Celso Lobregat

Lobregat comes from a long line of landlord-politicians from Mindanao. His grandfather Pablo Lorenzo, was once Mayor of Zamboanga City and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1934. In the Quirino administration, Don Pablo Lorenzo held several cabinet positions, which included Secretary of Education and Secretary of Public Works. During the Macapagal administration, he was chair of the Development Bank of the Philippines.

Celso's mother, Maria Clara Lobregat, was a Delegate to the 1971 Philippine Constitutional Convention and was a three-term Congresswoman of Zamboanga City, starting 1987. She was elected City Mayor in 1998 and reelected in 2001. She was also among the Marcos crony-masterminds of the Coco Levy Scam, having served as the president of COCOFED, a government-sanctioned organization officially meant to represent coconut farmers.

Celso finished his grade school and high school at De La Salle University, Manila. Thereafter, he enrolled at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Economics with honors. He took up his post graduate studies at the Asian Institute of Management graduating in 1972 with a Masters in Business Management.

Before entering public service, agriculture and business had been Celso's field of concentration and expertise. He worked for the Elizalde group of companies for eleven years and held several key executive positions such as Marketing Manager for Elizalde International, and managing director and general manager of Tanduay Distillery. It was during Celso's watch that the firm exported its products for the first time to the US market and won several medals and awards in various international competitions of wines and spirits.