News update Robredo is new DILG chief

Former Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo is the new chief of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Malacañang said Friday.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda confirmed the appointment. Robredo's appointment papers were signed earlier in the day.

The announcement of Robredo ended speculations on who would be DILG chief, a post temporarily held by President Benigno Aquino III when he assumed the presidency on June 30.

Vice President Jejomar Binay had earlier said he preferred to be given the DILG portfolio.

Asked why it took a while for Aquino to name Robredo, Lacierda told GMANews.TV over the phone that the president was choosing between Robredo and other candidates. "Merong ibang mga kinoconsider so pinag-aralan lang mabuti ni Noy (There were other candidates being considered so Noy studied it carefully)," he said.

Robredo began his career in public service after he left his executive position at San Miguel Corp. during former President Corazon Aquino's administration to head the Naga Bicol River Basin Development Program in Naga City.

In 1988, he ran for Naga City mayor and has since transformed the city.

Under Robredo's leadership, Naga City became a model first-class city. In 1999, Asiaweek named Naga City the "most improved city in Asia." The next year, Robredo received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service.

He had been awarded the Konrad Adenauer Medal of Excellence as Most Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines in 1998 and received other accolades before that.

Robredo, who finished his undergraduate degrees in Industrial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the De La Salle University, is also an Edward Mason Fellow and a graduate of the Masters in Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University.

Along with Isabela Governor Grace Padaca and Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio, Robredo spearheaded the formation of the Kaya Natin! Movement, an organization for good governance and ethical leadership, in 2008.

The group backed Aquino during the May 10 elections. — RSJ