Int’l private-public partnership health center to be put up in Manila
The Philippines will soon host the International public-private partnership (PPP) Specialist Centre on Health after the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe PPP (UNECE PPP) Centre of Excellence recently approved the putting up of the said centre in Manila, the Department of Health said.
In a letter report to President Benigno S. Aquino dated April 25, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said the decision to choose Manila as the Centre’s future site was done during the holding of the High Level Meeting to the 3rd Session of the Team of Specialists (TOS) on PPP held at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland from April 18 to 19, 2011.
Ona, who joined other Ministers and government officials from Europe as one of the guest speakers to the High Level Meeting, said the Philippines was chosen as the future site of the IPPPSCH to align the country’s overall involvement in the UNECE PPP Initiative with the current thrust of the President’s social contract with the Filipino people, particularly the PPP agenda.
The IPPPSCH, which will operate under a Memorandum of Understanding between the UNECE and the Philippines, will have the following function: Fund the establishment and operations of the UNECE PPP Specialist Centre; Fund the development and updating of the specific best practice guides under the direction by the UN PPP Secretariat; Manage the sector specific PPP Research Program; Establish and manage the Specialist Centre Membership; Establish an international database within the sector; and Provide support for other countries.
The UNECE PPP Initiative aims to globally improve the quality of life for citizens through the improved quality to and access to public utilities and services. (PCOO)
More than .5 million jobs are up for grabs in Labor Day jobs fair - DoLE
More than 500,000 jobs in key employment generator (KEG) industries and government offices will be available to jobseekers this May 1, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said.
In a Memorandum, for President Benigno S. Aquino III the DoLE, through Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, said that some 648,000 jobs will be offered to the job seeking public when the country commemorates Labor Day this Sunday.
The memorandum noted that about 1,000 employers with needs to fill 80,000 to 100,000 job vacancies in both foreign and local posts as well as some 548,000 jobs under the government’s Community Based Employment Program (CBEP) will be up for grabs to job applicants.
Baldoz said the jobs offered in the private sector include those in the manufacturing, construction, transport and logistics, education, health and wellness, hotel and restaurant, services and in the wholesale and retail trade industries.
The CBEP, meanwhile, will need able bodied applicants to fill 360,000 positions from the Department of Public Works and Highways national infrastructure and roadside maintenance projects; 178,000 positions form the DoLE’s various livelihood, income augmentation and employment facilitation programs; and, 10,000 positions from the Department of Agrarian Reform’s infrastructure support and communities projects, and the Tulay ng Pangulo para sa Kaunlarang Pang-Agraryo program.
Baldoz expressed confidence that the number of jobs and projects will increase as more government entities submit reports to the CBEP Inter-Agency Committee, which the DoLE heads. (PCOO)
Gov’t summer employment program to benefit 80,000 – DoLE
The Aquino government’s summer employment program – dubbed Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) will benefit some 80,000 “poor but deserving” students, the Department of Labor and Employment said.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, in a Memorandum for President Benigno S. Aquino III dated April 18, said that the students will be given gainful employment during the summer months of April and May.
“The SPES beneficiaries will be engaged for 20 to 52 days of various summer works appropriate to their skills in private sector companies and government agencies, which have pledged to employ the students under the program,” Baldoz’s said.
The SPES is mandated under Republic Act No. 7323, otherwise known as "An Act To Help Poor But Deserving Students Pursue Their Education By Encouraging Their Employment During Summer and/or Christmas Vacations, Through Incentives Granted to Employers, Allowing Them to Pay Only Sixty Per Centum of Their Salaries or Wages and The Forty Per Centum Through Education Vouchers To Be Paid By the Government, Prohibiting and Penalizing The Filing of Fraudulent and Fictitious Claims, and For Other Purposes."
The objective of the SPES is to develop the intellectual capacities of children of poor families and harness their potentials for the country's well being.
Specifically, the Program aims to help poor but deserving students pursue their education by providing income or augment their income through encouraging their employment during summer and/or Christmas vacations.
