Rodrigo "Bebot" Abellana Abellanosa (born December 2, 1961) is a Filipino politician who served as the

representative Representative may refer to: Politics *Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people *House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities *Legislator, someon ...

for the 2nd district (south district) of

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Sugbo; fil, Lungsod ng Cebu; hil, Dakbanwa sang Sugbo), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas Regions of the P ...

from 2013 to 2022. He was a member of the

Cebu City Council The Cebu City Council (Filipino: Sangguniang Panlungsod ng Cebu) is the legislature of Cebu City, Philippines. The legislative body is composed of 18 councilors, with 16 councilors elected from Cebu City's two councilor districts and two elec ...

representing the 2nd district from 2004 to 2013, and was the barangay captain of Duljo Fatima, Cebu City from 1994 to 2004.

Early career

Abellanosa established the Asian Computer Institute (ACI), the precursor of Asian College of Technology (ACT) on September 19, 1988, in Colon Street,

. He went on to serve as president of ACT and Asian College of Technology International Education Foundation Inc. (ACTIEF).

Political career

Barangay captain (1994–2004)

Abellanosa served as Barangay Captain of Duljo-Fatima in

from 1994.

Cebu City Council (2004–2013)

Abellanosa served as City Councilor for three consecutive terms from 2004 to 2013. He first ran as Councilor of the South District under

Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan (), commonly known as BO–PK or BOPK, is a local political party based in Cebu City, Philippines. It is a political party run by the Osmeña family of Cebu since 1987 when Tomas Osmeña first ran for mayor of ...

of Mayor Tomas Osmeña. In the 10th

Sangguniang Panlungsod The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is the local legislative body of a city governments in the Philippines. The name of the legislative body comes from the Tagalog words "''sanggunian''" ("council") – ultimately from the rootword "''sangguni''" ...

(SP), he was designated as Chairman of the Committee on Family & Women and Committee on Local & International Relations. In the 11th

(SP), he was designated as Chairman of the Committee on Social Services. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Public Services and the Committee on Family & Women. In the 12th

(SP), he was designated as the Presiding Officer-Pro Tempore and Chairman of the Committee on Social Services. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Education, Science and Technology and the Committee on Trade, Commerce, Cooperatives and Entrepreneurship in the 12th SP.

House of Representatives (2013–present)

Abellanosa ran for Representative of Cebu City 2nd district (South) to succeed Tomas Osmeña who unsuccessfully ran as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

in the 2013 elections. He won against Aristotle Batuhan in 2013, Gerardo Carillo in 2016 and Jocelyn Pesquera in 2019. He was supposed to run against

Antonio Cuenco Antonio "Tony" Veloso Cuenco (March 26, 1936 – June 27, 2020) was a Filipino politician who served as a council member for the 2nd District of the Cebu City Council. He also served as the Secretary-General of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Asse ...

, the former 2nd District (South) Representative of

but on September 7, 2012, Cuenco announced that he was retiring from politics for health reasons. In a letter read by his son James Anthony Cuenco, the former Deputy Speaker said that he suffered vertigo during a sortie. Cuenco endorsed then Cebu City Councilor Jose Daluz III as his replacement but eventually, former DOTC undersecretary Aristotle "Totol" Batuhan was chosen by Team Rama to run against Abellanosa. On December 13, 2012, a complaint was filed by a certain Phillip Banguiran, a resident of barangay Inayawan, Cebu City citing Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act by asking the

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

in the Visayas to investigate Abellanosa because his school, Asian College of Technology, was the biggest recipient of the city's scholarship program. On October 11, 2016, the

Office of the Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

filed a graft case before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan against Abellanosa over an alleged P51-million anomalous transaction when he was a city councilor. He was accused of having an unlawful interest in Cebu City's distribution of

PHP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group ...

51.065 million in scholarship programs when he was a city councilor in 2011. Then

Conchita Carpio-Morales Conchita Carpio-Morales (; born Conchita Claudio Carpio; June 19, 1941) is a former Ombudsman of the Philippines serving from 2011 to 2018. Prior to her appointment as Ombudsman, she held the post of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the ...

approved the charge sheet against Abellanosa on September 29, 2016. The prosecution said that as a member of the

Sangguniang Panglungsod The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is the local legislature, legislative body of a Philippine city, city governments in the Philippines. The name of the legislative body comes from the Tagalog language, Tagalog words "''sanggunian''" ("council") – ...

, Abellanosa showed unlawful interest in the passage of City Resolution No. 12-3355-2011, which authorized the city mayor to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Asian College of Technology and International Educational Foundation (ACTIEF) where he was a trustee and president of ACTIEF at the time. The prosecution said Abellanosa entered into an MOA with the

government on behalf of ACTIEF for the implementation of a city-funded scholarship program. Records obtained by graft investigators showed ACTIEF was entrusted with PHP 51.065 million scholarship funds, which the Ombudsman said was prejudicial to the government and public interest. The

found him guilty of grave misconduct and meted him the penalty of dismissal of service but in a 10-page resolution that was promulgated on January 27, 2017, the Sandiganbayan granted the motion to quash information filed by Abellanosa, saying that the facts in the case do not constitute an offense. Thus, the higher court ordered to lift the hold-departure order issued against him and released the bond he posted for his provisional liberty. In a 10-page decision promulgated on December 21, 2017, the Special 20th Division of the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

(CA) reversed the decision of the

finding Abellanosa guilty of grave misconduct for his involvement in the City Government's scholarship program while he was still a councilor thus allowing him to continue to serve as Congressman. Associate Justice Geraldine Fiel-Macaraig banked on the doctrine of condonation in favoring Abellanosa. Macaraig, who pinned her opinion, which was affirmed by two other associate justices, said that contrary to the grounds of the

, Abellanosa's election as congressman during the 2013 elections rendered the imposition of the administrative offense of grave misconduct moot and academic on the basis of condonation doctrine. Based on the 2018 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), Abellanosa remained as the richest Cebuano lawmaker who declared PHP 71.4 million net worth or actual wealth as of December 31, 2018. Abellanosa's net worth is PHP 2.1 million more than his PHP 69.3 million net worth in 2017 while in 2016, he had PHP 68.8 million actual wealth. Since 2016 up to 2018, he declared no liabilities.

Legislative portfolio

As a member of

16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

and 17th

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

, Abellanosa authored 170 bills and co-authored 76 bills. Abellanosa is the principal author of the House version of the following laws:

Electoral history

House of Representatives

Personal life

Abellanosa has three children namely Jose Lorenzo, BG Rodrigo, and Angel Vianne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abellanosa, Rodrigo 1961 births People from Cebu City Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Cebu City Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan politicians Asian Institute of Management alumni University of the Philippines Diliman alumni Ateneo de Manila University alumni Living people