The newly appointed executive director of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples is an Ibaloy from La Trinidad, Benguet.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has appointed Mervyn Espadero on April 28 to head the Office of the Executive Director, which shall serve as the secretariat for the NCIP.
Born and raised in La Trinidad, Espadero is a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1977, according to a press release from the NCIP-Cordillera.
He served with the Presidential Security Command from 1977 to 1986, where he was also part of the entourage that flew to Hawaii in February 1986 during the Marcos family’s exile on the U.S. shores after the EDSA People Power Revolution.
Staying true to his roots, he helped organize BIBAK (Benguet, Ifugao, Bontoc, Apayao, and Kalinga)-Hawaii chapter with fellow Igorots.
He served as Special Assistant and Security Escort Officer to Marcos when he was governor of Ilocos Norte.
He worked with various security and insurance companies and even pursued a nursing degree before he retired in 2018.
Espadero is married to Virginia Enciso, an Isnag from Kabugao, Apayao who also traces her roots to Mainit, Bontoc, Mountain Pro-vince.
He is also the brother of the late Gen. Peter Espadero of PMA Class 1972.
He took the helm from Officer-In-Charge and at the same time Bureau Director of the Ancestral Domain Officer Caesar Ortega.
Last year, the President honored Espadero together with other former security officers who served under his father. They are retired Lt/Col. Delmar Magno and Fe Castro and 1st Lt. Menandro Espinelo.
In a simple ceremony at the Malacañang Palace grounds dubbed “a walk of closure”, the former security officers of the late president and his family were honored for their service. – Ofelia C. Empian