The SPES is open to all qualified high school, college or vocational students as well as drop-outs and interested employers. (PCOO)
Palace welcomes appointment of new mediator in peace talks between GRP and MILF
Malacanang officially welcomes the appointment of Tengku Dato AB Ghafar Tengku Mohamed as new third party facilitator in the ongoing peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“Yes, it is a welcome development for the Republic of the Philippines (RP) peace panel,” Presidential Spokesperson Atty. Edwin Lacierda said referring to the appointment of Ghafar during regular press briefing on Thursday.
Malaysia has appointed Ghafar as the new third party facilitator replacing the outgoing chief facilitator Datuk Othman bin Abdul Razak.
With the appointment of the new third party facilitator, Lacierda said the GRP peace panel is now “more optimistic and confident” that the negotiations with Moro rebels will create new positive environment towards peaceful conclusion of the talks.
According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), Malaysian diplomat Ghafar assumed the function at the start of the 21st exploratory talks by both panels on April 27-28 in Kuala Lumpur.
OPAPP also informed Malacanang that Razak introduced Ghafar to the panels as he performed his last official act by presiding over the talks opening rites on Wednesday. (PCOO)
Aquino wishes Prince William and Kate Middleton all the best
President Benigno Aquino III wishes Prince William and Kate Middleton well on the eve of their wedding as they exchange vows in London on Friday, April 29.
“He wishes them well in their new life as husband and wife,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda told the media during a press conference on Thursday in Malacañang.
Aside from his best wishes for Prince William and Kate, Lacierda said the President personally believes that they must be given some space as they enter married life.
“He [President] realizes that since they are a public couple they need to make adjustment so that their marriage foundation can be established. He hopes that the media could give them some level of privacy in order for them … to develop their marriage foundation,” Lacierda said.
The President is speaking in a sense that Prince William and Kate are living in a fishbowl realizing that they will be in the public eye henceforth, the Palace spokesman stressed.
President Aquino recognizes the importance of establishing their marriage foundations to build a strong marriage that lasts a life time. That foundations must be developed early on, Lacierda added.
“The President sympathizes with them because he knows that they will be in the public eye. It’s going to be a fish bowl existence hence starting tomorrow so he hopes they are given privacy by the media, by the international media,”
Prince William, second in line to the British throne, is marrying Kate Middleton, his long-term girlfriend, this Friday April 29 in Westminster Abbey in London.
The couple, both 28, met at St Andrews University, Fife. Prince William and Kate both started out on the same history of art course at St Andrews in 2001, although William later switched to geography.
Miss Middleton, who is six months older than William, was credited with persuading the Prince to stay on as he struggled to adjust to university life during his first year.
Miss Middleton is the eldest child of businessman Michael Middleton and former air hostess Carol.
She was raised in a modern five-bedroom detached house in the Berkshire village of Bucklebury and her family, who are self-made millionaires, run a mail order toy and party goods company.
The couple will marry in the year which would have marked the 30th wedding anniversary of the parents of Prince William. (PCOO)
Aquino convenes inter-agency group to come up with rational policy on mining
The Aquino administration has convened an inter-agency group to study and come up with a more defined and rational policy on mining in efforts to protect not only the richly bio-diversified areas in the country but also the interest of the minors being used in the industry.
President Benigno S. Aquino III met with the heads of various concerned agencies at the Presidential Conference Room on Thursday to discuss key areas of concern regarding mining and its effects on the places of operation.
In a press briefing in Malacañang also on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the government is bent on coming up with a more rational policy on mining based on the recommendations made during the inter-agency meeting.
“There was a decision to make sure that certain mining policies be defined, be fine tuned and issues between local laws and national laws on mining be further clarified,” he added.
Also part of the discussions, Lacierda said, was to identify who should regulate the operation of small scale mining in the country. He pointed out that concerned agencies were tasked to carry out their functions that will ensure the strict regulation of the said activity.
“So, there will be forthcoming clarifications on who will regulate small scale mining and for instance, a concern for child labor is being used in mining so that was addressed and the DOJ was also there to make sure that our laws are enforced. The DSWD was also told to make sure that all these areas where there is child labor being used in mining be monitored and prohibited,” Lacierda noted.
