Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo has been appointed as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s special envoy for overseas Filipino concerns, as announced by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Saturday.
During the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Manalo was also appointed to the same post from January 30, 2018 to January 29, 2019, with then spokesman Harry Roque citing the INC executive’s "vast network" abroad.
Being the eldest son of the late INC executive Erao Manalo, he assumed the post as the new executive minister in September 2009.
Prior to being the INC executive minister, Manalo became the church’s deputy executive minister in May 1994.
The appointment was announced by the PCO through its Facebook post.
Apart from Manalo, other government officials were also appointed.
W Group president Norman Vincent Wee was named as the Special Envoy of the President to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Trade and Investments, and career diplomat Jesus Ricardo Domingo was named the undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Moreover, Marcos appointed Nio Raymond Alvina as an assistant secretary at the Department of Finance, Romeo Bernardo and National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon as new members of the Monetary Board, and Consolacion Agcaoili as an executive director at the Bureau of Local Government Finance.
New provincial agrarian reform adjudicators were also appointed:
- Saipal Alawi Jr.
- Grian Damarillos
- Reparado Galos, 3rd
- Rolando Lava
- Rahyll Saga
Also appointed are the following:
- Pablo Lorenzo, undersecretary of the Department of National Defense
- Mark Anthony Diamante, Director 3 of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development
- Cynthia Carrion, Board of Trustees member of the Philippine Retirement Authority
- Mark Bocobo, national government representative at the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority Board of Directors
- Grace Tan, chairman of the National Labor Relations Commission
- Allan Montao, labor sector representative of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council
Marcos also appointed the following at the Department of Social Welfare and Development:
- Rowela Hizon (Director 4)
- Miramel Laxa (Director 4)
- Michael Joseph Lorico (Director 4)
- Christian Joseph Regunay (Director 4)
- Jackielyn Krystyl Nehama Bana (Director 3)
Catherine Allam-Miranda and Jonathan Leybag were designated as local government operations officers 8 at the Department of Interior and Local Government.
It can be recalled that the INC endorsed Marcos and his running mate, Vice President Sara Duterte, during the 2022 national elections.
