Pantaleon Alvarez

Pantaleon Diaz Alvarez (born January 10, 1958) is a Filipino lawyer and politician serving as the Representative of Davao del Norte's 1st district since 2016, previously holding the position from 1998 to 2001.

Alvarez was born on January 10, 1958 to Eliseo Alvarez and Nicolasa Diaz.

In 1978, he obtained a bachelor of arts (AB) degree from Far Eastern University.

He then studied law and graduated from the Ateneo de Manila Law School in 1983.

Alvarez was in private law practice from 1984 to 1986.

From 1987 to 1992, he was a member of the staff of Philippine Senator Wigberto Tañada.

He then became an action officer at the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

From action officer, he rose through the ranks, becoming senior assistant manager and chief operating officer of MIAA in March 1995, a position he held until September 1997.

In 1998, he was elected congressman from Davao del Norte's 1st District.

He served as vice-chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Communication and was a member of nine other congressional committees.

He also served as the Secretary of Transportation and Communications in the Cabinet of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2001 to 2002.

He is a stern advocate to shift the current centralized set-up of the Philippines into a federal form, pushing for the establishment of an indigenous state in Luzon and an indigenous state in Mindanao.

Initially in favor of an independent Mindanao, Alvarez changed stance when Rodrigo Duterte talked about a federal Philippines with him.

In January 2001, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him acting Secretary of Transportation and Communications, where he served until July 2002.

Among Alvarez's achievements were the adoption of the light railway expansion program, improvement of the Philippine National Railway, and computerization of the department and attached agencies.

He also spearheaded the slogan "OKS na OKS sa DOTC" which means "Organisado, Kalinisan at Seguridad".

In 2005, Alvarez along with four other former Department of Transportation and Communications officials were charged with graft before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the construction of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

In 2010, the charges were dismissed by the Sandiganbayan Special Second Division due to lack of evidence.

Pantaleon Alvarez allegedly used information gained by his position to preempt the bidding process by creating a company called Wintrack which the board awarded a major sub-contract for the project's site development and excavation work.

Alvarez and other member of the Piatco and Fraport became board members of Wintrack, benefiting and amassing profits from the deal.

The staggering income gotten by Wintrack from the deal has prompted the Ombudsman to file a case of graft against Alvarez and his cohorts.

He served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2016 to 2018.

In 2016, he was once again elected congressman from Davao del Norte's 1st District.

In 2017, Alvarez proposed a new set-up to spearheaded federalism in the Philippines.

On the opening of the 17th Congress on July 25, he was elected as the 24th Speaker of the House of Representatives with 251 votes.

In August 2017, Alvarez was declared "Persona Non Grata" by his own party mates in PDP–Laban, Rogelio Garcia and Cesar Cuntapay, stating that Alvarez actions in reorganizing the party nationwide without authority and recruiting new members in exchange for favors severely damaged the party's credibility and Duterte's own legitimacy in his war against drugs.

Benito Ranque, PDP–Laban deputy secretary general, states that the new members are not even educated or informed of the party's constitution and by-laws, in support of Cuntapay's accusations.

There were also reports that the new politicians that Alvarez recruited are "narco-politicians", involved in illegal drugs manufacturing and trafficking.

Then-Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, PDP–Laban's president, however, denied the reports that Alvarez is persona-non-grata despite the numerous PDP–Laban members disdain for Alvarez and his insubordinate actions which violated PDP–Laban's own constitution and by-laws.

On July 23, 2018, he was ousted as Speaker and was replaced by Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In finalizing the General Appropriations Act of 2018, Alvarez and his allies deliberately withheld infrastructure funding from the members of the House of Representatives who they found "undesirable".

Alvarez stated that it was unfair for the members who cooperated with him and the President to receive funding less than those representatives.

The total amount of funds reallocated to cooperative members was suspected to amount to 11 Billion Pesos.

When asked about the welfare of those regions which will be negatively affected by the reallocation of the budget, Alvarez was unapologetic and told the affected citizens in the regions to blame their representatives for the retaliatory budget cuts.

Various members of the House of Representatives were alarmed and pointed out the dictatorial and vengeful nature of the Duterte administration and the alacrity in the leadership of Alvarez in perpetuating it.

Alvarez has threatened congressmen and various governmental agencies that they would receive zero budget if they didn't support Rodrigo Duterte's plans to supplant the Republic of the Philippines by implementing PDP–Laban's Federal form of Government.

Alvarez stated that he did not care whether the provinces, agencies and local governments affected by his budget cuts would suffer and told the people to blame their representatives instead who refused to follow what Duterte wanted.

Former Senator Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. warned Alvarez that "nobody stays in power forever", insinuating that Alvarez would receive his just deserts after his blatant abuse of power and authority.

Alvarez was re-elected as congressman in 2019 and in 2022.

On November 15, 2020, he tendered his "irrevocable resignation" from PDP–Laban and joined the Reporma Party.