Irish C. Calaguas proudly supports “Gawang Angeleño” as she poses with a Navy Blue Suit and pants in a textured Italian wool fabric matched with a white cotton inner longsleeves designed by Rosette Ramos-Biag.
Calaguas, who is known as “Boss IC”, is currently the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) Vice President for Operations and Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr.’s Chief Adviser and Tactician.
Calaguas, the former Executive Assistant IV of the late Mayor Carmelo “Tarzan” F. Lazatin at the age of 21, became an avid supporter of Angeleño-made products where she described it as the testament of the city’s culture, community resource, connection, creativity, and competitive advantage.
During her interview in iOrbitnews.com, she mentioned that these are the criteria set by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) which are targeted by the city government to achieve the success of the OTOP store. The OTOP store, she said, has been the backbone of the local Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSEs), with the appropriate assistance and support from the city government, where the P500 administrative fee was waived amid the pandemic.
Aside from being executive assistant of Tarzan Lazatin, Calaguas also served as the concurrent chief of the Angeles City Disaster Management Office; the Trade and Investment Office; the Quality Management System Office; the City Information Office; the Information Communication Technology Division; the City Nutrition Office; and, the Mayor’s Office Desk at the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center.
She also handled the City Nutrition Action Office when Angeles City ranked second as having the Best Nutrition Program in Central Luzon.
As head of the Trade and Investment Promotions Office then, she successfully headed trade missions and sisterhood agreements with the cities of Bacolod, Cebu and Hampyeong, South Korea. She successfully organized and pioneered the city-wide Sisig Festival for four consecutive years, from 2003 to 2006, featuring the famous Kapampangan dish made from parts of a pig’s head. The success of the event earned for Angeles City the distinction of being the Sisig Capital of the Philippines.
Calaguas is hopeful that the national government will facilitate access to financial institutions, credit provisions, loans, grants and incentives, and other sources of funding for purposes of business growth, development, innovation, among others for the welfare of MSMEs.
It was also during Calaguas’ stint as Executive Assistant IV that the city’s computerization project was certified ISO 9001:2003 by Certification International Philippines, making Angeles City the first ISO-certified Local Government Unit outside Metro Manila in 2002.
In 2007, she joined the House of Representative as Chief of Staff of First District Representative Carmelo F. Lazatin. In 2011, she organized the “Kabahagi Ako sa Handog Silid Aralan tungo sa Kaunlaran Adopt-a-School Program”, a district-wide project launched by former Congressman Lazatin to address the backlog of 444 classrooms in public schools in Angeles City and Mabalacat and Magalang towns.
In 2013, after Lazatin’s retirement, Calaguas managed Biotop Philippines Agriculture Co. Inc., a multi-million feed mill company owned by the Lazatin family in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga.
In September 19, 2017, she was appointed Chief of Staff of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) under the Office of the President.
A year after, she held the position of Deputy Director General for Administration of PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino, who was also recently appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as President and Chief Executive Officer of CIAC.
Calaguas has a degree in Political Science and Communications from the New Era University. She also earned her Masters of Education from the Philippine Women’s University and is now taking up a Masters in Business Administration also at New Era.
She was a recipient of the Senator Gerry Roxas Leadership Award, a holder of an open water diver’s license and has 68 hours private pilot flying time.