Noli de Castro
Manuel "Noli" Leuterio De Castro, Jr. is a politician and former broadcast journalist in the
Philippines. De Castro was elected
Senator in 2001 and was elected as
Vice President of the Republic of the
Philippines as the running mate of
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004. He is also the current secretary for
housing and
urban development.
Encyclopedia
Manuel "Noli" Leuterio De Castro, Jr. is a politician and former broadcast journalist in the
Philippines. De Castro was elected
Senator in 2001 and was elected as
Vice President of the Republic of the
Philippines as the running mate of
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004. He is also the current secretary for
housing and
urban development.
Biography
Early life and broadcasting career
Noli De Castro was born in the town of
Pola,
Oriental Mindoro. He graduated from the
University of the East in 1971 with a degree in Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Banking and Finance.
De Castro began his career as a broadcaster during the
Marcos dictatorship, when press freedoms were suppressed. He worked as a field reporter for Johnny de Leon, a popular radio announcer at the time. He later became a radio announcer in RPN's DWWW station from 1982 to 1986.
After the
ouster of Marcos, De Castro joined
ABS-CBN. He got his break into television as the segment host of Good Morning, Philippines' "At your Service". He also joined
dzMM, a radio station of ABS-CBN, as the anchorman of "Kabayan". It was because of the popularity of the program that he gained the nickname "Kabayan Noli".
In 1987, De Castro became host of "Magandang Gabi Bayan" and anchorman of the news and public affairs hit, "
TV Patrol". In January 1999 he became overall head of production of "TV Patrol" and vice president of dzMM.
Political career
In 2001, De Castro successfully ran for senator as an independent candidate, though he campaigned with the opposition. He garnered more than 16 million votes, the highest ever for a senator in the history of Philippine politics at that time.
As a senator, De Castro authored Senate Bill No. 2029 or the "Local Government Transparency Act" which aimed to end corruption through transparency measures in the local government units.
In the
2004 Philippine election, De Castro ran for vice president as the runningmate of
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He won by a narrow margin over Senator Loren Legarda but an electoral protest was filed by the latter and is still on-going.
The De Castro-Soliman Issue
Issues of political patronage immediately began to swirl around the president when rumors that VP-elect Noli de Castro would be taking over as Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, replacing incumbent Secretary Dinky Soliman. Soliman, an ardent supporter of President Arroyo during the campaign in the urban poor areas, announced in a tearful press conference that she felt betrayed. Several weeks later, De Castro formally said he would not accept the DSWD post.
2005 Arroyo wiretapping scandal
In June 2005, President Gloria Arroyo's popularity was rocked by allegations of receiving payments from illegal gambling and by wiretapped conversations that allegedly recorded her involvement in fixing the presidential elections with an elections official . There were calls for Arroyo to resign, and for De Castro to succeed. However, conventional wisdom was that De Castro was not supported by the elites, and seen as an intellectual lightweight, given his TV anchorman roots. Arroyo on the other hand, is an educated economist and savvy daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal.
Wowowee Tragedy
Noli visited victims of the
ULTRA Stampede last February 4, 2006. He also represented the Government when Willie Revillame announced the tragedy in the ULTRA together with the viewers there.
See also
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External links
