“I will remain as the main spokesperson of DepEd. The two spokespersons will speak on my behalf whenever I am not available,” Secretary Briones said.

Pursuant to DepEd Memorandum No. 96, s. 2018 (DM 96), Assistant Secretary Nepomuceno A. Malaluan and Undersecretary Annalyn M. Sevilla are designated as the new official spokespersons of DepEd.

Assistant Secretary Malaluan is the Chief of Staff of the Department. He is a lawyer and he represents DepEd in the Cabinet Assistance System (CAS), the inter-agency support unit of the Cabinet where Cabinet directives are coordinated. His office implements, in coordination with various offices of the Department, the special assignments of the Secretary as well as CAS directives to DepEd. His office also monitors the implementation of the top priorities of the Secretary, and provides supplemental initiatives to ongoing programs.

Undersecretary Sevilla, is the Undersecretary for Finance–Budget and Performance Monitoring of DepEd. She advises and assists the Secretary in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of DepEd’s budget.  Her responsibilities also include the operationalization of the Education Programs Delivery Unit (EPDU), which facilitates and coordinates the identification and resolution of bottlenecks and challenges to the DepEd’s delivery system.

In designating new spokespersons, Secretary Briones said that “the objective is to give other members of the ExeCom opportunity to speak on behalf of DepEd and to give previous spokespersons time to attend to their official duties.”

DM 96 also stated that “all other ExeCom members, requested by the media to give interviews or to provide official statements on matters pertaining to DepEd, are directed to first seek clearance from the Secretary.”