By Restituto Cayubit
TACLOBAN – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has appointed Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla as the new Regional Development Council (RDC) Chairman of the Eastern Visayas, a report from the Leyte provincial governor’s office said.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (VALERIE ESCALERA / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Gina Gerez, Leyte provincial governor’s office information officer, told Manila Bulletin that Petilla took his oath as Eastern Visayas RDC chairman before President Duterte in Malacañang Thursday, February 6.
Gerez said that it will be the second time that Petilla will assume the post of RDC chairman for Eastern Visayas, which is the highest policy making body in the region.
Petilla served as the Eastern Visayas RDC chairman during his first term as Leyte governor from 2013 to mid-2016, Gerez said.
Petilla, together with the Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, were nominated by the RDC for chairmanship in a meeting last September 26, 2019.
Luisita Quebec of radio station DYVL based in Palo, Leyte was appointed by Duterte as vice chair of the Eastern Visayas RDC. Quebec serves as private sector representative in the council.
Quebec was will Petilla when she took her oath before President Duterte.
Executive Order (EO) 325 states that those who are qualified for the position as chairman and co-chairman of the RDC are the provincial governors, mayors of capital towns and cities, presidents of the league of municipalities in six provinces, and private sector representatives.
EO 325 also said that whenever the local executive is appointed as the RDC chairman, the vice chairman will be from the private sector; on the other hand, if the private sector reparative is appointed as RDC chairman, the vice chairman will be a local executive.