PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. has appointed former Executive Secretary Oscar Orbos as acting chair and member of the Board of Directors for the People’s Television Network, Inc. (PTNI), the Presidential Communications Office announced yesterday.
The PCO, in a Facebook post, said the President also appointed political analyst Antonio Contreras as acting vice chair and member of the PTNI Board of Directors; former PTNI General Manager Katherine Chloe De Castro as director general of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA); and lawyer Francis Carlo Taparan as Director IV of the National Printing Office (NPO).
The PCO also released photos of Orbos and De Castro taking their oath before Executive Secretary Lucas Brersamin.
Orbos, who represents the private sector in the PTNI Board, served as executive secretary and secretary of Transportation and Communications under the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino from 1990 to 1991.
He also served as congressman for Pangasinan’s first district from 1987 to 1990 and governor of Pangasinan from 1995 to 1998.
He was also a former host of the program “Debate with Mare at Pare” alongside economics professor Solita Monsod.
Contreras, who represents the educational sector on the board, is a professor at the Political Science Department and a former dean of the College of Liberal Arts of De La Salle University.
He is also the University Faculty Association President.
Contreras has master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Hawaii and undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños.
De Castro, a former journalist and television personality, was a former undersecretary of Tourism Advocacy and Public Affairs of the Department of Tourism.
She also served as president and CEO of Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) and later as the general manager and Board Director of People’s Television Network (PTV) from 2020 until 2022.
Taparan previously served as head of the Caloocan Legal Department.
The President also appointed former Taguig councilor Michelle Anne Baluyut Gonzales as commissioner of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.
Gonzales, who replaced Paolo Guanco, served as councilor of the second district of Taguig from 2010 to 2016.
Before her appointment, Gonzales served in various capacities in different private corporations, including as corporate secretary of the MTQ Mary The Queen Trading Corp, administrative director of the Sparkle Holidays and Travel Corporation, vice president of Ramoso Realty Corporation, and treasurer of the BARLAM Commercial and Development Corporation.
