De Lima replaces CHR Chairwoman Purificacion Quisumbing, whose term expired last week along with four CHR commissioners, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said yesterday.

Earlier, Mrs. Arroyo appointed Ma. Cecilia Rachel Quisumbing as commissioner of the CHR, leaving three more seats at the agency. Before her appointment, Quisumbing was executive director of the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC).

She is a daughter of the former CHR chairwoman and Supreme Court Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing.

Undersecretary Severo Catura will take over Quisumbing’s post temporarily.

Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo has yet to decide on her appointees to the three other vacant seats in the CHR.

The CHR was created by the Constitution and is composed of a chairman and four members, all with seven-year terms.

Other members of the Third Commission of the CHR whose terms expired last week were Commissioners Dominador Calamba, Eligio Mallari, Wilhelm Soriano, and Quintin Cueto.

De Lima, a practising election lawyer before her appointment to the Fourth Commission, was earlier endorsed by colleagues for appointment to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Meanwhile, Bunye will assume his post as member of the Monetary Board (MB) on July 3, not June 22 as he had earlier announced.

Bunye said he would assume his post as member of MB, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), when the post becomes vacant on July 3.

"I was told that the post would be vacant by July 3 when the terms of two members of the board would expire," he said.

Bunye said the terms of MB members Vicente Valdepeñas and Raul Boncan will expire on July 3.

He said he would also temporarily assume the post of presidential adviser on political affairs until he moves on to his new appointment as member of MB.

The powers and function of BSP are exercised by MB which has seven members appointed by the President.

Bunye said he "shared his thoughts" with President Arroyo on who should replace him as Press Secretary, but he declined to say whom he recommended to her.