Interior and Local Government Assistant Sec. Roosque Calacat, who oversees the agency's Community Participation and Barangay Affairs, passed away on June 11, 2022. (DILG file photo)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The remains of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Roosque Calacat will be flown here for a proper interment with his family and friends.
In an interview Monday, Lavilla Dauag of the DILG’s Community Participation and Barangay Affairs said Calacat’s remains were at the Bureau of Quarantine in Manila as of Monday for standard checks before departure.
Relatives and colleagues announced that Calacat passed away on June 11 due to health complications.
Based on DILG's profiles, Calacat earned his master's degree in Philosophy in 1969, and a Theology degree in 1973, both of which were awarded an academic distinction, from the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary.
He served as Diocesan Youth Coordinator in Iligan City, and later a teacher of Philosophy, Theology, Sociology, and English in the Diocesan College Seminary and at St. Michael’s College, also in Iligan City from 1973 to 1975.
Calacat became mayor in Tubod town, Lanao del Norte, from 1986 to 1988; and as Provincial Board Member from 1992 to 1998.
He was elected vice governor in 1988 but was not proclaimed.
Sometime in 2000, Calacat was involved in community and environmental works.
Nes Banga of Team Energy Foundation said Calacat joined the Alliance for Mindanao Off Grid Renewable Energy Program in 2004-2006.
"He was a training officer for Area 2, covering Sibugay, Dipolog, Pagadian, and Zamboanga City. He trained our community development workers in organizing the Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association," Banga said.
In 2016, Calacat was appointed DILG assistant secretary and served under the agency's Community Participation and Barangay Affairs.
He also served as DILG’s principal representative in the National Coordinating and Monitoring Board for Republic Act No. 9994, also known as the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010; the National Organic Agriculture Board; the Literacy Coordinating Council; and the Sub-Committee on Development Cooperation.
Calacat was also the alternate representative in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Committee on Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture, and the Cooperative Development Authority Board.
During the pandemic, he was part of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF)–Task Group on Food Security.
Calacat was also part of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict – Poverty Reduction, Livelihood, and Employment Cluster.
He was also in charge of the concerns of Persons with Disabilities and Interfaith groups. (PNA)
