PRESIDENT Benigno Simeon Aquino III appointed the 46-year-old daughter of Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, lawyer Josefina Patricia Magpale-Asirit, as the commissioner of the Energy Regulatory Commission.

“I am very confident that she will make a very good commissioner because she is well versed sa energy karon, gatoon gyud na siya (she really studied),” said Magpale, adding that her daughter is a very dedicated public servant.

A University of the Philippines (UP) Law graduate, Asirit is the eldest of three Magpale siblings, of whom PB Member Miguel Magpale is the youngest.

“We were having a vacation and she got a call,” the vice governor said. The caller asked her daughter to submit all her documents needed for her appointment to the new post.

Rappler reported that last Friday, July 26, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte announced President Benigno Aquino III appointed Asirit to the post.

The spokesperson said Asirit’s seven-year term will end on July 10, 2020.

Former job

Asirit is a former undersecretary of the Department of Energy (DOE), and worked alongside with Jose Rene Almendras when he still headed that department. Almendras is now the secretary to the Cabinet of the Philippines.

Ina, as she is fondly called, was a regular guest in the Capitol when her mother, a member of the Liberal Party, became acting governor of Cebu after the suspension of then Cebu Gov Gwen Garcia last Dec 19. Garcia is a member of the opposition’s United Nationalist Alliance.

Asirit went on leave last January to help Magpale’s bid to run for vice governor of Cebu in the midterm elections.

First

Asirit was Cebu Provincial Board member from 2001 to 2004, when Magpale finished her three terms as legislator.

She then became the chief of staff of then congressman and later Department of Tourism secretary Ace Durano, before joining the DOE.
Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale