CA confirms Health Secretary Janette Garin

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Appointment (CA) confirmed the appointment of Health Secretary Janette Garin on Wednesday, June 3. 

Garin was confirmed nearly 3 months after her nomination for the Cabinet position. 

President Benigno Aquino III designated Garin as acting secretary after he asked then health secretary Enrique Ona to go on leave in October 2014. Ona eventually resigned on December 19. 

During her stint as acting secretary, Garin was slammed because of her controversial visit to Caballo Island, where United Nations peacekeepers were quarantined after coming home from Ebola-hit Liberia.

She also implemented personnel changes in the DOH’s central office, which led to questions about her official designation in the department. (READ: Janette Garin: DOH Acting Secretary or OIC?)  

Prior to joining the department in 2013 as health undersecretary in charge of the department’s Women, Children and Family Health Cluster, Garin was a 3-term representative of the First District of Iloilo. She was Deputy Majority Leader in the 15th Congress.

A House ally of Aquino, she co-authored the controversial reproductive health bill. The Aquino administration has trumpeted the enactment of the Reproductive Health Act of 2012 as among its major achievements.

Garin, a physician, allied with the Liberal Party in the 2013 elections. She was eyed by the LP as among its leaders in the Western Visayas region.

She graduated cum laude from the Divine Word University in Tacloban City with a bachelor of science degree in medical technology. She was also an academic scholar at St Luke’s College of Medicine. – Rappler.com