New PH envoy to Israel, CA justices, MARINA chief named

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the appointment papers of a new set of presidential appointees, among them the Philippine ambassador to Israel and four Court of Appeals (CA) associate justices, according to a document released by Malacañang on Wednesday.

The list of presidential appointees showed that Duterte tapped Macairog Alberto as Philippine ambassador to Israel.

Alberto, a member of “Sinagtala” Class of 1986, retired as Philippine Army chief on Dec. 6, 2019.

The President also named Bonifacio Pascua, Raymond Reynold Lauigan, Lorenza Bordios, and Richard Mordeno as new CA associate justices.

Before their new appointments to the appellate court, Pascua was a Makati City judge, while Lauigan, Bordios, and Mordeno were regional trial court judges in Tuguegarao, Caloocan City, and Cagayan de Oro, respectively.

Duterte also appointed Robert Empedrad as Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) administrator.

Empedrad’s new designation came after he retired as Philippine Navy chief on February 3.

Meanwhile, the President delegated Abdullah Mama-o anew as his special envoy to Kuwait.

Before his new appointment, Mama-o was also named as Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Concerns.

His appointment came amid Duterte’s plan to visit Kuwait to personally ask the Kuwaiti government to impose the “maximum” penalty on the suspects in the murder of Filipino domestic worker Jeanelyn Villavende.

Duterte also re-appointed Jose de Venecia as his special envoy for Intercultural Dialogue and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

As a special envoy, de Venecia is expected to advise the government on issues concerning inter-cultural dialogue and make recommendations to advance the country’s interests.

Duterte signed the appointment papers of his new appointees on March 2.