Duterte names Virgie Orogo as DSWD Acting Secretary

Virginia 'Gee' N. Orogo                         Eliseo Rio Jr.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Virginia "Gee" Nazarrea Orogo as the new acting secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). 

Orogo's appointment papers were signed by the President on May 8, Tuesday, but released to the media only on Thursday, May 10.

"Gee" Orogo is one of the original fifteen (15) who urged then Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte to run for president in 2016 National Elections.

She will take the place of DSWD officer-in-charge (OIC) Emmanuel Leyco.  

Leyco became the DSWD's OIC after the secretary Judy Taguiwalo failed to secure the nod of the powerful Commission on Appointments in 2017.

Prior to her appointment as acting secretary, Orogo had been serving as DSWD undersecretary for Special Concerns.

She was also the DSWD undersecretary and Deputy National Program Director for Operations of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the government's conditional cash transfer initiative for the poor.

Apart from Orogo, Duterte also appointed Eliseo Rio Jr. as head of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Rio took over as DICT's OIC following the resignation of then secretary Rodolfo Salalima in September last year.

Rio was the former undersecretary of Information and Communications for Special Concerns.  [Catherine S. Valente, The Manila Times]