Manila: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has appointed a lawyer who was part of his legal team during the 2022 presidential elections as the new Deputy Director General of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

According to Philippines News Agency, Lawyer Allan Vincent Lorenzo has been named to the position, as announced in the list of new appointees posted on the Presidential Communications Office’s (PCO) official Facebook page. The PIA, a subsidiary of the PCO, serves as the state’s public relations agency focused on specific communication campaigns. Lorenzo is a senior partner at the Espino Valencia Pe Lim Nery Law Office and has expertise in election law, land and marine transportation, telecommunications, local government, labor, and corporate law.

In addition to Lorenzo’s appointment, President Marcos has renewed the appointments of Philippine ambassadors Marie Charlotte Tang and Maria Elena Algabre. Tang will continue as a non-resident ambassador to Ethiopia, alongside her role as ambassador to Kenya, with jurisdiction over several other African nations. Algabre was appointed as ambassador to Hungary, with jurisdiction over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia.

Further appointees at the Department of Foreign Affairs include Alan Deniega, Mary Anne Padua, and Ezzedin Tago as Ad Interim Chief of Mission, Class I, among others. Marcos also retained Joel Joseph Marciano Jr. as ad interim director general of the Philippine Space Agency.

Joseph Omar Castillo was appointed as a board member of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office. Other notable appointments include Mary Ann Seriosa to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Calabarzon, Cecilia Dy to the Philippine Commission on Women, and Kathleen Daan to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in Cebu province.

Various positions in the Department of Education and the Department of National Defense have also been filled, with Hana Kamille Escueta, Marie Clarisse Ligunas-Roque, Johvie Valenton-Radoc, and Sidney Zosa Jr. taking on Director IV roles, and Dick Diolola and Laarni Paz joining the Department of National Defense. Elizer Salilig has been appointed Director V at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and Michael Oliver de Guzman and Gideon Dy as Directors III at the Department of Education.