Palace has named CICT chairman--official

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

MAKATI CITY-- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has appointed a new chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, a government official told INQUIRER.net Thursday.

CICT Commissioner Tim Diaz de Rivera said in a chance interview that he had been told by a Palace official that a replacement had been designated for resigned chairman Ramon Sales.

Asked if he already knew who is the replacement, Diaz de Rivera said the name of the presidential appointee was not disclosed but the Palace official said the new chairman came from the information technology industry.

Diaz de Rivera was left as officer-in-charge when Sales filed his indefinite leave effective June 30, 2007.

Arroyo accepted his resignation this month.

The CICT commissioner left public service due to health reasons.

Prior to being appointed as chairman of the CICT, Sales was a banking executive at the Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Diaz de Rivera said that Sales' personal expectations about his job and the real demands of the position did not match.

The CICT has been rocked over the past years with resignations from its commissioners, including its chairman.

Diaz de Rivera is currently the only commissioner left under this Palace-created commission after Lorenzo Formoso was moved to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC) following the decision to move back the Telecommunications Office under the DoTC.

Formoso however remains a legal counsel to CICT