Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III (left) administers the oath of office to the newly appointed DOLE Undersecretary Atty. Randy Escolango (right) on Tuesday, March 1 at the DOLE Central Office in Intramuros, Manila. Before his appointment to the labor department, Atty. Escolango was the Deputy Insurance Commissioner of Legal Services Group of Insurance Commission. He also served as Administrator of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
Lawyer-achiever is newest DOLE Undersecretary
A SEASONED lawyer who dedicated his life to government service after a successful career in private practice was recently appointed as an Undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Atty. Randy Escolango took his oath as Undersecretary before Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III last Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
His appointment was signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last February 22, 2022. He replaces former DOLE Undersecretary Philip Paredes, whose mandatory retirement took effect last February 3.
Atty. Escolango was a former Deputy Commissioner of the Insurance Commission (IC), a position he held since 2017, and also headed the commission’s Legal Services Group.
He was a former Deputy Administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and at one time was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the SBMA before moving to the IC.
Aside from being a hard-working government official, Atty. Escolango also had time to serve the academe, where he was a professor at the Columban College in Olongapo City, where he took up AB English in 1993 before completing his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science (Dean’s Lister) from the New Era University.
Armed with a Master’s Degree in Public Management in 2010, Atty. Escolango pushed his plans to earn a doctorate degree, a goal he achieved when he earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration in 2014.
But Atty. Escolango’s drive towards further education was fueled by his desire to learn more in a different field. Thus, he is currently striving to earn a degree in Accountancy at the Far Eastern University where he previously earned his Bachelor of Laws Degree in 2001, the same year he passed the Bar Examinations.
For Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija-born and Olongapo City-raised Atty. Escolango, government service means not being confined in a desk. Aside from being an officer of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) with the rank of Rear Admiral, he is also president of the New Era University Alumni Association, Inc., a member of the International Bar Association, a Certified Treasury Professional, Accredited Financial Analyst, Professor of Law on Insurance and other Commercial Laws, and Lecturer in Mandatory Continuing Legal Education for Lawyers (MCLE). He also writes a regular column for the national newspaper The Manila Times.
“I am deeply honored and thankful to be entrusted with a very important office in the Department of Labor & Employment. This is another avenue where I can make myself productive in helping people feel and experience the government’s sincere care and concern for their welfare and well-being,” Escolango stressed.
He said it is but proper for the administration “to place the country’s labor sector among its top priorities, striking a fair and mutually acceptable balance of interest with the business sector.”
Undersecretary Escolango, 45, is happily married to Michelle Cortez-Escolango, a pharmacist and businesswoman with whom he has four children, Ranchelle, Marielle, Randy Jr., and Mirand.