Also present during the meeting were advocates opposing mining in some areas headed by Gina Lopez who is also the head of the Pasig River Reclamation Commission.
“Gina Lopez came here today with her advocacy on Palawan, she gave us actually a presentation on her opposition to the mining in Palawan because it’s one of the most rich bio-diversified areas in the world in fact and 50 per cent of our food supply of fish in Metro Manila comes from Palawan,” Lacierda said.
“Her (Lopez) position was, she’s not against mining everywhere, … she only asked that certain areas, like for instance mining on island systems be banned,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said that a meeting also took place last April 11 sponsored by the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to rationalize and fine tune all the mining policies.
Present during the said meeting were senior officials of various concerned agencies including Secretary Julia Abad of PMS; Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process; Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government; Secretary Cezar Purisima of the Department of Finance; Secretary Leila De Lima of the Department of Justice; Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas and Commissioner Brigada Zenaida Pawid of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines. (PCOO)
Malacañang considers increasing fuel subsidy to P1-B to public jeepneys, tricycles & vulnerable sectors
Malacañang announced on Thursday that it is willing to increase the fuel subsidy to over P1 billion to public utility jeepneys, tricycles and even to other vulnerable sectors such as farmers and fishermen as global oil crisis continues due to the unrest in the Middle East.
In a news briefing at Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda cited the data showing the country’s first quarter actual deficit has dropped and as a result of this, the funds can be used to expand the coverage of the fuel subsidy.
“With the much lower than expected budget deficit, we can hopefully use those funds to assist in the subsidies that we have put out and we will also use those funds to address any crisis in the future,” Lacierda told reporters.
The government has approved a P450-million fuel subsidy to public utility jeepneys and tricycles to cushion the impact of the series of fuel price increases that reduced the daily income of drivers.
While Lacierda refused to give the exact figure of possible increase depending on the price of crude oil in the world market, Lacierda said: “Certainly, we can give more than a billion (of pesos) to the fuel subsidy.”
He also said the government is mulling to extend the coverage of fuel subsidy to another month or more while there is still global oil crisis.
“Kung kinakailangan pang i-extend iyong coverage for another month or two, habang may oil crisis, iyong Pantawid Pasada, puwede nating gawin iyon,” Lacierda added.
Lacierda also reiterated that the fuel subsidy will be extended to other vulnerable sectors such as farmers and fishermen who are also using fuel for their livelihood.
While the qualified public jeepney and tricycle drivers have already been identified, Lacierda said they are now sorting out the lists of farmers and fishermen to determine who among them are qualified to benefit from the subsidy. He said that Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala has already submitted a thick compilation of the lists of farmers and fishermen in the entire country.
“It will take a bit of time. But certainly the directive (from the President) has been given, let’s help also the fisher folks and the farmers,” Lacierda said.
President Aquino earlier said that a thorough study has to be done on farm implements and fishing boats to avoid double registration. (PCOO)
Aquino appoints Herrera as Sandiganbayan justice
President Benigno Aquino III appointed Judge Oscar C. Herrera Jr. as new justice of the Sandiganbayan. He signed Judge Herrera’s appointment April 26.
Born on May 3, 1954 in Sta. Ana, Manila, Herrera is the second of five children of retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Oscar M. Herrera and Rosario Calalang Herrera. He is married to Julieta PL. Herrera, a staff member of Supreme Court Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, with whom he has two children.
Herrera graduated from University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Prior to his appointment, Herrera was a presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Bulacan. He has been RTC judge for 17 years.
For 24 years, he taught Civil and Remedial Law, Practice Court and Trial Technique, and Law and Values at University of Santo Tomas, San Beda College and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
Among the awards he received during his career include the Centennial Award for Judicial Excellence in Region III (2011); the Chief Justice Ramon Avancena Award for Judicial Excellence (2003); and the Dangal ng Bayan Award.
