Noli de Castro

De Castro was born in the town of Pola, Oriental Mindoro at 4:00 pm on July 6, 1949.[6] He is the fifth child of Manuel de Castro Sr. (born c. 1909) and Demetria (née Leuterio, born c. 1911).[1][2] He studied at the University of the East in 1971 with a degree in Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Banking and Finance, and a doctorate degree Honoris causa from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

De Castro began his career as a broadcaster during the Marcos dictatorship, when press freedom was suppressed. He worked as a field reporter for Johnny de Leon, a popular radio announcer at the time. He later became a radio announcer in RPN's DWWW station from 1982 to 1986.

After the ouster of Marcos in 1986, de Castro joined ABS-CBN. He got his break into television as the segment host for "At Your Service" of Good Morning, Philippines. He also joined DZMM, a radio station of ABS-CBN, as the anchorman of Kabayan. It was because of the popularity of the program that he gained the nickname "Kabayan Noli."

In 1987, de Castro became an anchor on Magandang Gabi, Bayan (Good Evening, Nation) and anchorman of the news and public affairs hit, TV Patrol. In July 1996, he became the sole anchor of the newscast and in January 1999 he became the newscast's overall head of production and became the vice president of DZMM.

Presidential styles of Noli L. de Castro
Reference style	His Excellency, The Honorable
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Alternative style	Mr. Vice President

In the 2004 Philippine election, de Castro ran for vice president. He won by a narrow margin over Senator Loren Legarda, but an electoral protest was filed by the latter. The Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed the protest.[8][9] He was appointed by President Arroyo as chairman for housing and urban development (HUDCC). As HUDCC Chair, Vice President de Castro also serves as ex official Chairman of the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or Pag-IBIG Fund), the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), the National Housing Authority (NHA), the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) as well as ex officio Vice Chairman of the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC). He has also been designated as concurrent Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers, as Alternate Chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Head of the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment, Price Monitoring Czar and Cabinet Officer for Regional DevelopmPalawan).

De Castro was chairman of the Pag-IBIG Fund when the ₱6.6 billion housing scam involving Globe Asiatique (GA) scam took place.[10] Throughout his vice presidency, de Castro had minimal limelight and was regarded only as "backup" for the then incumbent party coalition if ever President Arroyo was ousted.

In November 2010, he returned as an anchor of TV Patrol. He had been a staunch critic of almost all programs of President Noynoy Aquino, who has criticized former President Arroyo, de Castro's running mate in the 2004 elections. He has been known to fire tirades against Aquino throughout Aquino's presidency which ended in May 2016. During the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, however, he became meek as former President Arroyo had close ties with Duterte. De Castro has been criticized for perceived misogyny, homophobia and transphobia[13] in live television.[14] In 2018, he was being eyed by the Duterte administration for a possible return in politics under the new administration. De Castro supports the Philippine Drug War.[15] De Castro, along with Persida Acosta, amplified the possibility of Dengvaxia vaccination, which began during former President Aquino's term, as the cause of death of children in the Philippines. It was later proven by the World Health Organization and the Philippine Department of Health that Dengvaxia is safe and that the initial deaths of children were not connected with Dengvaxia. Various organizations have blamed de Castro and Acosta for their misinformation which led to the deaths of numerous Filipino youths due to a "vaccination scare campaign".[14][16][17]

• Official former Senator profile