DepEd secretary, Leonor Magtolis Briones is Professor Emeritus of the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), has spent most of her life as a teacher. She has taught young children in church school and students in undergraduate, masters and doctoral studies. Whenever and wherever she delivers a public lecture, she teaches.
She has been a resource person in numerous national, regional, and international meetings and fora. She addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2005. She combines the roles of distinguished academic and teacher, public official, and social activist.
Secretary Briones has been involved in the administration of academic institutions. She served as Vice-President for Administration and Finance of the University of the Philippines System. Before her appointment as Education Secretary, she was Chair of the Silliman University Board of Trustees, and Regent and Chair-Designate of the Universidad de Manila.
She has a wealth of experience in administering public institutions. She was Secretary to the Commission on Audit, and served as Treasurer of the Philippines.
Source: https://www.deped.gov.ph/secretaryscorner/about.html
Dr. J. Prospero “Popoy” de Vera currently holds the positions of Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Adviser of the Philippine Negotiating Panel with the National Democratic Front/Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (NDF/CPP/NPA), and Commissioner of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He is a Professor of Public Administration at the University of the Philippines and served as its Vice President for Public Affairs from 2011-2016.
Dr. De Vera is an academician who has used his technical expertise to help policymakers, educate the public, and run political campaigns. His areas of policy expertise cover higher education, agriculture, indigenous communities, environment and climate change, good governance, and local governments.
Dr. de Vera has spent the past three decades in the policy arena in the Philippines and the United States. He served as executive assistant, chief-of-staff, senior consultant, and senior adviser to Senate Presidents Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Koko Pimentel, Senate Presidents Protempore Sotero Laurel, Leticia Ramos-Shahani, and Juan Flavier, and Senators Gregorio Honasan and Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. from the 8th-16th Congress.
Dr. de Vera is an internationally recognized political analyst and opinion maker whose views are extensively quoted by foreign and local media. As a public intellectual, he simplifies complex studies and explains national issues through his top-rating education program Turo-Turo in DZMM Teleradyo (ABSCBN) and No Filter on the ABSCBN News Channel (ANC).
He was a Fulbright-Hays Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California and the California State University-Sacramento and a Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University. He served at the Committee on Revenue and Taxation of the California State Legislature and was the first Filipino recipient of a California State Assembly Resolution [Res. No. 7 given by Speaker Willie Brown] commending his work at the California Legislature in 1992.
He served as member or adviser to the Philippine delegations to the 1994 UN Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt; the 1995 UN World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen; the 1996 UN World Food Summit in Rome; and the 2002 UN Special Session on Children in New York. As a political strategist he has run many political campaigns at the national and local levels and serves as the President of the Association of Political Consultants in Asia (APCA).
Dr. de Vera finished his BA History and Doctor of Public Administration degrees from the University of the Philippines and an MA Social Science degree from De La Salle University.
Source: https://ched.gov.ph/ched/official-organization-structure/office-chairperson-commissioners/
The Commission Chairman, Teofilo S. Pilando, Jr. was law clerk to a Supreme Court Justice, thereafter was policy consultant to the Senate President, trustee of the Asset Privatization Trust, and Deputy Executive Secretary in the Office of the President.
He also served as National President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, arbitrator for the International Court of Arbitration, and consultant for World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects.
He read economics and law, having attended the University of the Philippines, Dalhousie University, Hague Academy of International Law, and was senior member of Oxford’s St. Antony’s College.
His professional affiliation includes the American Bar Association, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Science, Union Internationale des Avocats, and the Chatham House.
Source: https://www.prc.gov.ph/prc-officials-0
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) chairman, Arsenio “Nick” Lizaso is the concurrent president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He was elected by the Board of Commissioners of the NCCA during the most recent Board Meeting held on January 16. Lizaso will be leading the Commission as the Chairman, serving for the term 2020 until 2022.
Lizaso is a renowned actor, director, and producer, working for more than 60 years in theater, television, and film. He has been in the field of theater since his college years and founded the University of the East (UE) Dramatic Guild as well as co-founded the Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA) with Cecile Guidote-Alvarez. Lizaso has been part of more than fifty stage plays, establishing his niche in the sector. In 2009, he was also the only Asian invited to be part of the jury for the 6th International Student Theatre Festival held in Belarus, where he also conducted workshops on Voice Performance for Theatre.
Apart from theatre, Lizaso also became a known figure in the film industry. He appeared in films like Anak ng Dilim, Ulo ng Gapo and many others, and also ventured into directing and producing television series and anthologies. Lizaso also served as president of the Director’s Guild of the Philippines from 1983 to 1985.
With his years of service to the arts and culture sector, Lizaso became part of the CCP Board of Trustees in 2010 and was elected as CCP president in June 2017.
Mr. Lizaso, succeeds National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario.(NCCA)
Source: https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1033049
On October 30, 2018, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte appointed Isidro Samson Lapeña as the 12th Director General of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), tasked to manage and supervise technical education and skills development (TESD) in the Philippines.
Immediately after assuming the post, Secretary Lapeña made his mission for the agency loud and clear – that is for TESDA to reach out to all sectors of society, more importantly those in the lower strata, – which is captured in TESDA’s battle cry, “TESDA, Abot Lahat.”
Early on in his administration, Secretary Lapeña ordered a stricter policy in the Omnibus Guidelines for 2019 TESDA Scholarship Programs which, among others, now discourage anomalies and illegal activities by implementing stricter monitoring of training programs and trainees’ attendance. He has set a higher employment rate for the graduates for the technical-vocational institutions to strictly observe.
He also ordered the amendment of the Omnibus Guidelines on Program Registration under the Unified TVET Program Registration and Accreditation System (UPTRAS) which provides for sanctions and penties for erring private technical-vocational institutions (TVIs).
Director General Lapeña ensured that the amended guidelines will include stiffer penalties for erring TVIs, as well as TESDA personnel, for which CSC (Civil Service Commission) rules shall be strictly enforced.
Prior to his appointment at TESDA, Isidro Lapeña was appointed on August 30, 2017 as the 39th Commisisoner of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Prior to his stint in the Bureau of Customs, Isidro Lapeña was appointed as the 5th Director-General of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on July 1, 2016, the country’s frontliner in the war against drugs. With only a year at the helm, he was able to enhance the operational systems and organizational capability of the agency. Among the policies implemented during his time cover internal affairs, work ethics, conduct of duties, and other operational procedures. He is also the first Chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).
Source: https://tesda.gov.ph/secretarys_page