He was also considered by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for promotion more than 20 times and joining the shortlist of 12 nominees submitted by the JBC to former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
He has been nominated nine times for the Court of Appeals and three times for the Sandiganbayan but was repeatedly bypassed. (PCOO)
The Philippines will soon host the International public-private partnership (PPP) Specialist Centre on Health after the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe PPP (UNECE PPP) Centre of Excellence recently approved the putting up of the said centre in Manila, the Department of Health said.
In a letter report to President Benigno S. Aquino dated April 25, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said the decision to choose Manila as the Centre’s future site was done during the holding of the High Level Meeting to the 3rd Session of the Team of Specialists (TOS) on PPP held at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland from April 18 to 19, 2011.
Ona, who joined other Ministers and government officials from Europe as one of the guest speakers to the High Level Meeting, said the Philippines was chosen as the future site of the IPPPSCH to align the country’s overall involvement in the UNECE PPP Initiative with the current thrust of the President’s social contract with the Filipino people, particularly the PPP agenda.
The IPPPSCH, which will operate under a Memorandum of Understanding between the UNECE and the Philippines, will have the following function: Fund the establishment and operations of the UNECE PPP Specialist Centre; Fund the development and updating of the specific best practice guides under the direction by the UN PPP Secretariat; Manage the sector specific PPP Research Program; Establish and manage the Specialist Centre Membership; Establish an international database within the sector; and Provide support for other countries.
The UNECE PPP Initiative aims to globally improve the quality of life for citizens through the improved quality to and access to public utilities and services. (PCOO)
More than .5 million jobs are up for grabs in Labor Day jobs fair - DoLE
More than 500,000 jobs in key employment generator (KEG) industries and government offices will be available to jobseekers this May 1, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said.
In a Memorandum, for President Benigno S. Aquino III the DoLE, through Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, said that some 648,000 jobs will be offered to the job seeking public when the country commemorates Labor Day this Sunday.
The memorandum noted that about 1,000 employers with needs to fill 80,000 to 100,000 job vacancies in both foreign and local posts as well as some 548,000 jobs under the government’s Community Based Employment Program (CBEP) will be up for grabs to job applicants.
Baldoz said the jobs offered in the private sector include those in the manufacturing, construction, transport and logistics, education, health and wellness, hotel and restaurant, services and in the wholesale and retail trade industries.
The CBEP, meanwhile, will need able bodied applicants to fill 360,000 positions from the Department of Public Works and Highways national infrastructure and roadside maintenance projects; 178,000 positions form the DoLE’s various livelihood, income augmentation and employment facilitation programs; and, 10,000 positions from the Department of Agrarian Reform’s infrastructure support and communities projects, and the Tulay ng Pangulo para sa Kaunlarang Pang-Agraryo program.
Baldoz expressed confidence that the number of jobs and projects will increase as more government entities submit reports to the CBEP Inter-Agency Committee, which the DoLE heads. (PCOO)
Gov’t summer employment program to benefit 80,000 – DoLE
The Aquino government’s summer employment program – dubbed Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) will benefit some 80,000 “poor but deserving” students, the Department of Labor and Employment said.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, in a Memorandum for President Benigno S. Aquino III dated April 18, said that the students will be given gainful employment during the summer months of April and May.
“The SPES beneficiaries will be engaged for 20 to 52 days of various summer works appropriate to their skills in private sector companies and government agencies, which have pledged to employ the students under the program,” Baldoz’s said.
The SPES is mandated under Republic Act No. 7323, otherwise known as "An Act To Help Poor But Deserving Students Pursue Their Education By Encouraging Their Employment During Summer and/or Christmas Vacations, Through Incentives Granted to Employers, Allowing Them to Pay Only Sixty Per Centum of Their Salaries or Wages and The Forty Per Centum Through Education Vouchers To Be Paid By the Government, Prohibiting and Penalizing The Filing of Fraudulent and Fictitious Claims, and For Other Purposes."
The objective of the SPES is to develop the intellectual capacities of children of poor families and harness their potentials for the country's well being.
Specifically, the Program aims to help poor but deserving students pursue their education by providing income or augment their income through encouraging their employment during summer and/or Christmas vacations.
