MANILA - The Commission on Appointments has confirmed the appointment of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual, the DTI said on Wednesday.

Pascual was bypassed by the CA twice in 2022 as several employees of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority opposed his appointment during the CA hearings.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel however affirmed that the DTI did not violate any Civil Service Commission rules in dealing with the complaints of the contractual PEZA workers.

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Pascual also said the DTI was doing several measures to ease onion prices.

During the sessions, lawmakers established full confidence in Pascual and that he is physically and intellectually capable to lead the department, DTI said.

Before being appointed to the DTI Pascual served in the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), University of the Philippines (UP), and Asian Institute of Management (AIM), the agency said.

His past board memberships include the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Institute for Solidarity in Asia, and the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) among others.

From 2011 to 2017, he was President and Co-Chair of the University of the Philippines.

According to the DTI, Pascual's priorities include helping to upskill and upsize micro, small and medium enterprises, transforming them digitally, promoting ease of doing business to attract more investments, strengthening the export sector, promoting consumer welfare and protection, and implementing an industrialization strategy driven by science.

-- with a report from Robert Mano, ABS-CBN News

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