Agana will replace Marietta de Guzman as head of the NPO. De Guzman was designated officer in charge after former NPO director, Felipe Evardone, resigned following graft charges.
De Guzman was eventually charged in April, 2006 as co-respondent in a case of manipulated bidding amounting to P91m (US$1.89m) which resulted in the suspension of Evardone.
The new appointment comes as the Philippines prepare for midterm legislative and local elections on May 14 this year. Contested seats include half the seats in the Senate.
Agana was a registered investment advisor, licensed real-estate broker, certified internal auditor, certified fraud examiner and is considered well-versed in sales and marketing activities at a high level.
President and CEO of Asia Pacific Advisers in Manila from January 2002 to 2007, Agana was appointed by the President as private-sector representative at the recent global Filipino Networking Convention. He was vice-president of Bear Stearns and Co Inc in San Francisco from June 2000 to November 2001.
The National Printing Office, formerly Bureau of Printing and later renamed Government Printing Office sometime in 1972 was created as the Bureau of Public Printing on November 7, 1901 by Philippine Commission Act No. 296.
Placed under the Department of Public Instruction, its main function was to undertake and execute all printing requirements of the government. The Bureau went into actual operation on December 15, 1901 and the first book printed by the Bureau was the Economic Geography by Hugo A. Miller.
For over a century, NPO has been servicing the requirements of the national and local government as well as government-owned and controlled corporations.
Under Executive Order 285 of July 25, 1987, the National Printing Office is mandated to have exclusive printing jurisdiction over the following:
- Printing, binding and distribution of all standard and accountable forms of national, provincial, city and municipal governments, including government corporations
- Printing of official ballots
- Printing of public documents such as the Official Gazette, General Appropriations Act, Philippine Reports, and development information materials of the Philippine Information Agency
