Duterte names heads of new housing dep’t, space agency

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers a speech during the conferment ceremony of the Order of National Scientist on Dr. Emil Javier at the Malacañan Palace on January 7, 2020. ALFRED FRIAS/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has named the respective heads of the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), according to the list of presidential appointees released by the Palace on Tuesday.

Eduardo del Rosario was tapped as ad interim secretary of DHSUD, a state department created on February 14, 2019 by virtue of Republic Act 11201 and through the consolidation of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

Duterte signed del Rosario’s appointment paper on January 2.

Prior to his new appointment, del Rosario served as the chairperson of the HUDCC.

The new housing department is designated as the primary national government entity that is responsible for the management of housing, human settlement, and urban development.

The DHSUD is also mandated as the “sole and main planning and policy-making regulatory, program coordination, performance monitoring entity for all housing, human settlement, and urban development concerns, primarily focusing on the access to and the affordability of basic human needs.”

Meantime, Duterte appointed Joel Joseph Marciano Jr. as director-general of the PhilSA on Dec. 5, 2019

Marciano was the acting director of Science department’s Advance Science and Technology Institute before being delegated as PhilSA head.

Duterte on Aug. 8, 2019 created the PhilSA through RA 11363.

The PhilSA, chaired by a director-general, is an attached agency of the Office of the President tasked to be the central government agency that will plan, develop, and promote the national space program in line with the Philippine Space Policy, which is the country’s primary strategic roadmap for space development.

Meantime, Duterte also reappointed Dante Ang on Jan. 2 as his special envoy for international public relations.

Ang was first named as the special envoy of the President for international public relations on May 3, 2017.

Ang, chairman emeritus of local broadsheet The Manila Times, was a publicist to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 1993 to 2001. He later joined Arroyo’s Cabinet as chairman of the Commission on Filipino Overseas from 2014 to 2010.

Before joining the government, he occupied various positions at the Manila Times as publisher, columnist, president, and chairman of the board.