Domestic shipowner Christopher Pastrana named new PPA GM

Domestic shipowner Christopher Pastrana named new PPA GM
June 23, 2022 https://www.portcalls.com/domestic-shipowner-christopher-pastrana-named-...

Domestic shipowner Christopher Pastrana will be the new general manager of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) under the incoming Marcos administration.

The Archipelago Philippine Ferries Corp. (APFC) chairman will replace Jay Daniel Santiago, who has been PPA chief since 2016.

Pastrana founded the CAPP Group of Companies involved in the trading of bulk raw materials for the cement industry. In 2002, he ventured into tug and barge operations and in the same year, he started Philharbor Ferries and Port Services and APFC, which operates catarman-type roll-on/roll-off vessels. He has since expanded into ship management, ship repair, port operations and maritime training.

Pastrana is currently president of Philippine Inter-island Shipping Association, the umbrella organization of various shipping associations, and president of the Philippine RoRo Operators Association. He is also a director of Interferry, a shipping association representing the ferry industry worldwide.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship from the Asian Institute of Management and holds the rank of Captain in the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Aside from Pastrana, President-elect Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. also named former Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) deputy administrator Cesar Chavez as undersecretary-designate for rails of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and veteran journalist and lawyer Cheloy E. Garafil as chairperson-designate of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

Chavez was appointed officer-in-charge for railways of DOTr in February 2017 but resigned in November 2017. He was with DOTr since September 2016. Prior to this, he was assistant general manager for planning of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority from 2014 to 2015, and served as deputy administrator of the LRTA from 2005 to 2010. He was also chairperson of the National Youth Commission, and youth sector Representative in the 9th Congress.

Garafil, meanwhile, is currently a service director at the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives, and was a prosecutor for the Department of Justice and state solicitor for the Office of the Solicitor General.

She worked as a media practitioner for over a decade in various media organizations such as the Philippine Daily Globe, Central News Agency, Associated Press, and Malaya.

Garafil also holds a Master’s degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College and is a Philippine Air Force reservist with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

see
Presidents never err; only appointees do
GOTCHA - Jarius Bondoc - July 6, 2022 | https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2022/07/06/2193408/presidents-never-err...

(excerpts)

Yet controversies rumble about early choices. Reportedly with conflicts of interest are the four highest positions at a GOCC (government-owned and controlled corporation). The general manager-designate reportedly owns with daughters ferry lines. Operating 20 percent of ports, his firms allegedly owe government P132 million. His lawyer claims they intend to pay the debt after litigation. He is said to be bringing in three fellow-shipping and port businessmen to various positions. “The regulated also will be the regulators,” competitors howled.