New Faces In PBS
The Philippine Bible Society welcomed six new staff members who came on board between May and August this year.
Rev. Emilio Ballesteros, Jr. now heads the Northern Luzon Regional Auxiliary Bible Office, replacing Rev. John Arquero.
Pastor Jun, who has ministered and established numerous churches since 1979, is married to the former Theresa Flormata, with whom he has three children.
He received his formal training from the Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary in Baguio City, and has been conferred a doctorate degree (honoris causa) from Theology University in 2005.
Meanwhile, the Accounting Department gained a new supervisor and an accountant in the persons of Marinome Mercado and Slochin Tilles Gragas.
New faces in PBS (from left): Pastor Jun Ballesteros, Jared Fernandez,
Herbert Osio, Jr., Slochin Gragas, Marinome Mercado, Paul Sasis, Jeff Castro, and Kiko Gaddi
Prior to joining the team last May, Ate Nome was senior auditor for T&D Engineering before becoming its accounting consultant. She also became the administrator of the Treasure Chest Christian School for seven years.
Ate Nome is wife to the Rev. Arnold Mercado, who is a pastor at Liberty Baptist Mission in San Juan, Batangas, and is mother to 15-year-old Nikos Paulo and 10-year-old Audrey.
Slochin, on the other hand, owes her unique name from a wordplay of her birthplace. This young lady, who hails from Nichols in Pasay City, was bookkeeper for the Inland Corporation for two years before joining PBS.
Another warm body in the PBS staff is Francisco Gaddi, who holds a degree in Applied Mathematics with concentration in Computer Programming from the Arellano University. He worked for the Home Development Mutual Fund for 11 years and also had a short stint with Master’s Distribution and Allied Services prior to coming on board as a merchandiser at the Sta Mesa Bible House. He is married to the former Ducisima Aranas and is a proud father of two.
The Communications and Development Department (ComDev) also received a shot in the arm, after acquiring a program specialist and a part-time writer.
Twenty-six-year-old Jared Fernandez, a computer science graduate from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, now handles ComDev’s database software, Donation Management. He used to be affiliated with Solid Shipping Lines Corp, where he served as a programmer analyst.
The most recent addition to the ComDev team is Herbert Osio, Jr., who has been tasked to handle the Bible Society’s official publication, The Open Word (TOW). Herbert has had experiences with several mainstream and alternative media and was a staff writer for a people’s organization.