ELPIDIO J. VEGA Deputy Government Corporate Counsel Office of the Government Corporate Counsel Department of Justice Elpidio J.

Vega joined the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel on November 1986 as State Corporate Attorney III and thereafter rose from the ranks until his appointment by President Fidel V. Ramos to his present position as Deputy Government Corporate Counsel (DGCC) on March 1998. Prior thereto, he was

practicing and specializing in insurance, housing laws and commercial transactions. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts major in Psychology in 1978 at the Ateneo de Manila University and received his law degree at the Ateneo de Manila College of Law in 1982 and passed the BAR in 1983. As State Corporate Attorney, his expertise expanded to different fields of law based on the businesses pursued in accordance with the mandates of the client government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) assigned to him. From 1987 to 1993 and in addition to his legal assignments, he concurrently held the position of Acting Administrative Officer at the OGCC. He was commended for his participation as member of the team that successfully handled the case of Basco vs. Pagcor, G.R. No. 91649, May 14, 1991 wherein the Supreme Court upheld the dual functions of Pagcor as both governmental and proprietary

2 roles. He became a Legal Officer in PAGCOR with Chairman

Alicia Ll. Reyes at the helm from 1993 to 1998. Aside from his duties as DGCC of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, he is also a Professor of Law in Far Eastern University (FEU)-Juris Doctor Dual Degree Program (under Dean Andres Bautista) and the University of the East, College of law (under Dean Amado Valdez) teaching the following subjects: Labor Law,

Administrative Law, Legal and Judicial Forms, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Bar Methods and Practical Exercises, International Law and Practice Court. At present, he is also the Corporate Secretary of the Natural Resources and Development Corporation, a corporation under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Peoples Television Network, Inc. (PTNI), which positions he held since 1998 and 2001, respectively. DGCC Vega has a Career Executive Service Eligibility which was conferred by the Career Executive Service Board in 1999 and has lately attended several significant local and international seminars mainly on mediation, arbitration, international commercial arbitration, gaming, environment, management and good corporate

governance. He was then designated as the Acting Government Corporate Counsel from March 2003 to August 2004. One of the cases that he was able to guide to success was the MWSS vs. Daway, G.R. No. 155312 where the Supreme Court favorably acted

3 on the legality of MWSSs calling of the bond despite rehabilitation proceedings. In addition, as the Acting Government Corporate

Counsel, he was involved in two large successful International Commercial Arbitration of client corporations namely the MWSS which merited a commendation and National Irrigation Authority (NIA). Administratively, DGCC Vega was the main proponent of the OGCCs present Organizational set-up of dividing the teams based on the businesses of the GOCCs for the OGCC lawyers to acquire expertise and specialization in particular fields of endeavors. He also drafted the first OGCC Policy Rules and

Regulations recognized by the Supreme Court in the case of Panlilio vs. Landbank, G.R. No. 165428, 2005 which elevated the responsibility and confirmed the indispensable role of the OGCC in the exercise of its mandate as the statutory counsel of all GOCCs.