Palace Names New GSIS President

MANILA, Philippines — President Aquino on Monday appointed Robert G. Vergara as new president and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and 13 other new officials in government corporations.

Vergara, a Harvard-educated hedge fund manager, will assume the post vacated by GSIS head Winston Garcia, an appointee of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Prior to his appointment, Vergara worked as fund manager and director at Lionhart Ltd since 2002. Vergara, who earned his MBA degree in Harvard Business School, has vast experience in wealth management. He had previously worked in Morgan Stanley Asia and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Asia.

The President also named three new members of the GSIS board of trustees, namely George Yu, Roman Felipe Reyes, and Danilo Gozo.

Grace Cenas was appointed administrator of the National Dairy Authority (NDA), replacing Orkhan Usman. Cenas had previously worked as NDA-Central Visayas manager.

Appointed government board members of the Philippine Coconut Authority were Ponciano Batugal, Cesar Villariba Jr., Rafael Sarucam, and Marcos Dumandan.

Domingo Diaz is new member of the board of the Land Bank of the Philippines representing agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Tomas de Leon Jr., on the other hand, represents the private sector as member of the board in Land Bank. De Leon takes the place of Cyril del Callar.

The President also appointed three commissioners in the Social Security System, namely, Jose Cuisia Jr. (representative of the employer’s group), Daniel Edralin (representative of the workers’ sector), and Marinita Mendoza (woman representative).

Genalyn Kabiling, Manila Bulletin