President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has appointed Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo as Special Envoy of the President for Overseas Filipino Concerns, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) revealed on Saturday, Sept. 2.

Manalo is not a stranger to the said post. He first held the same position under the previous Duterte administration from Jan. 30, 2018, to Jan. 29, 2019.

The INC, known for its bloc voting system, endorsed President Marcos in the 2022 presidential elections.

Manalo is the grandson of the late INC founder Felix Manalo. He is the eldest son of the late Eraño Manalo, who was INC's executive minister for 46 years from 1963.

Before assuming the said INC post in 2009, Manalo became the Church's deputy executive minister in May 1994.

Aside from Manalo, Marcos named W Group President Norman Vincent Wee as Special Envoy of the President to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Trade and Investments.

Wee is the son of former Filipino Ambassador to Indonesia Lee Hiong Wee, who established W Group, a holding company with interests in ingredient solutions, trading, real estate, and financial portfolio management.

In addition, President Marcos appointed career diplomat Jesus Ricardo Domingo as an undersecretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). He was the country's ambassador to New Zealand from 2016 to 2022.

DOF appointments

Marcos appointed Niño Raymond Alvina as an assistant secretary at the Department of Finance (DOF). He also named Romeo Bernardo and National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon as new members of the Monetary Board.

The President named Consolacion Agcaoili an executive director at the Bureau of Local Government Finance.

Other appointments

In a Facebook post, the PCO said President Marcos named new provincial agrarian reform adjudicators:

• Saipal Alawi Jr.
• Grian Damarillos
• Reparado Galos III
• Rolando Lava
• Rahyll Saga

Marcos likewise made the following appointments:

• Pablo Lorenzo, Undersecretary, Department of National Defense (DND)
• Mark Anthony Diamante, Director III, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD)
• Cynthia Carrion, Board of Trustees members, Philippine Retirement Authority
• Mark Bocobo, National Government representative at the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority Board of Directors
• Grace Tan, Chairperson, National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC)
• Allan Montaño, Labor Sector Representative, National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council

The President appointed the following individuals at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD):

• Rowela Hizon, Director IV
• Miramel Laxa, Director IV
• Michael Joseph Lorico, Director IV
• Christian Joseph Regunay, Director IV
• Jackielyn Krystyl Nehama Bana, Director III

Meanwhile, Catherine Allam-Miranda and Jonathan Leybag were named as Local Government Operations Officer VIII at the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).