Duterte names new national statistician, NCIP chair

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has picked a new National Statistician and head of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), according to appointment papers released by the Palace on Tuesday, May 28.

Duterte named Claire Dennis Mapa as the country's new National Statistician, replacing Lisa Grace Bersales, whose five-year term ended in April this year.

Mapa, a dean and professor at the University of the Philippines School of Statistics, will serve as head of the Philippine Statistics Authority for five years.

Duterte also installed Allen Capuyan as the new NCIP commissioner, replacing Leonor Quintayo who was being investigated by the Presidential Anti-corruption Commission for supposed corrupt activities.

Capuyan's term as chair of the NCIP will end on February 20, 2022.

Capuyan, a retired colonel once linked to shabu smuggling, served as executive director of the National Secretariat of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict on March 25.

Meantime, Duterte reappointed Ramon Tulfo Jr. as his special envoy for public diplomacy to China.

Tulfo is a brother of former Tourism secretary

Wanda Teo who resigned in May 2018 amid accusations that she used her position to give special treatment to her brothers' television show.

Duterte has several envoys to China, which he considers as a "friend" of the Philippines.

Mapa, Capuyan, and Tulfo's respective appointment papers were signed by Duterte on May 27./ Sunstar Philippines