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Press Secretary
Cerge M. Remonde assumed his present
appointment on 1 February 2009. Prior to this, he was Director General
of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).
From radio reporter/commentator, Cerge rose to become a member of the
Cabinet -- first, as head of the Government Mass Media Group (GMMG),
with a rank of Secretary then DG PMS and now Press
Secretary.
Cerge served as anchor of the highly-rated DYLA Interaction, a primetime
news and commentary program that set the benchmark for public affairs
programming. He holds the distinction of being the first ever to rise
from the ranks of provincial reporters to become the National Chairman
of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), and the first KBP
chair to be elected to a sixth term. It was from there that he was
plucked to join the government.
In January 2001, three days after President Arroyo assumed office, he
was appointed Press Undersecretary in charge of broadcast. He was among
the first batch of appointees under the 2004 mandate of the President,
when he was named head of the GMMG, overseeing various government-owned
media entities, including NBN 4, RPN 9 and IBC 13; Bureau of Broadcast
Services or Radyo ng Bayan; Bureau of Communication Services; and the
Philippine News Agency.
Prior to his appointment as DG, PMS in October 2006, he was the Lead
Convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission in concurrent capacity
with his post as GMMG chief.
Cerge traces his roots to Argao, Cebu where he spent the formative years
of his life. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude,
at the University of the Visayas (UV) in Cebu City. He took up
Cooperation and Development Studies at the Afro-Asia Institute in Tel
Aviv, Israel in 1986. He also attended an International Visitors Program
hosted by the U.S. State Department in Washing D.C. in 1992.
His leadership in radio, television and print has earned him many awards
and distinctions, among them as the Most Outstanding Visayanian in the
field of Mass Media in 1998 and, together with former Chief Justice
Hilario Davide Jr., the Most Outstanding Cebuano in 1999.
Aside from his Cabinet post and his being Senior Adviser to the GRP-NDF
Peace Panel, Cerge was Chairman of the Advertising Board of the
Philippines, the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, and the Appeals
Board of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
He also served as Commissioner of the Communications Committee for
UNESCO. |
