PNS -- PNS -- PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has appointed former Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo as Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government. has appointed former Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo as Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa yesterday announced Robredo’s appointment ending speculations on whether the President would consider the sentiment of Vice President Jejomar Binay who had expressed his preference to head the department if he would be given any Cabinet post.

The President during his first press conference with Palace reporters on Wednesday promised to come up with a decision this week. He said he was choosing among three prospective bets and was supposed to meet with one of the candidates on Thursday.

“We want synchronicity of vision, expertise with LGUs, working knowledge of police and abilities to protect the people,” he said.

The President had assumed the DILG post in a concurrent capacity since he assumed office on June 30.

Binay earlier said the President offered him the DILG post, but Aquino said it was not among the positions he mentioned to the vice president.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the President wanted to be able to fill up the DILG post because “it’s really difficult to be both President and concurrently the DILG Secretary.”

Robredo was first elected mayor of Naga City in 1988 making him the youngest city mayor of the Philippines at age 29. Under his leadership Naga was named one of the “Most Improved Cities in Asia” by Asiaweek Magazine in 1999.

In 1995, he was elected President of the League of Cities of the Philippines. In recognition of his im-pressive performance in public service, Robre-do received 14 major individual awards which includes the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, 1998 Konrad Adenauer Medal of Excellence as Most Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines, 1996 Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Award, 1990 The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM), and the first ever “Dangal ng Bayan” Award of the Civil Service Commission.

Robredo obtained his undergraduate degrees in Industrial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the De La Salle University. He was an Edward Mason Fellow and a graduate of Masters in Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1999. He finished his Masters in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines in Diliman as a scholar and was named Graduate School and Faculty Organization awardee for scholarly excellence.