PRESIDENT BENIGNO S. Aquino III appointed new officials and agency heads of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) last May 30, 2014. Leading the DOLE appointees is Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Rebecca J. Calzado, who previously served as assistant secretary.

Meanwhile, Mr. Reydeluz Conferido was appointed the new DOLE Undersecretary for Employment. Before his appointment, he previously served as Director for Labor Affairs in the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei, Taiwan. He was also the former Executive Director of the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), the policy research arm of DOLE.

The President also appointed Ms. Mary Grace L. Riguer as the new Deputy Executive Director (DED) of the ILS. Prior to her appointment, DED Riguer had been designated OIC-DED of the ILS for one and a half years from 2013 to June 2014, during which she helped steer the office in the delivery of its research goals and outputs alongside Executive Director Cynthia R. Cruz. Ms. Riguer was also the former division chief of the Institute’s Employment Research Division (ERD).

Other DOLE officials who were appointed included Ms. Jeanette Damo, Deputy Executive Director of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), Mr. Sisinio Cano, Regional Director of DOLE Regional Office No. 4   and new members of the Professional Board of Nursing and the Philippine Contractors’ Accreditation Board under the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

(For more information and queries about this press release, please contact Mr. Bryan M. Balco of the Advocacy and Publications Division of the ILS at 527-3490/527-3447).