Noli de Castro

Noli L. de Castro
12th Vice President of the Philippines
In office June 30, 2004 – June 30, 2010
President	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Preceded by	Teofisto Guingona Jr.
Succeeded by	Jejomar Binay
Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council
In office June 30, 2004 – June 30, 2010
President	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Preceded by	Mike Defensor
Succeeded by	Jejomar Binay
Senator of the Philippines
In office June 30, 2001 – June 30, 2004
Personal details
Born	(1949-07-06) July 6, 1949 (age 72)[1][2] Pola, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines
Political party	K4 (2004) Independent (2001–2004, 2004–2010)
Spouse(s)	Pacita Torralba (separated, 1978;[3] annulled, 1998)[4] Arlene Sinsuat (died 2021)[3]
Children	Manuelli Katherine Shamier[5]
Alma mater	University of the East
Occupation	Journalist, anchorman
Nickname	Kabayan Noli
TV/radio shows hosted	Kabayan radio commentator (1986-2001, 2010-present) Magandang Gabi, Bayan host (1988-2004) TV Patrol anchor (1987-2001, 2010-present)

Manuel Leuterio de Castro Jr. (born July 6, 1949),^[6] better known as Noli de Castro or "Kabayan" Noli de Castro, is a Filipino journalist, anchorman, and politician who served as 12th Vice President of the Philippines from 2004 until 2010, under then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He was elected to the Senate of the Philippines in 2001 after receiving the most votes of any Senator in the 2001 election.^[7]

As of May 2020, de Castro anchors both his radio programs Kabayan and TeleRadyo Balita on TeleRadyo and TV Patrol on ABS-CBN/Kapamilya Channel. He is one of the key television figures who are in favor of the Philippine Drug War undertaken by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Early life and broadcasting career[]

De Castro was born in the town of Pola, Oriental Mindoro at 4:00 pm on July 6, 1949.^[6] He is the fifth child of Manuel de Castro Sr. (born c. 1909) and Demetria (née Leuterio, born c. 1911).^[1][2] He studied at the University of the East in 1971 with a degree in Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Banking and Finance, and a doctorate degree Honoris causa from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

De Castro began his career as a broadcaster during the Marcos dictatorship, when press freedom was 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 in 1986, de Castro joined ABS-CBN. He got his break into television as the segment host for "At Your Service" of Good Morning, Philippines. 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 an anchor on Magandang Gabi... Bayan and anchorman of the news and public affairs hit, TV Patrol. In July 1996, he became the sole anchor of the newscast and in January 1999 he became the newscast's overall head of production and became the vice president of DZMM.

Vice Presidency (2004-2010)[]

Presidential styles of Noli L. de Castro
Reference style	His Excellency, The Honorable
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Alternative style	Mr. Vice President

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 protest.^[8][9] He was appointed by President Arroyo as chairman for housing and urban development (HUDCC). As HUDCC Chair, Vice President de Castro also serves as ex official Chairman of the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or Pag-IBIG Fund), the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), the National Housing Authority (Philippines) (NHA), the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) as well as ex officio Vice Chairman of the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC). He has also been designated as concurrent Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers, as Alternate Chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Head of the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment, Price Monitoring Czar and Cabinet Officer for Regional DevelopmPalawan).

De Castro was chairman of the Pag-IBIG Fund when the ₱6.6 billion housing scam involving Globe Asiatique (GA) scam took place.^[10] Throughout his vice presidency, de Castro had minimal limelight and was regarded only as "backup" for the then incumbent party coalition if ever President Arroyo was ousted.

2010 presidential election[]

De Castro was initially a front runner in the 2010 presidential election. Being the Vice President, he was a popular choice among older voters to replace outgoing president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. However, his lead was taken by Benigno Aquino III (who later won) after Aquino declared his intent to run for president.^[11] In December 2009, he did not file to be included on the ballot. In an interview conducted by Karen Davila, he announced that he would retire from politics at the end of his vice presidential term and intended to commit himself full time to broadcast journalism.^[12]

Return to television[]

In July 2010, Kabayan returned on air with De Castro as its anchor once again.^[13] In November 2010, he returned as an anchor of TV Patrol. He had been a staunch critic of almost all programs of President Noynoy Aquino, who has criticized former President Arroyo, de Castro's running mate in the 2004 elections. He has been known to fire tirades against Aquino throughout Aquino's presidency which ended in May 2016. During the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, however, he became meek as former President Arroyo had close ties with Duterte. De Castro has been criticized for perceived misogyny, homophobia and transphobia^[14] in live television.^[15] In 2018, he was being eyed by the Duterte administration for a possible return in politics under the new administration. De Castro supports the Philippine Drug War.^[16] De Castro, along with Persida Acosta, amplified the possibility of Dengvaxia vaccination, which began during former President Aquino's term, as the cause of death of children in the Philippines. It was later proven by the World Health Organization and the Philippine Department of Health that Dengvaxia is safe and that the initial deaths of children were not connected with Dengvaxia. Various organizations have blamed de Castro and Acosta for their misinformation which led to the deaths of numerous Filipino youths due to a "vaccination scare campaign".^[15][17][18]

References[]

External links[]

• Official former Senator profile