Mark Villar’s wife, 3 lawyers appointed to DOJ

The wife of Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and three other lawyers have been appointed to high-ranking posts in the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Emmeline Aglipay-Villar, former representative of the Democratic Independent Workers’ Association (DIWA) party-list prior to her appointment as DOJ undersecretary, is a lawyer with a 2006 law degree from the University of the Philippines (UP).

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Villar, new undersecretaries Adrian Sugay and Markk Perete, and assistant secretary Neal Vincent Bainto upon the recommendation of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, according to a DOJ statement on Wednesday.

They were assigned to the posts after Duterte accepted the courtesy resignations of ex-DOJ undersecretaries Raymund Mecate, Erickson Balmes, Reynante Orceo, and assistant secretary Juvy Manwong.

Soon after taking the helm of the DOJ, Guevarra directed his former subordinates, some of them fraternity brothers of the President and former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, to tender their resignations to give him a "free hand" to perform Duterte's mandate.

Sugay, an Ateneo law graduate, was special assistant to the Corporate Head at the Philippine Ports Authority before his appointment to the DOJ, the statement said.

Perete, a UP College of Law alumnus, was previously technical assistant with the rank of assistant secretary for legal affairs at the Office of the President, it said. He was also associate general counsel for the Philippine office of the franchise bottler of Coca-cola beverages.

Bainto, another Ateneo law graduate, was a senior associate at the Villaraza & Angangco Law Offices before he was named DOJ assistant secretary, it added. — MDM, GMA News