Palace announces new DDB chief, other officials
President Marcos has appointed former Interior Undersecretary and ex-Police Gen. Oscar Valenzuela as the new chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), the government’s main agency that formulates policies and strategies against narcotics.
The Presidential Communications Office announced Valenzuela’s appointment and that of several other government officials on its social media page on Friday.
An agency under the Office of the President, the DDB is tasked to develop and adopt a comprehensive, integrated, unified and balanced national drug abuse prevention and control strategy.
Prior to his latest appointment, Valenzuela was interior undersecretary for peace and order.
He staunchly supported grassroots antinarcotics programs, like the Barangay Drug Clearing Program and the “Buhay Ingatan, Drogay’y Ayawan (Bida) Program of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the “Adbokasiya Laban sa Iligal na Droga” of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
He is a member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Marangal Class of 1974 and served in the Philippine National Police.
He served as chief of the National Terrorism Prevention Office of the Anti-Terrorism Council Program Management Center and the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference Counter Terrorism Working Group.
In addition, the President also reappointed Christopher Montero as the country’s ambassador to Indonesia and Elizabeth Te as ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
Roberto Manalo was designated as nonresident ambassador to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, apart from his assignment as ambassador to Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Domingo Nolasco was named as nonresident ambassador to Estonia, in addition from being the country’s envoy to Finland.
Also appointed were Warren Miclat as labor undersecretary and Lennard Constantine Serrano as labor assistant secretary; Josef Angelo Martires as agrarian reform undersecretary;
Carmela Oracion as education assistant secretary; Brian Mey Tomas as interior assistant secretary; Engelbert Josef Chua as trade assistant secretary; Jorjette Aquino as Presidential Communications Office undersecretary;
Desiderio Apag III as commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education; Jose Tomas Syquia as member of the board of trustees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines; Stephen Cruz, Wendell Dimaculangan, and Maura Regis as member of the board of directors of the Philippine Postal Corp.;
Rosalino Garcia as private sector representative of the Light Rail Transit Authority’s board of directors; Samson Inocencio Jr. as children’s sector representative to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking; Ferdinand Ulalan as workers’ sector representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Central Visayas;
Ma. Jozzenne Claire Beltran-Carandang, Maria Dionesia Rivera-Guillermo and Pia Zobel San Diego as deputy directors general of the Department of Budget and Management’s Government Procurement Policy Board-Technical Support Office.
