MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has appointed former Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo as secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said Robredo’s appointment papers were signed yesterday.
Pending Robredo’s appointment, Mr. Aquino assumed the position of Interior secretary.
Robredo is a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 2000.
He finished his undergraduate degrees in Industrial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the De La Salle University. He obtained his Masters in Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a fellow of the Edward Mason Program for foreign students.
He completed his Masters in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.
When he returned to Naga City in 1986, he was appointed program director of the Bicol River Basin Program by the late former President Corazon Aquino. In 1988, he became Naga City mayor at 29, the youngest in the city’s history. Under his term, Naga became a first class city and was cited by AsiaWeek magazine in 1999 as the “most improved city in Asia.”
In 1995, he was elected president of the League of Cities of the Philippines.
In March 2008, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Far Eastern University in Manila.
His other awards include: Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (1990), Outstanding Young Persons of the World (1996), Konrad Adenauer Medal of Excellence as Most Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines (1998), and the first Dangal ng Bayan Award of the Civil Service Commission.
He is currently shortlisted for the World Mayor 2010 awardorganized by City Mayors, an international think tank on urban affairs. he is the only filipino mayor shortlisted for the award. To vote for Robredo, log on to http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/naga-city-mayor-robredo.html In 2008, Robredo headed the Kaya Natin! Movement that supported Mr. Aquino during the campaign period. Other members were then governors Grace Padaca of Isabela and Ed Panlilio of Pampanga. Robredo promised to initiate reforms in the DILG by making transactions more transparent. He also maintained that he is against jueteng, an illegal numbers game. - With Cet Dematera