ShareThisMANILA — President Aquino has appointed Augusto Lagman, a veteran information technology executive, as commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) filling the last vacant slot in the constitutional agency.
Lagman
Lagman, a certified computing professional, will serve as Comelec commissioner until Feb. 2, 2018. He replaced former commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, who was a retired Court of Appeals associate justice.
“He has spoken on many issues related to the automated elections when it came to the commission and we are confident that he can discharge the duties of his office as capably and competently as he was in the past,” Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said as she announced Lagman’s appointment, Valte also said the President chose Lagman because of his competence.
“As you recall whenever the President was ask about the prospective appointment, the President would always say that he wanted an IT expert given the issues that had faced the commission in the past elections,” she said.
The Palace spokesperson also said that it took quite some time for the President to fill the vacancy at the Comelec because he really wanted to find the right person for the job and he spent time going over the shortlist of nominees.
Lagman completed his primary and secondary educations at San Beda College and earned his mechanical engineering degree from the University of the Philippines.
The incoming Comelec commissioner is likewise a certified computer professional and was awarded by the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals in Des Moines, Illinois, USA.
Prior to his appointment, Lagman was chairman of Vinta Systems Inc., a developer of A1-oriented software products. He also served as director of STI College Recto and Biometrix Technologies Inc., founding chairman of STI College; former director of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA); president of Computer Associates Inc and coordinator of IBM Philippines Inc.