
HONORABLE CARLOS M. PADILLA, is the incumbent Governor of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya. Before he seated as the Chief Executive of the province, he spent his 29 years in the realm of legislation as the Representative of the Lone District of Nueva Vizcaya including six years of stint in the Batasang Pambansa.
While in Congress, he served as Deputy Speaker and a Minority Leader. He became a member of very important congressional bodies such as Commission on Appointments and the House of Representative Electoral Tribunal (HRET). He became the Co-chairperson of the congressional commission called the EDCom with Senator Edgardo Angara as Chairperson, a body to assess Philippine education. The honorable Padilla shall be remembered for the enactment of several landmark pieces of legislation such ad 1) RA 6655, establishing and providing for Free Public Secondary Education in the Philippines; 2) RA 6728 establishing the PESFA Scholarship, the Educational Service Contracting (ESC) Program for private schools, and other programs. He likewise authored the creation of the NCCA and the Commission on Filipino Languages and the establishment of about 45 high schools in the province of Nueva Vizcaya including the Philippine Science High School, Cagayan Valley Campus in Bayombong. He was also responsible for the conversion of the then NVSIT and NVSPC into a university now known as the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU).
On several occasions, he represented Congress in several international conferences abroad, such as the International Labor Organization Conference in Geneva, the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization Conference, and the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris among others.
Prior to his successful career as a veteran lawmaker, he served as a Local Chief Executive of the then undivided municipality of Dupax, Nueva Vizcaya. History will remember him as the last Mayor to serve the old Dupax and the first mayor to serve Dupax Del Norte. The old town of Dupax has been split into three namely, Dupax del Norte, Dupax del Sur and Alfonso Castañeda.
Padilla was a recipient of the outstanding alumnus award at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), where he served as President of the Supreme Student Council and also received his doctorate degree in Public Administration, honoris causa. He likewise received the same honorary degree in Education, and in Humanities, from Philippine Normal University and Nueva Vizcaya State Institute of Technology and the Nueva Vizcaya State Polytechnic College, now the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) respectively.
Governor Carlos M. Padilla is happily married to Ruth Raña Padilla, who also served as provincial governor of Nueva Vizcaya and PRC Commissioner and blessed with three children: Carlos “Jojo” II, Ruthie Maye, and Carlo Paolo who are his number one supporters and the source of his strength to fulfill his oath to the people of Nueva Vizcaya.