By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz
President Duterte has appointed Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary for Special Concerns Virginia Nazarrea Orogo as the new Acting Secretary of the agency.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Orogo will take the place of Undersecretary for General Administrative and Support Services Group Emmanuel Leyco as the head of the DSWD.
Leyco was designated by President Duterte as OIC of the Department after the ad interim appointment of former Secretary Judy Taguiwalo was rejected by the Commission on Appointments in August last year.
Prior to her appointment as acting DSWD chief, Orogo had been serving as the Department’s Undersecretary for Special Concerns, providing leadership in special concerns of DSWD and ensuring that these concerns are promptly and effectively addressed.
She had also been the deputy national program director for operations of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) since March 2018.
4Ps is the government’s flagship poverty-alleviation program implemented by the DSWD, which provides conditional cash grants to poor families to improve the health, nutrition and the education of children below 18 years old.
As deputy national program director of 4Ps, Orogo was in charge of the operations of the program.
She was also tasked to supervise the Pantawid National Program Management Office and ensure the attainment of the program’s objectives in line with the Department’s vision, mission, and organizational outcomes.
Orogo had also been the alternate chairperson for the Inter-Country Adoption Board and the co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.