25 Facts About Benjamin Abalos

Benjamin Abalos served as a chairman of the Commission on Elections and chairman of the MMDA.

Benjamin Abalos studied economics at Ateneo de Manila University and graduated from the Manuel L Quezon University in 1957.

Benjamin Abalos supported himself through college by taking several jobs, working as a janitor, messenger, factory worker, and a caddy at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.

Benjamin Abalos was admitted to the roll of attorneys of the Supreme Court in 1958 and then into the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in 1973.

Benjamin Abalos began his career as a fiscal before being appointed as a judge and later elected as President of the Judges Association of the Philippines.

Benjamin Abalos then served as a Trial Court Judge, earning recognition as the Outstanding Judge of the Philippines for ten consecutive years.

In 1963, Benjamin Abalos ran for vice mayor of Mandaluyong, which was then a municipality of Rizal, and lost to Nacionalista candidate Renato Lopez, the son of the late mayor Isaac Lopez.

Benjamin Abalos ran for Mandaluyong mayor in 1980, losing to the candidate of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Benjamin Abalos was re-elected two times in the elections of 1992 and 1995, making him one of the two Aquino OIC appointees who survived and secured the constitution-mandated three consecutive terms limit for local officials.

Benjamin Abalos made Mandaluyong's cityhood in 1994, witnessing economic growth brought about by the establishment of new shopping malls and Marketplace, the country's first build-operate-and-transfer and build-transfer project.

Benjamin Abalos initiated Land for the Landless and Home for the Homeless Program housing projects, Metro Manila's first Office for Disabled People, and Mandaluyong Collegiate Scholarship in 1996, as well as seeing the construction of Mandaluyong City Medical Center and the Mandaluyong Manpower and Technical-Vocational Training Center.

Benjamin Abalos was a former member of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino later joining the then newly formed Lakas NUCD-CMD.

On January 20,2001, Benjamin Abalos was appointed chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, a post he held until the following year.

On June 5,2002, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed Benjamin Abalos to replace Alfredo Benipayo after the latter failed to secure the confirmation of his appointment from the Commission on Appointments.

On October 1,2007, Benjamin Abalos resigned during a press conference; and Resurreccion Borra would be appointed Acting Chairman.

Benjamin Abalos ran for mayor of Mandaluyong in 2022 under PDP-Laban, with his daughter-in-law, incumbent mayor Menchie Benjamin Abalos, as his running mate for vice mayor.

Benjamin Abalos said that he would run to fulfill his promise to his deceased wife that he would spend his remaining years serving the people of Mandaluyong.

Benjamin Abalos was later acquitted by the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division from graft on May 10,2016.

Benjamin Abalos's acquittal was upheld by the Supreme Court through a 15-page resolution dated June 14,2021.

On December 13,2011, Benjamin Abalos was arrested for electoral sabotage in the 2007 midterm elections for allegedly manipulating the senatorial election results in Cotabato to favor all 12 senatorial candidates under the TEAM Unity administration coalition.

Benjamin Abalos was detained at the Southern Police District headquarters.

Benjamin Abalos was ordered to settle bond for each the 11 counts of electoral sabotage, totaling to.

Benjamin Abalos was later acquitted from 11 counts of electoral sabotage by the Pasay RTC Branch 117 on October 8,2014, and of the final two counts by the Pasay RTC Branch 112 on February 2,2015, both due to lack of evidence.

Benjamin Abalos married Corazon de Castro in 1960, with whom he has five children.

Benjamin Abalos's wife died on January 25,2021, due to severe sepsis, secondary to pneumonia caused by COVID-19.