Marcos appoints former Robredo spox, Ateneo dean to DepEd

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has selected the former spokesperson of former Vice President Leni Robredo and a former dean of the Ateneo School of Government to fill vacant leadership positions at the Department of Education.

According to the Presidential Communications Office on Thursday, October 3, Marcos has also appointed five other officials to DepEd, including the co-founder of a school that conducts martial law "simulations" to teach students about Marcos Sr.'s dictatorship.

Marcos appointed Georgina Yang, former Office of the Vice President (OVP) spokesperson, as an assistant secretary under the DepEd Office of the Secretary. 

Yang is the current executive director at Galing Pook Foundation, the body behind the annual awards that recognize top-performing local government units. 

Besides being Robredo's former spokesperson, Yang was also the program manager of the OVP's flagship anti-poverty program from 2016 to 2018. 

Prior to her stint at the OVP, Yang served as director at the Department of Social Welfare and Development from 2012 to 2015. She was an executive assistant at the department from 2010 to 2012. 

The president also appointed Ronald Mendoza, former dean and current senior economist at the Ateneo Policy Center, to be the department's new undersecretary for policy and planning. 

Mendoza has over 25 years of expertise in development policy and public administration. According to Mendoza's author page at the Lowy Institute, from 2011 to 2015, he was previously Associate Professor of Economics at the Asian Institute of Management and Executive Director of the AIM Rizalino S. Navarro Policy Center for Competitiveness. Before this, he worked as a senior economist at the United Nations in New York.

In 2021, the United Nations Economic and Social Council appointed Mendoza to serve on the 24-member UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA 2021–25).

Meanwhile, Marcos has also appointed Ani Rosa Almario, the co-founder and director of Raya School, as an assistant secretary for curriculum and teaching. 

Raya School is described as a "progressive school dedicated to helping children discover themselves, their roots, and the world around them," according to its website. 

The school holds annual "martial law" simulation exercises to make students understand how people's fundamental rights were trampled during the regime of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., according to reports by Rappler and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.   

Ani is also the daughter of national artist for literature Virgilio Almario. 

Other officials appointed at DepEd are the following:

• Marcelino Veloso - Assistant secretary
• Filemon Javier - Undersecrerary
• Nilo Rosas - Assistant secretary
• Kevin Carl Santos - Director IV