PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has appointed former Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo as new secretary of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Aquino, during the announcement of his Cabinet members last June 29, failed to name a DILG chief as he was still looking for the best person he could fully trust the sensitive agency. Instead, Aquino kept the post.
Vice President Jejomar Binay earlier expressed interest in the DILG top post, but the name of Robredo floated as Aquino's bet.
Binay later changed his mind and said he is no longer interested to become DILG chief and won't take any Cabinet position.
On Friday, Aquino signed the appointment of Robredo.
Robredo was born in Naga City in 1958. His parents are Jose Chan Robredo Sr. and Marcelina Manalastas.
He obtained his undergraduate degrees in Industrial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the Philippines De La Salle University.
He was an Edward Mason Fellow and a graduate of Masters in Public Administration at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999.
In 1985, Robredo obtained his Masters in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines in Diliman and received the Graduate School and Faculty Organization award for scholarly excellence.
In 1986, he was appointed Program Director of the Bicol River Basin Development Program, an agency tasked to undertake integrated area development planning in the region's three provinces.
In 1988, he was elected mayor of Naga City, making him the youngest city mayor of the Philippines at age 29.
Under his leadership, Naga was named one of the "Most Improved Cities in Asia" by Asiaweek Magazine in 1999.
In 1995, he was elected president of the League of Cities of the Philippine.
Robredo received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 2000 and Konrad Adenauer Medal of Excellence as Most Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines in 1998.
In 1996, he was awarded as Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) and Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines in 1990.
He has also been shortlisted for the 2010 World Mayor Prize.
In 2008, he was conferred an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by the Far Eastern University in Manila. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)