PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has appointed Deputy Executive Secretary Michael Aguinaldo as chairman of the Commission on Audit, presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said Wednesday.
He is the deputy of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.
“We are pleased to announce that President Aquino has appointed Attorney Michael G. Aguinaldo as chairman of the Commission on Audit,” Valte said in a statement.
“The appointment was made yesterday, March 24, 2015.”
The post of COA chairman became vacant after the term of COA Chairwoman Grace Pulido-Tan expired in February.
Tan was appointed in February 2011 to serve the unfinished term of then COA Chairman Reynaldo Villar, who resigned from the post.
Before he worked for the government, Aguinaldo was a partner at the Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles law office, a faculty member of the Ateneo de Manila Law School and the Far Eastern University-De La Salle University J.D.-M.B.A. Joint Degree Program.
His practice area was mainly special projects, particularly the infrastructure and telecommunications sectors and other public utility work.
He provided legal counsel in mergers and acquisitions, corporate structuring, contract negotiations, and labor and human resources integration. He also handled litigation and arbitration for Philippine and foreign clients and was a member of the law firm’s executive committee.
He was a consultant of the Asian Development Bank from 1998 to 2005.
The COA chairman serves for seven years.
