MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named Dante Francis “Klink” Ang II as the new chairman of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO).
In a letter dated Wednesday, October 16, Marcos appointed Ang to the position, replacing Romulo Arugay.
Ang is the chairman and chief executive officer of broadsheet The Manila Times. In March 2023, Marcos also appointed him to be an acting member of the board of directors of the Clark International Airport Corporation.
He has also served as the National Book Development Board chairman.
Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo once appointed Ang’s father, Dante Arevalo Ang, to the same CFO post from 2005 to 2010. The elder Ang is Arroyo’s trusted friend and senior publicist, and was also appointed by former president Rodrigo Duterte as special envoy for international public relations.
Ang II was once a nominee of the party-list group Ahon Pinoy in the 2010 elections, which sought to protect the rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
The CFO is an agency under the Office of the President mandated to “promote and uphold the interests, rights, and welfare of overseas Filipinos and strengthen their ties with the Motherland,” the agency’s website says.
The office is distinct from the Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, with a broader lens of the Filipino diaspora beyond the needs of OFWs.
The CFO provides pre-departure orientation seminars to Filipino emigrants, marriage migrants, United States Exchange Visitor Program participants, and au pairs.
It provides opportunities to younger generations of overseas Filipinos to learn about Philippine history and culture. – Rappler.com