 |
| The
Honorable JESLI LAPUS |
| Secretary |
| Department
of Education |
|
Rep. Jesli Lapus of Tarlac
formally assumed the leadership of the Department of Education (DepED) during the turnover
ceremonies attended by officials and employees of the department at the DepED’s
Bulwagan ng Karunungan in Pasig City on July 28.
Lapus, a former congressman, assumed the top DepED post, replacing Undersecretary and
Officer-In-Charge Fe A. Hidalgo.
Lapus is on his third and last term in Congress and chairs the House ways and means
Committee.
He will be the 47th Secretary of the department.
Rep. Lapus earned a doctorate in public administration from the Polytechnic University of
the Philippines, a master’s degree in business management from the Asian Institute of
Management, and is a Certified Public Accountant. His postgraduate education includes
studies at the Harvard University, INSEAD and the University of California.
Aside from being a congressman of Tarlac, Lapus was an original core faculty of the Asian
Institute of Management’s Masters in Development Management Program. He also taught
at the Ateneo de Manila University and Maryknoll (now Miriam) College.
Before joining politics, Lapus was a prominent professional executive. He was the former
president and chief executive officer of the Land Bank of the Philippines. He was a
managing director of Triumph International (Phils.) Inc., chief finance officer of the
Ramcar Group, and an auditor-in-charge of SGV & Co.
He first joined the government service in 1987 as undersecretary of the Department of
Agrarian Reform.
Lapus vowed to focus not just on the existing educational programs but more importantly on
the efficient implementation of these programs: “I will enter with an open mind with
no intention to reinvent the wheel. The good (educational) programs are in place. All we
need to do is fine tune these and implement efficiently.
“We will do our share and give it our best shot! After all, human resource remains
our country’s most crucial asset. We cannot afford to fail,” Lapus said. |
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