President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Presidential Adviser on Clark Programs and Projects.
At the same time, he named Davao del Norte’s provincial election supervisor Aimee Ferolino-Ampoloquio as new commissioner of the Commission on Elections, filling the last vacancy in the seven-member body.
The appointments of the two were confirmed to reporters by Senator Christopher Go and Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas respectively.
The Clark Freeport Zone is in Pampanga, Arroyo’s home province, whose second congressional district she represented from 2010 to 2019 after her 10-year term as president.
Ampoloquio is an election supervisor of Davao del Norte and she is a lawyer with over two decades of experience in the poll body.
“Commissioner Ferolino-Ampoloquio’s vast experience in the frontline of election service will greatly contribute to the Commission’s thrust to ensure that our electoral processes are responsive to the varying needs of our electorate — making sure that our elections are more inclusive,” Abas said in a statement.
Ferolino-Ampoloquio first joined Comelec as an emergency laborer in 1994 and became an election assistant for 12 years, Abas said.
Before stepping down from office, Duterte will be able to name three more commissioners as Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, Abas, and Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr. are set to end their terms in February 2022, three months away from the 2022 presidential elections.