San Pedro City gets one of its own to join the official cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte, albeit in an acting capacity.
Atty. Melvin Matibag, also known as “Batang Upper” [a reference to San Pedro City’s Upper Villages], has just been sworn in as Cabinet Secretary in the official cabinet of the President, replacing former Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, who moved to head the Civil Service Commission.
He took his oath before Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea last March 9, after President Duterte signed his appointment papers.
Prior to his new appointment, Matibag was president of the National transmission Corporation (Transco) and Secretary -General of the PDP-Laban, President Duterte’s political party.
Transition period
Matibag thanked Duterte for the appointment and said he would “make sure the important policy issues of President Duterte are acted upon and the Duterte Legacy is properly established.”
“We see the Cabinet Secretariat as playing an integral role in the democratic concept of transfer of power as President Duterte vouched for an orderly and peaceful handover of government control to whoever is proclaimed by Congress as the new chief executive,” he said in a statement provided by the PDP-Laban party.
In his new post, Matibag is now expected to play a vital role in the smooth transition of power from President Duterte to whoever the people will choose to succeed him in the May 9 presidential elections.
As Cabinet Secretary, he is directly responsible for ensuring that the wheels of bureaucracy at Malacañang Palace are well-maintained.
According to Executive Order No. 99 issued in 2012, the office of the Cabinet Secretary is the "support body concerned with all Cabinet needs, from agenda setting to materials preparation and/or collation, records keeping, information dissemination of Cabinet decisions and actions to concerned departments/agencies/entities, interdepartmental coordination on the implementation of executive actions and decisions, and all other functions and powers as directed by the President."
Decades Of Government Service
Matibag's family is part of the prominent Alvarez clan, one of San Pedro City’s oldest families. His mother taught at Pelaez Elementary School and his father at Recto High School in Manila.
He graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila with a degree in Philosophy, later obtaining his law degree at the Ateneo de Manila University – Salcedo Campus in Makati City. He took his postgraduate studies in law at the Wayne State University in Michigan, United States.
Aside from being the former president of Transco, Matibag has also served in various government agencies, including being the director of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) and the general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).
Matibag is married to incumbent Laguna First District Board Member Ann Garcia-Matibag, who is currently the frontrunner in surveys for the first representative of San Pedro City, Laguna to Congress. They have three children. (With report by Rose de la Cruz)