Aniceto "Chito" Mangahas Sobrepeña is the president of the Metrobank Foundation. He is also the executive director of GT Foundation, vice chairman of the Federal Land, vice chairman, Manila Doctors Hospital, Inc. and a member of the board of trustees of the Toyota Motor Philippines School of Technology, Inc.(TMP Tech). Prior to working in the private sector, Sobrepeña was concurrently the cabinet secretary in the Office of the President and Head of the Presidential Management Staff during President Corazon C. Aquino’s administration, and deputy director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Early life and education
Sobrepeña was born on June 17, 1953, in San Jose City, a farming community in northern Nueva Ecija. He graduated with First Honorable Mention honors in high school in 1969. He finished his A.B. political science degree, cum laude, and with departmental honors at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) in 1973. Later, he acquired his Certificate in Development Economics from the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) as a National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Scholar in 1974. He completed his Master of Arts in development economics from the Williams College in Massachusetts, US, in 1977, also a NEDA-USAID scholar in 1977.
Sobrepeña was a member of the Federation of Free Farmers during the pre-martial law era, advocating land reform even though his family, owned substantial tracts of land in the province. He was recruited to join the NEDA right after graduation, and after finishing his training at the UPSE, he volunteered for an assignment serving in the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Council from 1974 to 1976.
Public service
Beginning as a Research Assistant, Sobrepeña became a director in the national government at the age of 27, steering the Policy Coordination Staff of NEDA. He later joined the Office of the President as undersecretary before being appointed as cabinet secretary and head of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) from 1990 to 1992 during the historic transition to democrative governance, Sobrepeña was the youngest member in the Corazon Aquino Cabinet at 36. His last appointment in government was during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos as Deputy Director General of the NEDA from 1992 to 1995. his total government service of more than 22 years marked with the distinction of achieving the highest rank in the Career Executive Service Officers (CESO) corps (Rank I) from the Career Executive Service Board.
Sobrepeña worked for more than two decades in the public service. He directed and supervised the provision of technical and conference support to the president and the cabinet, through the Cabinet Assistance System (CAS), including coordination of presidential state visits. His responsibilities in the NEDA included managing the review of proposed economic policies and the formulation of regional and physical development plans. When President Aquino championed NGOs and people's organizations in governance and development, Chito served on the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD).
Private sector
Sobrepeña is currently the president of the Metrobank Foundation, Inc. (MBFI), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of the Metrobank Group.
For more than 17 years now as a private sector leader, he has steered the MBFI to new heights of institutional achievements in the public affairs and human development arena. The MBFI has emerged as one of the country's most dynamic philanthropic organizations, implementing a wide array of CSR programs in such key sectors as education, visual arts, health care, the judiciary, police and military, and grant-making to various socio-civic and charitable institutions in the Philippines and in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Under Sobrepeña's leadership, Metrobank was declared winner in the Corporate Social Responsibility Program category of the 1999 Asian Banking Awards, in recognition of the significant impact of the MBFI's different programs on the country's development efforts. Since joining the Metrobank Group, the MBFI has since garnered three (3) international awards and close to fifty (50) awards of recognition from public affairs organizations and government bodies, such as the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, and the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines.