Marcelino Libanan

Libanan was born in Quezon City, Philippines on September 20, 1963. The family soon relocated to Taft, Eastern Samar, where Libanan spent most of his early life.^[1] Libanan's lineage has links to the Philippine Revolution; he is a descendant of Katipunero Valentín Díaz through his great-grandmother, Basília Díaz. The historical connection was highlighted during a budget hearing by Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.^[2] For high school, he attended Seminario de Jesús Nazareno as a seminarian.^[3] Libanan pursued higher education at Divine Word University.^[1]

Libanan was elected as the vice governor of Eastern Samar from 1992 to 1995.^[4] 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 started a petition to reinstate his job, which was dismissed.^[5] During the 1995 Philippine general election, Libanan ran for the position of congressman for Eastern Samar's at-large congressional district, losing to Jose Tan Ramirez. Libanan filed an election protest, though the petition was dismissed.^[6]

In 1998, he was the congressman for Eastern Samar's at-large congressional district for three terms with Lakas–CMD.^[7] 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.^[8] He signed a bill to return the Balangiga bells to Eastern Samar.^[9] Nationally, he created a house version of a bill, which was named the Human Security Act.^[10] He resigned early to be the Bureau of Immigration Commissioner on April 18, 2007.^[11]

During his tenure as Bureau of Immigration Commissioner, 142 foreigners were deported, most in the year 2008.^[12] Along with deportation, over 60,000 people have regained Filipino citizenship.^[13] Foreign students increased by 63% during his tenure.^[14] 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.^[15] Inside the Bureau of Immigration, he set a removal of noontime for workers for supposed faster service.^[16] In 2009, Libanan was involved in controversy following alleged fund misuse in the Bureau of Immigration; no charges were pressed against him.^[1]

In 2015, he was involved in the Pork barrel scam when Energy Regulatory Commission Chief Zenaida Ducut, managed the pork-barrel fund of Libanan, from which she managed the fund of Janet Lim-Napoles, a Filipino businesswoman and convicted criminal.^[17]

In July 2017, Libanan was indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman for graft in the purchase of 2,164 bags of fertilizer worth ₱3.25 million as part of the fertilizer fund scam, but was cleared in the purchase of 1,168 bags of fertilizer worth ₱1.63 million.^[18][19] The graft offense was found after they allegedly bought from Akame Marketing International in 2004.

In the 2022 Philippine general election, Libanan sought election to the House of Representatives under the 4Ps party-list as its first nominee. Watchdog groups, including Partylist Watch, criticized 4Ps as a "fake" party-list, stating that the organization " [had] no experience in championing the interests of the poor" and "has links to personalities implicated in corruption in the past", citing Libanan's 2017 graft case.^[20] His party would receive 4.30% of the vote, securing a seat in Congress.^[21]

In 2025, Libanan initially planned to run for representative in Eastern Samar's lone district, while remaining a member of 4Ps.^[22] He was floated as a candidate for governor of Eastern Samar, with 58 representatives asking Speaker Martin Romualdez to support Libanan for governor with Ben Evardone as his running mate.^[23][24] He would decline a run for either office after meeting with Maria Fe Abunda, where they decided she would run unopposed in her district.^[25][26] Libanan also asked Abunda not to field candidates against his local allies and support his legislative priorities.^[27]

Libanan ran for reelection as the representative for 4Ps, running again as its first nominee.^[28] The party would receive 3.51% of the votes, gaining two seats and securing a second term in office.^[29][30]