Officials and employees of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has welcomed the appointment of Undersecretary for Special Concerns Virginia Nazarrea Orogo as the new Acting Secretary of the Department.

Sec. Orogo was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as the new acting social welfare chief on Tuesday, May 8. Her appointment paper was released by Malacanang yesterday.

She will take the place of Undersecretary for General Administrative and Support Services Group Emmanuel A. Leyco as the head of the DSWD. Undersecretary Leyco was designated by President Duterte as Officer-in-Charge of the Department after the ad interim appointment of former Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo was rejected by the Commission on Appointments in August last year.

Prior to her appointment as acting social welfare chief, Sec. Orogo had been serving as the Department’s Undersecretary for Special Concerns, providing leadership in special concerns of the DSWD and ensuring that these concerns are promptly and effectively addressed.

She had also been the Deputy National Program Director for Operations of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) since March 2018.

4Ps is the government’s flagship poverty-alleviation program implemented by the DSWD, which provides conditional cash grants to poor families to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children below 18 years old.

As Deputy National Program Director of 4Ps, Secretary Orogo was in charge of the operations of the program. She was also tasked to supervise the Pantawid National Program Management Office and ensure the attainment of the program’s objectives in line with the Department’s vision, mission, and organizational outcomes.

Secretary Orogo had also been the alternate chairperson for the Inter-Country Adoption Board and the Co-Chairman of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. ###