Ex-DILG chief Benhur Abalos named first secretary of Marcos Cabinet

MANILA, Philippines – Months after the one-year appointment ban on defeated 2025 candidates lapsed, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. picked his former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) chief Benhur Abalos as Cabinet secretary.

Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro announced the appointment of Abalos on Wednesday, July 8. He will be taking his oath as Marcos’ first Cabinet secretary also on Wednesday.

Castro said Abalos’ role is to “assist” Marcos by “providing timely, relevant, and strategic advice on emerging national, local, and international issues affecting the political landscape.”

His portfolio will center on the President’s engagements with different national government agencies, local government units, and political organizations, groups, or parties.

Abalos is also tasked with linking Marcos and civil society organizations and sectoral groups on matters of political concern, said Castro.

The former Mandaluyong mayor will also be the head of the Strategic Action and Response Office, which in turn handles the complaints centers of Malacañang.

There had been buzz going around for weeks now about Abalos’ appointment, especially after the ban on appointing defeated 2025 candidates lapsed on May 13. Marcos himself addressed the rumor in June, when he confirmed that he wanted Abalos to again serve his government in an official capacity, but without leading to changes in the Cabinet or unseating a Cabinet member.

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Abalos resigned from the DILG in 2024 to vie for a Senate seat. Marcos then picked Cavite governor and Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla’s brother, Juanito Victor or Jonvic, as his new interior secretary.

Abalos lost in his senatorial bid, ranking 16th with 11.5 million votes.

Abalos is a trusted man of the incumbent President. He was Duterte’s Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairperson until he left his post in 2022 to serve as Marcos’ campaign manager. He was also Marcos’ campaign manager for Metro Manila during the latter’s failed vice presidential bid in 2016.

On May 13, 2022, days after winning the presidency, then-presumptive president Marcos announced that Abalos would head the DILG.

Abalos is the son of Benjamin Abalos Sr., who rose to power after the downfall of Ferdinand E. Marcos’ dictatorship in 1986.

The older Abalos was appointed by then-president Corazon Aquino as officer-in-charge for Mandaluyong City. For decades now, the Abalos dynasty has been ruling the city. – Rappler.com