Noli de Castro Totally Explained

Everything about Noli De Castro totally explained

Manuel Leuterio "Noli" B. de Castro, Jr. (born July 6, 1949) 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 in 2004. He is also the current secretary for housing and urban development. He is the first independent Senatorial topnotcher and the first elected independent Vice-President.
On January, 2008, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) directory officially listed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's personal advisers and assistants (undersecretaries, directors and assistant secretaries) in the total of 54. These exclude those under the offices of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and their bureaus and agencies attached to the Office of the President. Vice President Noli de Castro's office pays only 3 officials: a chief of staff, an assistant chief of staff and a director for administration and finance.

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. He won by a narrow margin over Senator Loren Legarda but an electoral protest was filed by the latter. The Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed the said protest.

PET Case No. 003, Legarda v. De Castro, January 18, 2008

On January 18, 2008, in a 21-page resolution, penned by Senior Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed Sen. Loren Legarda's electoral protest against Noli de Castro. 3 reasons supported the judgment: first, the PET approved the recommendation of Hearing Commissioner and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair retired SC Justice Bernardo P. Pardo that “the pilot-tested revision of ballots or re-tabulation of the certificates of canvass wouldn't affect the winning margin of the protestee in the final canvass of the returns, in addition to the ground of abandonment or withdrawal by reason of Protestant’s candidacy for, election and assumption of the office Senator of the Philippines;” second, Legarda’s failure to pay the P 3.9 million ($ 1 = P 40) revision of ballots (in 124,404 precincts) fee despite court extension under Rule 33 of the PET; and third, jurisprudence of Defensor Santiago v. Ramos, teaches that Legarda "effectively abandoned or withdrawn her protest when she ran in the Senate, which term coincides with the term of the Vice-Presidency 2004-2010."Meanwhile, Noli De Castro on television stated: "This is the triumph of truth. The truth that I won fair and square. I thank the Supreme Court for echoing the true voice of the people. From the very beginning I was confident that I received the overwhelming mandate of our people as Vice President." Legarda stated that she'll file a motion for reconsideration in due course.

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 wouldn't 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 (juetengate) and by wiretapped conversations that allegedly recorded her involvement in fixing the presidential elections with an elections official (Gloriagate). There were calls for Arroyo to resign, and for de Castro to succeed. However, conventional wisdom was that de Castro wasn't supported by the elites, and seen as an intellectual lightweight, given his TV anchorman roots.

Performance rating

On January 7, 2008, the Social Weather Stations (November 30 to December 3, 2007) survey revealed all-time high satisfaction grades for Vice-President Noli de Castro: 64% satisfied and 23% dissatisfied - de Castro's performance, or satisfaction rating of net +41

Gloria Resign Crisis

On February 29, 2008, Kabayan was in close contact with major political personalities amid the national crisis: "In case of a vacancy in the Office of the President, Vice President Noli de Castro is “all set” to assume the President’s functions and duties."

Bigamy and Abandonment Cases

On August 17, 2007, De Castro has claimed that the bigamy charges filed by Sinsuat's first husband against him and wife Arlene Sinsuat was politically-motivated, to diminish his chances in the 2010 presidential elections, just like the abandonment family suit previously filed by Sinsuat's two sons in her first marriage before the NBI.
Brothers Jhoveenel Ombus, 34, and Arjurie Omar Sinsuat Olor filed charges of bigamy, falsification of public documents, perjury, threats and obstruction of justice against De Castro and the woman they call their mother, Arlene Sinsuat de Castro, now the wife of Vice President Noli de Castro at the Quezon City regional trial court on August 16, 2007. De Castro said that these were politically motivated. Jhoveneel accused Arlene Sinsuat de Castro of abandoning them at Calamba, Laguna in 1979, and of having failed to acknowledge that they were her sons and lamented: “I was 6 years old and my brother was five when my mother left us. That was my last memory of her and she never looked back.” The Olor brothers alleged that the De Castros were married on July 16, 1991, although Arlene’s alleged previous marriage on Nov. 17, 1971 to Juanito Olor, their father, hadn't been annulled. The brothers further accused Noli of perjury for stating on the marriage certificate that he was of the Islamic faith when “he is known nationwide as a Catholic and a devotee of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo.”
On February 26, 2008, Quezon City Assistant Prosecutor Fabinda de los Santos dismissed the cases of bigamy, falsification, perjury, threats, and obstruction of justice against Vice President Noli de Castro and his wife, Arlene Sinsuat de Castro, for lack of probable cause. In a 5-page resolution, Delos Santos ruled that: ""But even granting that respondent Arlen gave her consent to the said marriage, her marriage to Olor was, however, without the consent of her father which is one of the essential requisites of a valid marriage between Muslims. Hence, from this point of view, the alleged marriage between respondent Arlene Sinsuat and Mr. Olor, wasn't perfected; under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines, he said Olor would have to be presumed dead."

2010 Presidency

On January 10, 2008, President Joseph Estrada officially announced (at the People Asia magazine’s "People of the Year" awards at the Hotel InterContinental, Makati City) that he picked himself as the 2010 opposition presidentiable: "Wala sa kanila mananalo. Sarili ko na lang ang pipiliin ko (None of them will win. I'd rather pick myself)." The commissioned December 15 to 30 survey of presidentially showed Loren Legarda leading, followed by Noli De Castro, Sen. Francis Escudero, Sen. Panfilo Lacson as 4th most favored, followed by Senate President Manuel Villar, Jr., Mar Roxas, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, Metro Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando, Sen. Richard Gordon, and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.

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