P-Noy's
spokesman of Boholano blood
"He
has been, still is and hopefully will forever be my spokesman", thus intoned
in clear praise did President Noynoy Aquino speak highly of presidential spokesperson
Edwin Lacierda. Every
bombshell thrown at the pathway of then senator Aquino in the campaign trail for
the May 2010 presidential polls was deftly detonated by the calm, logical way
by the personable Atty. Lacierda, then a practicing lawyer and an expert in Constitutional
Law. It
was almost assumed that Lacierda, for his splendid campaign performance, would
be the President's other voice.
Little do people know that half of Edwin Lacierda's blood are of Boholano content,
his mother being Desideria "Siding" Lacierda a native of Loon, Bohol. Credit
half of Edwin's bright brain from "Siding" who graduated salutatorian
from the Sacred Heart Academy of Loon. She was the classmate of Natividad Lopez-Cartagenas,
mother of Fr. Aloysius Cartagenas and the aunt of Congressman Rene Relampagos,
Board Member Yul Lopez and Loon Mayor Lloyd Peter Lopez. EXCELLENT
LAWYER
"Edwin was a bright, humble and a good speaker while in
law school at the Ateneo de Manila Law school", says his classmate there,
Herman "Manix" Cimafranca, currently Assistant Solicitor General for
two years -- a career government officer. According
to Manix, although Edwin was not born in Bohol and grew up in Manila (and currently
residing in San Juan), he speaks fluent Bisaya, being surrounded by fellow Visayans
while growing up.
One of their classmates in Ateneo Law school, the beauteous
Atty. Nina Bermudez, eventually became the wife of Edwin with whom he has a son
and daughter. |
| | Edwin
is known as a professor of law at the FEU Institute of Law and the Pamantasan
ng Lungsod ng Maynila and a Lecturer at the Law Graduate School of La Salle. He
is also proficient on laws applying to cyberspace crime and the like.
He has a popular blog and surfaced dramatically as one of the more prominent lawyers
of the NBN-ZTE deal whistle-blower Jun Lozada. Edwin humbly allowed himself recently
to take a crash course in "handling media" to sharpen his skills in
that regard. A weekly press confab has been promised by President Noynoy with
Lacierda expected to lend his presence. | HERMAN
CIMAFRANCA Boholano
Herman Cimafranca, on the other hand, used to work for 15 years as Assistant Government
Corporate Counsel. He is considered a career - non political government officer
- that saw him stay put in office even as administrations came and went. In
both the OSG and the Government Counsel work, Cimafranca's superior has been Solicitor
General Agra who served as acting Secretary of Justice. There
are 15 Assistant Solicitor Generals in the OSG now (Being increased to 30) and
among the longest in the job is another Boholano Raul Mandin who has been there
for more than 30 years.
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