| Edcel Greco Lagman | |
| Office: | Governor of Albay |
| Vicegovernor: | Glenda Bongao |
| Predecessor: | Noel Rosal |
| Successor: | Glenda Bongao |
| Office2: | Member of the House of Representatives from Albay's 1st district |
| Predecessor2: | Edcel Lagman |
| Successor2: | Edcel Lagman |
| Office3: | Member of the Quezon City Council from the 4th district |
| Term Start3: | June 30, 2004 |
| Term End3: | March 31, 2012 |
| Birth Name: | Edcel Greco Alexandre Burce Lagman |
| Birth Date: | 24 July 1972 |
| Party: | PFP (2023–present) |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 7 |
| Education: | Benedictine Abbey School (secondary) |
| Alma Mater: | University of the Philippines Manila (BA) University of the Philippines Diliman (MPA) San Beda University Arellano University (LL.B) |
| Occupation: | Politician |
| Profession: | Lawyer |
| Office1: | Vice Governor of Albay |
| Termstart: | December 1, 2022 |
| Termstart1: | June 30, 2019 |
| Governor1: | Al Francis Bichara (2019–2022) Noel Rosal (2022) |
| Termend1: | November 30, 2022 |
| Predecessor1: | Harold Imperial |
| Successor1: | Glenda Ong Bongao |
| Termstart2: | June 30, 2013 |
| Termend2: | June 30, 2016 |
| Otherparty: | Aksyon (2021–2023) PDP–Laban (2018–2021) Liberal (2009-2018)[1] Lakas-CMD (2004-2009) |
| Father: | Edcel Castelar Lagman |
| Mother: | Maria Cielo Almojuela Burce |
| Relatives: | Filemon Lagman |
| Order: | 26th |
Edcel Greco Alexandre "Grex" Burce Lagman[2] (born July 24, 1972[3]), is a Filipino lawyer and politician from the province of Albay.
On December 1, 2022, he became Governor of Albay following the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) disqualification of former Governor Noel Rosal.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Lagman was previously elected as Vice-Governor of Albay twice in 2019 and in 2022. On both elections, as per COMELEC-Albay records, he garnered an unprecedented number of votes for said position totalling 360,013 in 2019 and 463,879 votes in 2022, respectively.
He was also elected in the House of Representatives of the Philippines as Congressman of the First District of Albay in 2013 and was elected as the Assistant Majority Floor Leader of the House of Representatives of the Philippines' 16th Congress (2013-2016).
Prior to being a member of Congress, Lagman also made history in Quezon City politics in 2004 when he became the very first neophyte candidate to top the councilorship race in said city, representing its Fourth District. This effectively made him the third highest ranked elected official in the city after Mayor Feliciano Belmonte and Vice-Mayor Herbert Bautista. He was again elected in 2007 and in 2010 he was once again elected as topnotcher councilor.
Lagman is the third child of human rights lawyer and politician Edcel Lagman[9] and teacher Maria Cielo Burce.[3] He has six siblings including the incumbent Tabaco Mayor and former Congresswoman Cielo Krisel Lagman-Luistro.[10] [11]
Lagman has four sons and a daughter with his first wife Ivy Xenia P. Lim and two daughters with his present wife, Ana Lea B. Celestino-Lagman.
Lagman is part of a political family. His great grandfather, Felipe Almojuela, was the Lieutenant-Governor of Catanduanes when it was still a sub-province of Albay.[12]
Lagman completed his primary and secondary education at San Beda College Alabang. He was a consistent honor student in grade school and high school.
In 1993, Lagman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Behavioral Science from the University of the Philippines Manila. From 1990 to 1992, he was a college scholar.
He took his Bachelor of Laws at San Beda College of Law from 1993 to 1996 and from 1997 to 1999 at Arellano University School of Law (AUSL)[13] where he was a Dean's Lister and a member of the maiden batch of the Order of the Flaming Arrows Honor Society. He graduated tenth (10th) in a class of 114 graduates. Lagman became a member of the Philippine Bar when he passed the 2000 Philippine Bar Examinations.[14] He also took up Master in Public Administration at the National College of Public Administration and Governance of the University of the Philippines Diliman where he was a consistent university scholar.
In 1994, Lagman worked as Assistant Press Officer at the Embassy of the Philippines, Washington, D.C. In 2000, he worked as an associate at Lagman and Associates Law Offices founded by his father Congressman Edcel Lagman and uncle Filemon Lagman and devoted to providing pro bono legal services for workers and labor unions. In 2002, he was appointed as Court Attorney IV at the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Since 2003, Lagman is a partner of Lagman Lagman and Mones Law Offices. From August 1, 2017 to September 15, 2018, Lagman served as Legal Consultant at the Office of the Governor of Albay.
Lagman was a professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines Manila's National Graduate Office for the Health Sciences. He also taught national and local public administration as well as political science subjects at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Manila's College of Arts and Sciences from 2009 to 2011.
Before joining the national legislature, Lagman served as City Councilor of Quezon City from the 4th district from 2004 to 2012. As councilor, he was instrumental in the passage of the Socialized Housing Tax Ordinance of Quezon City in 2011 which, at present, funded the construction of all Bistekville housing projects in Quezon City. He was also the principal sponsor of Reproductive Health Ordinance of Quezon City in 2008 which reduced maternal and infant mortality in the city between 2009 up to present.
In 2013, he was elected as Albay first district representative. As member of the House of Representatives, Lagman principally authored Republic Act No. 10868,[15] or the Centenarians Act of 2016.[16] Lagman is also a principal sponsor of several important legislations such as R.A. No. 10643, or the Graphic Health Warnings Law, R.A. No. 10645, or the Mandatory PhilHealth Coverage for Senior Citizens.,[17] [18] [19] R.A. No. 10679, or the Youth Entrepreneurship Act, and R.A. No. 10648, or the Iskolar ng Bayan Act of 2014.
Lagman ran for Vice-Governor of Albay in 2019 and won. He was reelected as Vice-Governor in 2022.[20]
Five months into his second term as Vice-Governor, Lagman assumed the governorship by operation of law on December 1, 2022. This was due to a permanent vacancy in the position of Governor when his immediate predecessor Noel E. Rosal was disqualified with finality by the COMELEC en banc for violating the election law imposing a 45-day campaign spending ban.[21]
Lagman in July 2023, became a member of incumbent President Bongbong Marcos' political party, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.[22]
In October 2024, Lagman filed his candidacy to run for governor in his own right in the 2025 Philippine general election.[23]
In February 2024, Alwin Nimo, a former chairman of Barangay Anislag, Daraga, alleged that Lagman had received bribes from illegal gambling (jueteng) bosses in the province when he was vice governor and filed a complaint against the latter for graft and corruption at the Office of the Ombudsman. Lagman denied the accusations, calling it "driven by political motives."[24] In October 2024, the Ombudsman imposed a preventive suspension on Lagman as part of its investigation into the charges.[25]