Two of the newly-appointed undersecretaries and an assistant secretary of the Department of Justice will immediately assume their duties after taking their oath of office today.
“The new guys will take their oath on Monday and assume their duties right away. We will discuss the allocation of work assignments, including media relations,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.
Diwa Rep.Emmeline Aglipay-Villar, Adrian Sugay, Mark Perete were designated undersecretaries while Neal Vincent Bainto was appointed assistant secretary of the DoJ.
Guevarra also designated Deputy City Prosecutor Vesta Giner-Villamor as Acting Quezon City Prosecutor following the mandatory retirement of City Prosecutor Donald Lee.
Sugay, Perete and Bainto will immediately assumed their posts, while Villar, wife of Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, will assume office next month.
“Usec. Villar will assume office in August. She’s still winding up her congressional and party-list duties,” Guevarra said.
Villar was a law graduate of the University of the Philippines and a member of the Order of the Purple Feather Honors Society.
Sugay graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University law school in 1993. Since then he has been in active litigation and was at one time a partner at De Borja Medialdea Bello Guevarra and Serapio Law offices. He also served as special assistant to the Corporate Head at the Philippine Ports Authority prior to his appointment.
Perete, a UP College of Law alumnus, worked as legal counsel in a large multinational company and taught various law subjects in several universities.
Bainto obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law and was the recipient of the Evelio Javier Leadership Award in 2012. Prior to his appointment, he served as a senior associate at the Villaraza and Angangco Law Offices.
President Rodrigo Duterte appointed the four new Justice officials after accepting the courtesy resignations of Undersecretaries Erickson Balmes, Reynante Orceo and Raymund Mecate and Assistant Secretary Juvy Manwong after Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II quit his post in April.
Balmes, Orceo and Mecate are fraternity brothers of Durterte and Aguirre in Lex Talionis.