Janella Ejercito Estrada replaced as head of national adoption agency

MANILA, Philippines – Janella Ejercito Estrada, daughter of Senator Jinggoy Estrada, was replaced as the executive director of the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), an attached agency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

On Thursday, June 4, the DSWD announced that the NACC, which focuses on adoption and alternative child care, is now headed by Maria Gabriela “Gaby” Concepcion. The post has the rank of undersecretary.

Concepcion, a lawyer, educator, and television host, took her oath as NACC chief before Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Wednesday, June 3.

“As head of the council, Executive Director Concepcion will lead the implementation of policies and programs aimed at protecting and promoting the rights, welfare, and overall development of Filipino children,” the DSWD said.

Concepcion’s oath-taking ceremony came two days after Senator Estrada was brought to the New Quezon City Jail on Monday, June 1, over his plunder case in relation to the flood control corruption scandal. The detained senator also faces graft charges, but graft is bailable while plunder is not.

On Tuesday, June 2, Janella Estrada accompanied her father at the Sandiganbayan for his graft arraignment, which was later moved to Thursday. The senator refused to enter a plea, prompting the anti-graft court’s 2nd Division to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed Estrada’s daughter as NACC chief in August 2022. 

She became a San Juan City councilor in 2013, before being elected as the city’s vice mayor in 2016. She lost her mayoral bid in 2019.

When asked why there was a change in NACC leadership, Gatchalian told Rappler, “The DSWD and its attached agencies continuously conduct organizational restructuring to better its operations and service delivery.”

Rappler has sought comment from the former NACC chief. We will update this story once she responds.

NACC and its new chief

The NACC was created through Republic Act No. 11642 or the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act of 2022.

Under the law, the NACC oversees “alternative child care, including declaring a child legally available for both domestic, administrative adoption and inter-country adoption, foster care, kinship care, family-like care, or residential care.”

It reorganized what was then the Inter-Country Adoption Board, where new NACC chief Concepcion was previously a member.

In welcoming its new head, the NACC highlighted her “diverse background in law, governance, communications, and public service.”

Concepcion is among the partners of NMGRA Law Offices and serves as the firm’s consultant for family law and intellectual property. She has also been a board member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board since 2011.

She has been hosting the “Ask Atty. Gaby” segment of GMA Network’s morning show Unang Hirit.

Concepcion obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree in 1990 from the University of the Philippines and was admitted to the Philippine Bar a year after. She is a professor at the UP College of Law.

She was also a 2025 UP Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Awardee. Interestingly, in 2019, UP Los Baños named a gumamela hybrid after her, the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis “Gabriela Roldan-Concepcion,” under the “Women in Public Service” series.

Last Wednesday, Concepcion unexpectedly witnessed the leadership shake-up in the Senate, where she was meeting with her friends before proceeding to her oath-taking ceremony, according to her social media post.

– Rappler.com