President Aquino has accepted the resignation of Cosette Canilao as Executive Director of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center effective March 8.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said Canilao tendered her irrevocable resignation on January 27 due to “pressing family concerns.”
Canilao recommended lawyer Andre “Raj” Palacios to the President as her replacement. Canilao described Palacios, who has been a PPP consultant for a year, as “highly reliable with unquestionable integrity and equipped to take on the gargantuan task of leading the center.”
Canilao was appointed PPP Center Executive Director in September 2011.
The PPP Center oversees and reviews projects under the Aquino administration’s flagship infrastructure program. During Canilao’s term, the agency awarded 12 projects. It eyes to complete the construction of five awarded deals before Aquino’s term ends in June.
One of the PPP projects that have yet to be bidded out is the modernization of the Davao-Sasa port, so far the only PPP project for the seaport sector. The project’s bidding has been moved three times now to give prospective bidders more time to study the project.
READ: Bidding for P20B Davao-Sasa port postponed for the third time
In a statement uploaded on the PPP website, Canilao thanked the late Dr. Cayetano Paderanga, Jr. for recruiting her into government. She first worked as a consultant of the National Economic and Development Authority, of which Paderanga was the former Director General, for the PPP Center.
She also thanked President Benigno Aquino III and his cabinet for their trust and support.
“We now have a long list of projects that the private sector will hopefully continue to participate in. We have installed in our processes and legal framework a means of instituting continuity and transparency,” she said.
“I leave the Center confident that the people who will be continuing on are steadfast, well-equipped and up to the challenge of making the program better that it is today.”
