# Marcelino Libanan

Marcelino "Nonoy" Chicano Libanan (born September 20, 1963) is a Filipino lawyer and politician, currently serving as the House Minority Leader in the Philippine House of Representatives. He was formerly the Vice Governor of Eastern Samar and the Congressman for Eastern Samar, being awarded a standing ovation from the Public Attorney's Office of the Philippines. He became a party-list representative for the 4Ps Party-list in 2022 and was subsequently elected as the House Minority Leader of the Philippines.

## Early life

Libanan was born in Quezon City, Philippines on September 20, 1963. The family later relocated to Taft, Eastern Samar, where Libanan spent most of his early life. Libanan's lineage traces back to the Philippine Revolution; he is the great-grandson of Katipunero Valentín Díaz through his great-grandmother, Basilia Diaz. This historical connection was highlighted during a budget hearing by Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. For high school, he attended Seminario de Jesus Nazareno. There, he was a seminarian. Libanan pursued higher education at Divine Word University.

## Political career
### Congressman

Marcelino Libanan was elected as the Vice Governor of Eastern Samar from 1992 to 1995. During the 1995 Philippine general election, Libanan ran as a congressman for Eastern Samar's at-large congressional district, eventually losing to Jose Tan Ramirez. Libanan later filed an election protest, though the petition was dismissed.
In 1998, he was the Congressman for Eastern Samar's at-large congressional district for three terms, varying with the parties Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (LAMMP), Lakas-CMD, and the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC). During his tenure as Congressman, he was awarded a standing ovation from the Public Attorney's Office of the Philippines after signing a law giving special allowance to PAO officials. He signed a bill to return the Balangiga bells to Eastern Samar. Nationally, he created a house version of a bill which was named the Human Security Act. He resigned early to be the Bureau of Immigration Commissioner on April 18, 2007.

### Bureau of Immigration Commissioner

During his tenure, 142 foreigners have been deported, specifically in the year 2008. Along with deportation, over 60,000 people have regained Filipino citizenship. Foreign students have also increased by 63% during his tenure. Libanan implemented a law which requires tourist workers from the Philippines to sign a waiver removing them from any type of blame from their destination country. Inside the Bureau of Immigration, he set a removal of noontime for workers for supposed faster service.

### House Minority Leader

In 2022, he became the House Minority Leader of the Philippines with the political party 4Ps. 4Ps gained fourth place in the 2022 Philippine general election, gaining 837,430 votes, or 4.30% of the votes. Libanan was the first nominee. During his term, Libanan expressed solidarity with President Bongbong Marcos and UniTeam. On the other hand, Libanan strictly opposed the tenure of Rodrigo Duterte and Ronald dela Rosa, criticizing their actions. Libanan also opposed Sara Duterte after skipping a debate on the planned P2.037 billion Office of the Vice President budget.
He filed a bill to expand the languages of the national Department of Education. He called to create a panel to investigate drug war killings, similar to the Agrava Fact-Finding Board. Following the statement, he also urged protection for the Quad Committee witnesses, stating that witnesses and their family members are now "extremely vulnerable to potential reprisals." Marcelino Libanan urged the Congress to make a patient information system, stating that the system "would go a long way in improving health outcomes."
Libanan also planned the formation of the Samar Island Region with the creation of House Bill 10727. If accepted, the region would be the 19th region in the Philippines. Locally, Libanan created a task force to protect the island of Homonhon, where Ferdinand Magellan first landed in the Philippines.

### Legislative portfolio

Libanan is the principal author of the house version of the following laws:
| Republic Act (House Bill) | Short title | Long title | Source |
| R.A. 9312 (HB 5951) | Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 | An Act Defining Violence Against Women and Their Children, Providing Protective Measures for Victims, Prescribing Penalties Therefore, and for Other Purposes | |
| R.A. 9394 (HB 5990) | Charter of the City of Borongan | An Act Converting the City of Borongan in the Province of Eastern Samar into a Component City to be Known as the City of Borongan | |

### Future careers

After his term, Libanan planned to return to Eastern Samar's congressional district. He still plans to complete his term, stating: "Unless the party-list decides to remove me from the party at any point, which they can do through a resolution, I will complete my term as the 4Ps Representative." A total of 58 delegates visited Martin Romualdez's house to request the administration to support the Libanan-Evardone team up. He eventually dropped the bid after a meeting with Maria Fe Abunda, where they decided she would run unopposed, though Libanan made some requests, which included that Abunda should not field candidates which opposed the bid of Libanan-allied mayors. He also stated that Abunda should support projects created by Libanan.

## Controversies

In 1991, Libanan along with other Samar politicians were accused of "assuming bad faith" against politician Agustin Docena, a replacement of dead member Luis Capito, which led to suspension of their jobs. Libanan later started a petition to reinstate his job, which was dismissed. In 2009, Libanan was involved in controversy following alleged fund misuse in the Bureau of Immigration; no charges were pressed against him. In 2015, he was involved in the Pork barrel scam. He was involved when Energy Regulatory Commission Chief Zenaida Ducut, managed the pork-barrel fund of Libanan, from which she also managed the fund of Janet Lim-Napoles, a Filipino businesswoman and a convicted criminal.
In July 2017, Marcelino Libanan and former Eastern Samar Governor Clotilde Salazar was accused by The Field Investigation Office (FIO) of the Office of the Ombudsman for graft by using fertilizer funds, but the indicators found no graft offense. The graft offense was found after they allegedly bought 2,164 bags of fertilizer worth P3.25 million from Akame Marketing International in 2004. These claims were used to strengthen other claims placing 4Ps as a fake party list. In July 2022, Representative Edcel Lagman criticized the practices of Libanan and criticized the process of selecting the House Minority Leader.

## Personal life

Libanan is married to Elda Libanan, who has been active in local politics. Elda ran for the Eastern Samar lone district seat in the 2007 Philippine general election as a Lakas-CMD party candidate but did not win. His son-in-law is Congressional candidate Sheen Gonzales, which was a former vice governor and a two-time mayor of Guiuan.