AMONG the 124 appointees of the Duterte administration:
-- Philippe Jones Lhuillier, Cebu businessman and diplomat, as ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra.
-- Karen Jimeno, lawyer, who was highly visible during the trial of then Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona, as undersecretary for legal affairs in the Department of Public Works and Highways.
P.J. Lhuillier, 71, had previously served as Philippine ambassador to Italy, Albania, San Marino and Portugal. In May 2012, his apartment in Paris was reported as having been looted by burglars who carried away, according to the newspaper “Le Parisien” and reported widely in this country, 30 million euros (P1.56 bilIion, at the time of robbery). Lhuiller corrected the report, saying it was only 3 million euros.
Lhuillier was listed in the 2016 Forbes 50 Richest Persons as #45 with a net worth of $170 million. His company Cebuana Lhuillier is into pawning, remittance and microfinance business.
* * *
How Mike’s doing
From former Cebu City mayor Mike Rama’s notes on Facebook, he has been doing “catch-up” meetings with friends and relatives in Manila and Cebu:
-- Last Oct. 11, he attended continuing-legal-education sessions at the U.P. Law Center and met with Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. and other lawyers;
-- Oct. 12, he had lunch with a niece at Radic’s diner;
-- Oct. 16, he met with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano whom he calls his “great friend” and a “good friend to Cebu City,” saying the senator shares his “vision” for the city.
-- Oct. 17, he joined former classmates at USP high school, “catching up while enjoying good food.”
He didn’t say if he had been conferring with political allies, especially those who are still in office. The former mayor had been out of town for some time. He had just returned from a trip to the U.S.
* * *
Gordon not a Duterte ally?
Sen. Richard Gordon has been taking potshots at President Duterte every now and then though he hasn’t been hard-hitting, at times they are wrapped as advice.
But why does he resent being referred to as an ally of the President? He corrected a news reporter who repeatedly said he was Duterte’s ally.
Maybe he just wanted accuracy and was pissed off by the “error” being said more than once. Or maybe he feels that he didn’t wish to be identified with the administration.
[bzzzzz@voxpop.com.ph or paseares@gmail.com]