Duterte camp announces members of Transition Committee

MANILA, Philippines – Presumptive president Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte’s camp on Wednesday announced the members of the incoming administration's Transition Committee.

On his personal Facebook account, Duterte’s spokesperson Peter Laviña, who will be part of Duterte’s Transition Committee also revealed the five other members of the group.

“It's now out. The members of the Duterte Transition Committee are Campaign Manager Leoncio Jun Evasco; Assistant Campaign Manager and Executive Assistant Christopher Bong Go; Carlos G. Dominguez, former cabinet member and Head of our Campaign Finance Committee; lawyersSalvador Medialdea and Loreto Ata, personal layers of the presumptive president, and yours truly at your service,” Laviña said.

Laviña told Philstar.com that the committee was only formed today. A meeting of the members is currently on going at the Marco Polo Hotel, Davao City.

Meanwhile, President Benigno Aquino III, who will step down from office on June 30, also reached out to Duterte’s aide, Go, to discuss his plans of transition with only seven weeks left in his administration.

Aquino assigned his Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to serve as the head of the transition team. He also offered assistance to make the transition process “smooth.”

“I talked to Mr. Bong Go yesterday to relay to Mayor Duterte that an Administrative Order is being drafted designating the Executive Secretary as head of the transition Team. I further offered that the Cabinet stands ready to brief his team on any and all of their concerns,” the president said in a statement.

 Lastly, we are committed to effecting the smoothest transition possible,” he added.

Duterte consistently led the presidential race’s partial and unofficial count with at least 15, 856, 910 votes as of posting and around 6 million votes ahead of Liberal Party’s standard bearer and former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.