Florencio "Butch" Barsana Abad (born July 13, 1954) is a Filipino lawyer and politician. Having held many cabinet-level ranks in the past, he was appointed by President

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

as Secretary of the Philippine Department of Budget and Management.Noynoy names Cabinet execs, senior government officials
Abad held various cabinet-level positions in the past, particularly as Secretary of the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

and Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Early life

Abad was born on July 13, 1954, in Sampaloc,

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

to a political family based in

Batanes Batanes, officially the Province of Batanes ( ivv, Provinsiya nu Batanes; Ilocano: ''Probinsia ti Batanes''; fil, Lalawigan ng Batanes, ), is an archipelagic province in the Philippines, administratively part of the Cagayan Valley region. It i ...

province. His parents were the late Jorge Abad, five-time Liberal Congressman and Secretary of the Department of Public Works, Transportation and Communications during the administration of the late President

Diosdado Macapagal Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr. (; September 28, 1910 – April 21, 1997) was a Filipino lawyer, poet and politician who served as the ninth president of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth vice president, serving from 1 ...

, and Aurora Abad, former governor and congresswoman of Batanes.

Educational background

He spent his elementary years at Lourdes School Quezon City. He finished his high school and Bachelor of Science in business management and Bachelor of Laws at the

Ateneo de Manila University , mottoeng = Light in the Lord , type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution , established = December 10, 1859 , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic ( Jesuits) , academic ...

. He passed the Bar Examination in 1985. He completed his studies with Masters in Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

as a student of the Edward Mason Program in Public Policy and Management.

Career

Early career and entry to politics

Abad had been a trade unionist of the Federation of Free Workers and Ateneo Workers College from 1976 to 1979 and was research director of Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs. When the

Congress of the Philippines The Congress of the Philippines ( fil, Kongreso ng Pilipinas, italic=unset) is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, although colloquially the ...

was restored in 1987, Abad launched his successful congressional bid to represent the Lone District of Batanes where he became a staunch advocate of agrarian reform in the national legislature. He held the position until his appointment to his brief stint as Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform and ran again for Congress in 1995, completing his third and final term in 2004.

National politics

In July 2004, then President

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the House Deputy Speakers since 2022, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She previously ...

appointed Abad as Secretary of the Department of Education. The removal of "culture" and "sports" from the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) was his proposal, in line with the thinking that the Department's focus should solely be on basic education. To streamline operations, he championed the institutionalization of three agencies for the different educational levels: DepEd for elementary and secondary education, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for tertiary education, and the Technology Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for technical and vocational education. Amid calls for the resignation of Arroyo due to her links to the Hello Garci scandal in 2004, Abad resigned his post and became a critic of the former president. He served as the campaign manager of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in the 2010 presidential elections, where the party standard-bearer

, then a senator, won the race. Aquino appointed him Budget Secretary when the former assumed the presidency on June 30, 2010.

Personal life

Abad is married to former Ateneo School of Government director and Batanes Rep. Henedina Razon-Abad and is father to four: Presidential Management Staff (PMS) chief Sec. Julia Abad, Pio Emmanuel Abad, Luis Andres Abad, and Cecilia Paz Abad. He is the brother of internationally acclaimed visual artist

Pacita Abad Pacita Barsana Abad (October 5, 1946 – December 7, 2004) was an Ivatan people, Ivatan and Philippine painter. She was born in Basco, Batanes, a small island in the northernmost part of the Philippines, between Luzon and Taiwan. Her more than 30- ...

, who died in 2004. Abad lost his wife on October 8, 2017, when she died of cancer at the age of 62.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Abad, Florencio 1954 births Living people Ateneo de Manila University alumni People from Sampaloc, Manila Secretaries of Budget and Management of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III administration cabinet members Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Batanes Secretaries of Education of the Philippines Secretaries of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines Harvard Kennedy School alumni Politicians from Batanes Arroyo administration cabinet members Filipino expatriates in the United States Corazon Aquino administration cabinet members Presidents of the Liberal Party of the Philippines