Former MMDA chief Tolentino named as Duterte’s political adviser

July 11, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed some 30 individuals to various government posts, including former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino as his political adviser. Tolentino, who ran and lost in the senatorial race in the May 2016 elections, was appointed to the post on June 27, more than a year after the one year ban on the defeated candidates expired. Tolentino, who was the MMDA head during the Aquino administration, shifted his support to Duterte after he was removed from the official senatorial line up of the Liberal Party during last year's polls. Also appointed to the government posts were Amable R. Aguiluz as special envoy of the President to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC); William Lima, special envoy of the President to the People’s Republic of China; and retired Sandiganbayan Justice Edilberto Sandoval as a special prosecutor. (Celerina Monte/DMS)