President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. has appointed Transport Undersecretary Cesar Chavez as Presidential Assistant for Strategic Communications, as announced by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Wednesday.

Prior to his appointment, Chavez served for over a year as DOTr's undersecretary for railways under the Marcos administration. He is not new to the job as he also previously served as a Transportation official during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

In 2022, Chavez confirmed he was offered to be Marcos’ press secretary after the resignation of lawyer and blogger Trixie Cruz-Angeles. However, he declined the offer as he was focused on improving the rail sector.

Chavez also served as chief of staff of former Manila mayor Isko Moreno before he quit in October 2021 to serve as the station manager of DZRH. radio station manager.

Aside from Chavez, other new appointees were:

• Mary Jean Pacheco, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) undersecretary;
• Michel Kristian Ablan, DTI assistant secretary; and
• Jeremy Regino, Department of Transportation undersecretary.