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Duterte pal Alvarez comes out of retirement to wrest speakership


Pantaleon Alvarez was born on January 10, 1958. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Political Science from the Far Eastern University in 1978. He then went to the Ateneo Law School to study law and graduated in 1983.

From 1984 to 1986, Alvarez was engaged in the private practice of law. He started his government career in 1987 as a member of then-Senator Wigberto Tañada’s staff.

A year after his stint at the lawmaker’s office ended in 1992, the young lawyer was designated as an action officer at the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

He rose through the ranks until he was promoted as MIAA’s senior assistant general manager and chief operating officer in March 1995. It was a position he held until September 1997.

In 1998, Alvarez ran and won as the congressional representative of Davao del Norte’s first district.

Due to his experience at the MIAA, Alvarez was chosen as the vice chairman of the House committee on transportation and communication. He was also a member of nine other congressional panels.

Following her ascent to the presidency in January 2001, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed Alvarez as the head of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). He served in that capacity until July 2002.

In 2005, Alvarez and four other former DOTC officials were charged with graft before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

They were accused of awarding the build-operate-transfer project to Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. despite the supposed knowledge that it was not qualified to undertake the endeavor.

The charges against Alvarez was dismissed in 2010 by the Sandiganbayan’s special second division after it found the allegations against him lacked basis.

The Duterte connection

Alvarez became acquainted with President-elect Rodrigo Duterte during their stint in the 11th Congress, when the latter was the congressional representative of Davao City’s first district.

They became so close as friends that Alvarez asked Duterte to become the godfather of one of his children.

In a multimedia forum hosted by the Inquirer earlier this month, Alvarez revealed that it was he who sent a private jet to Davao City on the deadline for filing of certificates of candidacies on October 15, 2015 because he badly wanted Duterte to run for president.

At that time, the mayor said he was uninterested to run for president despite the growing public clamor for his candidacy.

The jet Alvarez sent was not used since Duterte decided to file a COC for mayor instead.

Still not losing hope that his friend would eventually change his mind, Alvarez recalled calling up Senator Aquilino Pimentel III to have someone to file a COC for president on behalf of their party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

Pimentel was the party president.

Alvarez recalled telling the senator: “Magpa-file ka lang ng kahit sino diyan. Mag-substitution tayo pagdating ng December 8. Sabi niya (Pimentel), ‘Sigurado ka?’ Sabi ko, ‘Sigurado ako.’”

The party eventually fielded Quezon City barangay captain Martin Diño as its presidential candidate but withdrew his electoral bid on October 29.

As Alvarez planned, Duterte replaced Diño as PDP-Laban’s standard bearer as a substitute candidate in December.

As to how he ended up running for congressman again, Alvarez said he was convinced to file his COC by Davao del Norte Representative-elect Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr. because the businessman did not want to be alone when he returned to Congress.

The former Cabinet Secretary admitted his disappointment over Duterte’s earlier decision to run affected his own judgment about running for Congress.

“Si Tonyboy Floirendo, dinalhan ako ng COC, pinapirmahan ako. Sabi niya, ‘file ka [para tumakbo sa] Congress. Wala akong kasama babalik ako.’ Eh ako naman, sa sama ng loob ko [kay Duterte], pinirmahan ko,” he said.

Prior to running for congressman, Alvarez said he had no plans of returning to politics and was looking forward to spending time on his farm and preparing for retirement.

But for now, the 58-year-old lawyer would have to postpone his retirement plans since he is set on to take the formidable challenge of leading the House of Representatives in the incoming 17th Congress. —NB,GMA News

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