The SPES is open to all qualified high school, college or vocational students as well as drop-outs and interested employers. (PCOO)
Palace welcomes appointment of new mediator in peace talks between GRP and MILF
Malacanang officially welcomes the appointment of Tengku Dato AB Ghafar Tengku Mohamed as new third party facilitator in the ongoing peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“Yes, it is a welcome development for the Republic of the Philippines (RP) peace panel,” Presidential Spokesperson Atty. Edwin Lacierda said referring to the appointment of Ghafar during regular press briefing on Thursday.
Malaysia has appointed Ghafar as the new third party facilitator replacing the outgoing chief facilitator Datuk Othman bin Abdul Razak.
With the appointment of the new third party facilitator, Lacierda said the GRP peace panel is now “more optimistic and confident” that the negotiations with Moro rebels will create new positive environment towards peaceful conclusion of the talks.
According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), Malaysian diplomat Ghafar assumed the function at the start of the 21st exploratory talks by both panels on April 27-28 in Kuala Lumpur.
OPAPP also informed Malacanang that Razak introduced Ghafar to the panels as he performed his last official act by presiding over the talks opening rites on Wednesday. (PCOO)
Aquino wishes Prince William and Kate Middleton all the best
President Benigno Aquino III wishes Prince William and Kate Middleton well on the eve of their wedding as they exchange vows in London on Friday, April 29.
“He wishes them well in their new life as husband and wife,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda told the media during a press conference on Thursday in Malacañang.
Aside from his best wishes for Prince William and Kate, Lacierda said the President personally believes that they must be given some space as they enter married life.
“He [President] realizes that since they are a public couple they need to make adjustment so that their marriage foundation can be established. He hopes that the media could give them some level of privacy in order for them … to develop their marriage foundation,” Lacierda said.
The President is speaking in a sense that Prince William and Kate are living in a fishbowl realizing that they will be in the public eye henceforth, the Palace spokesman stressed.
President Aquino recognizes the importance of establishing their marriage foundations to build a strong marriage that lasts a life time. That foundations must be developed early on, Lacierda added.
“The President sympathizes with them because he knows that they will be in the public eye. It’s going to be a fish bowl existence hence starting tomorrow so he hopes they are given privacy by the media, by the international media,”
Prince William, second in line to the British throne, is marrying Kate Middleton, his long-term girlfriend, this Friday April 29 in Westminster Abbey in London.
The couple, both 28, met at St Andrews University, Fife. Prince William and Kate both started out on the same history of art course at St Andrews in 2001, although William later switched to geography.
Miss Middleton, who is six months older than William, was credited with persuading the Prince to stay on as he struggled to adjust to university life during his first year.
Miss Middleton is the eldest child of businessman Michael Middleton and former air hostess Carol.
She was raised in a modern five-bedroom detached house in the Berkshire village of Bucklebury and her family, who are self-made millionaires, run a mail order toy and party goods company.
The couple will marry in the year which would have marked the 30th wedding anniversary of the parents of Prince William. (PCOO)
Aquino convenes inter-agency group to come up with rational policy on mining
The Aquino administration has convened an inter-agency group to study and come up with a more defined and rational policy on mining in efforts to protect not only the richly bio-diversified areas in the country but also the interest of the minors being used in the industry.
President Benigno S. Aquino III met with the heads of various concerned agencies at the Presidential Conference Room on Thursday to discuss key areas of concern regarding mining and its effects on the places of operation.
In a press briefing in Malacañang also on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the government is bent on coming up with a more rational policy on mining based on the recommendations made during the inter-agency meeting.
“There was a decision to make sure that certain mining policies be defined, be fine tuned and issues between local laws and national laws on mining be further clarified,” he added.
Also part of the discussions, Lacierda said, was to identify who should regulate the operation of small scale mining in the country. He pointed out that concerned agencies were tasked to carry out their functions that will ensure the strict regulation of the said activity.
“So, there will be forthcoming clarifications on who will regulate small scale mining and for instance, a concern for child labor is being used in mining so that was addressed and the DOJ was also there to make sure that our laws are enforced. The DSWD was also told to make sure that all these areas where there is child labor being used in mining be monitored and prohibited,” Lacierda noted.
