President Noynoy Aquino on Thursday said he has appointed former Negros Occidental governor Daniel “Bitay” Lacson as new Chairman of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and directed him to improve delivery of service to the system’s members.

The President said he signed the appointment of Lacson last Wednesday and will soon fill up the other top posts at the GSIS.

Lacson, former president of the Philippine National Bank during the term of the late President Corazon Aquino, replaces Bernardino Abes who served as GSIS Chairman since 2004.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to Isabela and Cagayan, the President said he ordered Lacson to address the problems raised by government employees regarding the dismal service of the state pension agency.

Aquino said he has received numerous complaints from government employees, especially teachers, about the delays in the processing and delivery of their benefits.

“I want to know the true condition of the GSIS and I am not satisfied with the reason that GSIS members are not being served well because the computers have bogged down,” he said.

With the appointment of Lacson, the President said he will try to finish the interview of candidates to replace GSIS President Winston Garcia.

Among those rumored as next GSIS president is Alfredo Antonio, a member of the Monetary Board.

Lacson served as governor of Negros Occidental from 1986 to 1992. In 1988, he established Project Dunganon, a micro-enterprise project that has 70,000 members.

Lacson, a business graduate of the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City, was also conferred the Golden Heart Presidential Award by then President Fidel Ramos in 1998 for his services to the community and as presidential adviser for rural development and chairman of the presidential council for countryside development.

At present, he is chairman emeritus of the Negros Navigation Company and founding chairman of the Negros Business Forum.

In another development, Aquino announced plans to transfer the administration of the President’s Social Fund to the Presidential Management Staff (PMS). He said he has finalized an executive order authorizing the movement of the social fund from the Office of the President to the PMS.

Aquino also announced the appointment of Marvic F. Leonen as head of the government peace panel.

In announcing the appointment of Leonon, the President said he will direct the new peace panel “to review the past agreements and recommended how we can move forward cognizant of the limitations that both parties have to deal with.”

“I view the negotiations as a dialogue to ensure that we can fully apprehend the problem and provide lasting solutions. I have asked the panel to report to me and Secretary Deles directly,” Aquino said.

Leonen, a leading expert in constitutional and international law, is currently the dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law. He is an advocate for the advancement of peoples' rights and has worked on concerns such as agrarian reform, access to justice, ancestral domain, among others.

The President also promised to learn from the mistakes of the past by ensuring that consultations with concerned sectors would be conducted soon. "This includes not only the peoples in Mindanao but also the local governments involved, the legislature and those who keep watch over the pronouncements of our Supreme Court," he said.

"I expect the talks to resume soon. We will do our part to bring about peace and justice. We hope that all of our people will respond with the same good intentions," the President said.