President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has named Renato Solidum Jr. as the next secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Malacañang confirmed.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles made the confirmation of Solidum's appointment on Friday afternoon, August 12. She even provided a copy of Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez's letter to the new DOST chief.
The latter, however, was apparently delivered on July 22, 2022.
Solidum is a geologist who has worked with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and is currently the DOST Undersecretary for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.
Solidum is a geologist who has worked with PhiVolcs and is currently Undersecretary of the DOST for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. @manilabulletin pic.twitter.com/pvLQ41KZ8B
— Argyll Cyrus Geducos (@argyllcyrus_MB) August 12, 2022
He was designated as officer-in-charge (OIC) of the agency after former DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña bowed out of his position following the end of the Duterte administration.
On July 27, Solidum said the major 7.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked Abra late last month was most likely generated by the movement along the Abra River Fault—an active fault that last moved in 1868.
Solidum earned his BS Geology degree from the University of the Philippines. He finished his graduate studies in Geological Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He obtained his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.
The new DOST chief has worked with Phivolcs since 1984 and served as its director from 2003 to February 2017.
He was assigned as Phivolcs OIC in March 2017.