Duterte appoints replacement for late BTA member

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech during the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) campaign rally at the South Cotabato Sports Complex in Koronadal City on March 26, 2019. RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Mudjib Compania Abu as member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), replacing the late Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vice chair Ghazali Jaafar, Malacañang said on Thursday.

Jaafar, who also served as chairperson of the MILF Peace Negotiating Panel from 1996 to 1997, died in a hospital in Davao City on March 13.

Duterte appointed him as chairperson of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission in January 2017 and as member of the BTA, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in February 2019.

Aside from Compania, Duterte also appointed pastor Grepor Belgica as the new presidential adviser for religious affairs.

Beglica will have a one-peso compensation every year.

He appointed Jose Sylton Solidum as assistant Cabinet secretary under the Office of the Cabinet Secretariat, Office of the President.

The President also appointed former special envoy to China Fernando Borja as his new special envoy to Japan for business and investment promotion for a term of six months.

He renewed the appointment of Almarim Tillah as special envoy of the President to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation from Jan.

1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019.

Duterte also appointed Teresita Mata-Maranon as member of the Board of Directors, Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) Oil Mill, Inc.; Leonor Cabral-Lim as member, representing the academe/research at the Philippine Council for Mental Health, Department of Health (DOH); Celerino Umandap as member, representing the overseas Filipino workers land-based sector of the Board of Trustees, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Department of Labor and Employment; Datu Mama Salazar Sinsuat Jr. as Director IV of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos; Ronlyn Quillope Zambales as Director IV of the Department of Interior and Local Government; and Judith Pagsanjan as Director II of the Department of Transportation among others.