JUNE 19 — Malacañang on Thursday announced the appointment of lawyer Jose Luis Martin Gascon as new chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), replacing Loretta Ann Rosales, whose term ended on May 5.
In a statement, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said President Benigno S. Aquino III also appointed Karen Gomez-Dumpit, Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana, and Leah Tandora-Armamento as new members of the CHR, replacing Cecilia Rachel Quisumbing, Norberto dela Cruz, and Maria Victoria Cardona.
All four of them will serve until May 5, 2022.
Gascon, a former director general of the ruling Liberal Party, has been a member of the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board since February 2014. He chaired the Human Rights monitoring committee for the government; and the joint monitoring committee for the peace process between the National Democratic Front and the government from 2010 to 2014.
Gascon also served as undersecretary of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs from 2011 to 2014, and as board member of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority from 2010 to 2011.
He earned his law degree from the University of the Philippines (UP) and his master’s degree in international law from the University of Cambridge’s St. Edmund’s College.
Gomez-Dumpit, currently director at the CHR’s Government Linkages Office, has a master’s degree in human rights from the London School of Political Science and a master’s degree in public management from the Development Academy of the Philippines.
Children’s rights advocate Pimentel-Gana is chief of staff of the Office of Senator Aquilino Pimentel III. She obtained her law degree and her master’s degree in public administration from UP.
Tanodra-Armamento, who is currently an undersecretary at the Department of Justice, earned her nursing degree from Far Eastern University and her law degree from Ateneo de Manila University.
Meanwhile, President Aquino named Ricardo Rainier Cruz III as director general of the Bureau of Corrections, replacing Franklin Jesus Bucayu.
Retired Lieutenant General Cruz served as commander of the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from 2013 to 2014, and as assistant division commander of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army from 2011 to 2012. PND (jm)
