Profile of PDG Roberto “Obet” M. Pagdanganan

A staunch advocate of Cooperatives as instrument of inclusive national progress, Roberto "Obet" Pagdanganan served as Presidential Adviser to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Cooperatives and concurrent Chairman of Cooperative Development Authority in 2002-2003. Before that, he was Chairman of the Philippine Cooperative Center and the NCM Service Cooperative. He authored the book, "An Urgent Call for Cooperative Revolution" in 2002 which was revised in 2003, and "A Pamphlet on How to Win the War Against Poverty and Attain Food Security-The Cooperative Way" which was published in June, 2020.

Obet served as Provincial Governor of Bulacan from 1986 to 1998, as three-term National President of the League of Provinces, (1988-1998), and as founding Chairman of the League of Leagues, later renamed Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines. He was also Secretary of Agrarian Reform, Secretary of Tourism, Chairman and President of PITC, and founding Chairman of PITC Pharma, Inc., now known as Philippine Pharma Procurement, Inc., which launched the Botica Ng Bayan to make affordable quality generic medicines accessible to the people.

Prior to joining the government in 1986, Obet was a senior executive at Unilever PRC and Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department at Manuel L. Quezon University where he graduated with the degree of BS in Chemical Engineering, summa cum laude, in 1968. He also obtained an MBA at De La Salle University in 1980 and a Doctorate in Education Management (honoris causa) at the Bulacan State University in 1995.

Obet is currently serving his fourth term as National President of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, of which he is particularly proud to be a member for more than six decades and to which he attributes much of his values formation. He attended the Tenth (10th) World Scouts Jamboree in Mt. Makiling in 1959. He presently teaches MPA subjects at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Open University System and is Chairman of POEMS Agro-Industrial Corporation.

Obet was Charter President of the Rotary Club of Calumpit. He was likewise President of Rotary Club of Manila in RY 2012-2013 and District Governor of Rotary International District 3810 in RY 2015-2016. He is presently the Chairman of the Council of Governors of Rotary International District 3810, Health Tourism and Retirement Alliance, Inc., Medicines Transparency Alliance, Philippines, Inc., and Movement for Water Security.