Also present during the meeting were advocates opposing mining in some areas headed by Gina Lopez who is also the head of the Pasig River Reclamation Commission.
“Gina Lopez came here today with her advocacy on Palawan, she gave us actually a presentation on her opposition to the mining in Palawan because it’s one of the most rich bio-diversified areas in the world in fact and 50 per cent of our food supply of fish in Metro Manila comes from Palawan,” Lacierda said.
“Her (Lopez) position was, she’s not against mining everywhere, … she only asked that certain areas, like for instance mining on island systems be banned,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said that a meeting also took place last April 11 sponsored by the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to rationalize and fine tune all the mining policies.
Present during the said meeting were senior officials of various concerned agencies including Secretary Julia Abad of PMS; Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process; Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government; Secretary Cezar Purisima of the Department of Finance; Secretary Leila De Lima of the Department of Justice; Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas and Commissioner Brigada Zenaida Pawid of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines. (PCOO)
Malacañang considers increasing fuel subsidy to P1-B to public jeepneys, tricycles & vulnerable sectors
Malacañang announced on Thursday that it is willing to increase the fuel subsidy to over P1 billion to public utility jeepneys, tricycles and even to other vulnerable sectors such as farmers and fishermen as global oil crisis continues due to the unrest in the Middle East.
In a news briefing at Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda cited the data showing the country’s first quarter actual deficit has dropped and as a result of this, the funds can be used to expand the coverage of the fuel subsidy.
“With the much lower than expected budget deficit, we can hopefully use those funds to assist in the subsidies that we have put out and we will also use those funds to address any crisis in the future,” Lacierda told reporters.
The government has approved a P450-million fuel subsidy to public utility jeepneys and tricycles to cushion the impact of the series of fuel price increases that reduced the daily income of drivers.
While Lacierda refused to give the exact figure of possible increase depending on the price of crude oil in the world market, Lacierda said: “Certainly, we can give more than a billion (of pesos) to the fuel subsidy.”
He also said the government is mulling to extend the coverage of fuel subsidy to another month or more while there is still global oil crisis.
“Kung kinakailangan pang i-extend iyong coverage for another month or two, habang may oil crisis, iyong Pantawid Pasada, puwede nating gawin iyon,” Lacierda added.
Lacierda also reiterated that the fuel subsidy will be extended to other vulnerable sectors such as farmers and fishermen who are also using fuel for their livelihood.
While the qualified public jeepney and tricycle drivers have already been identified, Lacierda said they are now sorting out the lists of farmers and fishermen to determine who among them are qualified to benefit from the subsidy. He said that Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala has already submitted a thick compilation of the lists of farmers and fishermen in the entire country.
“It will take a bit of time. But certainly the directive (from the President) has been given, let’s help also the fisher folks and the farmers,” Lacierda said.
President Aquino earlier said that a thorough study has to be done on farm implements and fishing boats to avoid double registration. (PCOO)
Aquino appoints Herrera as Sandiganbayan justice
President Benigno Aquino III appointed Judge Oscar C. Herrera Jr. as new justice of the Sandiganbayan. He signed Judge Herrera’s appointment April 26.
Born on May 3, 1954 in Sta. Ana, Manila, Herrera is the second of five children of retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Oscar M. Herrera and Rosario Calalang Herrera. He is married to Julieta PL. Herrera, a staff member of Supreme Court Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, with whom he has two children.
Herrera graduated from University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Prior to his appointment, Herrera was a presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Bulacan. He has been RTC judge for 17 years.
For 24 years, he taught Civil and Remedial Law, Practice Court and Trial Technique, and Law and Values at University of Santo Tomas, San Beda College and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
Among the awards he received during his career include the Centennial Award for Judicial Excellence in Region III (2011); the Chief Justice Ramon Avancena Award for Judicial Excellence (2003); and the Dangal ng Bayan Award.
He was also considered by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for promotion more than 20 times and joining the shortlist of 12 nominees submitted by the JBC to former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
He has been nominated nine times for the Court of Appeals and three times for the Sandiganbayan but was repeatedly bypassed. (PCOO)
