (member of the Philippine Coconut Authority governing board), Antonio Bautista (defense assistant secretary), Lorna Tobias (Bureau of Internal Revenue Director II), Napoleon Arevalo (health director IV), Juliana Sunga (justice undersecretary), Ferdausi Cerna (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples director IV), Manuel Tuason (National Security Council director III), Milagros Javellana (Career Executive Service Board member), Rodrigo Aguilar (trade director III), Loida Linson (interior and local government director IV), Gezel Garcia (public attorney V), Roy Buenafe (labor director III), Marion Sevilla (labor director III), Septon dela Cruz (Commission on Higher Education director III) and Purisimo Tiam (Cagayan Economic Zone Authority board member). 

Duterte also issued an executive order that made the Bases and Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) as part of the Cabinet infrastructure cluster to further enhance coordination among the agencies involved in the administration’s Build Build  Build infrastructure program.

Under Executive Order 86 signed on July 25, Duterte amended his prior executive order that reorganized the Cabinet clusters system by integrating good governance and anti-corruption in the policy frameworks of all the clusters and creating the infrastructure cluster and participatory governance cluster.

In including BCDA in the infrastructure cluster, Duterte noted the mandate of the BCDA in the conversion of the Clark and Subic military reservations and their extensions into alternative productive uses.

The EO also noted that BCDA’s vital public infrastructure projects such as tollway, railway, airport, seaport and new economic growth corridor, and its role in the Build Build Build program, warrant its inclusion as a member of the infrastructure cluster. – With Christina Mendez, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edu Punay