Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga, Jr has died on January 29. He was 67.
Paderanga was well known to the logistics community. He had been a regular speaker at the annual PortCalls Cargo Economics Conference. He last joined the team for the Mindanao Shipping Conference in Cagayan de Oro in June 2014.
Paderanga, who served as National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General under the Corazon Aquino administration and was later appointed to the same position by President Benigno Aquino III, was instrumental in the crafting of the Philippine Logistics and Multimodal Transportation roadmap, now in its final stages.
He also helped put the port congestion issue front and center by calling the attention, in June 2014, of Secretary Rene Almendas to the ill effects f the Manila truck ban. A week after the call, the Cabinet Cluster on Port Decongestion was created, with Almendras as head.
“During his time as NEDA Chief under President Benigno S. Aquino III, he helped reinvigorate the institution which he had also headed during the term of President Corazon C. Aquino. Under his watch the PPP Center was established, which has played a significant role in the revitalization of the economy,” said Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda in a statement released on Jan 30.
Paderanga’s “institutional memory and personal integrity made him an effective undersecretary of Agriculture and chief negotiator of the country for the WTO, and earned him the respect of his peers in academe,” Lacierda said.
“His good cheer, humble disposition, and intellectual rigor earned him the respect of so many, whether at home or abroad. We condole with his family, and join all who pause to reflect on his service to the nation during a life well lived,” Lacierda added.
