A minor reshuffle has rocked the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) with less than two months in the term of the Arroyo administration.
 
President Gloria Mcapagal-Arroyo has removed Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Arturo C. Lomibao after one year in service and designated him as undersecretary of the DOTC.
 
Named to replace Lomibao, retired chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), was Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Alberto H. Suansing.

Suansing returns to his old post as assistant secretary of the LTO, which he previously led in 2008, according to Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

Suansing, former representative to the Road Board and special assistant on land transport at the DOTC, served as LTFRB head for the past year.
 
However, Mendoza, former secretary of the DOTC, did not say who will assume the vacant post at the LTFRB.
 
Earlier, the President also appointed retired Sandiganbayan Justice Raoul Victorino as her new chief legal counsel, replacing Natividad Dizon.
 
Dizon, who served less than three weeks as Presidential Chief Legal Counsel, was moved to head the Board of Pardon and Parole. Dizon took her oath as the President’s legal counsel last March 8 after Raul Gonzalez resigned to run for mayor in Iloilo City.
 
Mrs. Arroyo also designated retired Justice Agustin Dizon as new Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs, the post vacated by Natividad Dizon.
 
Also appointed was radio broadcaster Mario Garcia as director of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
 
Press Secretary Crispulo Icban Jr. insisted that the President’s latest government appointments were not “midnight appointments.”
 
Icban, in a phone interview, said the President designated the new officials before the constitutional ban on government appointments takes place. The prohibition against appointment or hiring new government personnel in the executive branch starts on March 26, Friday, according to Icban.
 
He added the President believes the new officials are competent and trustworthy enough to assume the government positions.
 
Following his retirement from the police, Lomibao, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1972, was appointed head of the National Counter Terrorism Action group and then led the National Irrigation Administration.
 
A native of Pangasinan, Lomibao went to college at the University of the Philippines before he entered the Philippine Military Academy in 1968.  He has a master's degree in public administration and a doctorate in development administration. (Genalyn Kabiling)