Wendel Avisado appointed as new Budget secretary

Wendel Avisado has been appointed as the new secretary of the Department of Budget and Management by the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, according to media reports. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea was reported by the media to have made this announcement on Monday that Avisado, formerly the national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, will be the acting secretary of the Department of Budget and Management.

Avisado was Davao City administrator from 2004 to 2010, when Duterte was mayor. When Duterte assumed the presidency, he brought Avisado to Malacañang, appointing him presidential assistant for Yolanda rehabilitation.

Avisado is a lawyer who completed his studies at the Ateneo de Davao University. He replaces DBM officer-in-charge Undersecretary Janet Abuel, who has been designated to head the agency after the surprise appointment of two-time Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last March.