DOTr Asec. Libiran to leave post at end of month

Goddes Hope Libiran announced that she has quit her post as Assistant Secretary for Communications and Commuter Affairs in the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to focus on her family.

In her Facebook page post, Libiran said that she tendered her resignation last February 4, which will be effective at the end of the month.

“The last three months were quite daunting and difficult for me on a personal level, especially with tragic accidents and deaths of very close loved ones and relatives,” the outgoing transportation assistant secretary said, noting that her whole family got infected by COVID-19 and her house got robbed.

“These things happening all in a month’s time were just way too much, even for someone as resilient and as resolute as I would like to be,” she added.

She also clarified she has resigned from the position to prioritize her family and not because she will join any campaign.

“My family, especially my six-year-old daughter, has, unfortunately, endured a backseat role in my life, whereas they should have been my front and center. For many years, I have been three persons— a mother, a wife, and a public servant. Now, I choose to just be one. After all, at the end of the day, family is what really matters. And for me, they are the most important,” she said.

She said that the decision to leave the department was bittersweet, which she considers as “one of the most productive executive departments of the Duterte Administration.”

Further, Libiran expressed her gratitude to Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, whom she described as a “visionary and a man with the grand plan."

“Everything that I achieved as a public servant and communicator; Secretary Tugade is on top of my list of mentors. He is the pre-eminent leader who made me subscribe to the mantra that ‘failure is not an option.’ I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity and the privilege to be under someone like him.”

Aside from that, she also thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for the inspiration, and for allowing Tugade the department “flourish and extend all the leeway in pursuit of his mandate to give the Filipinos a more comfortable life.” 

“It is this simple but very tall order which made us at the DOTr do the improbable and achieve the impossible, and allowed our country to truly experience its golden age of infrastructure.”

Furthermore, Libiran is confident that she was able to help the people in her nearly six years of service under the agency.

“The lines of DOTr have been opened to our primary stakeholders — the masses, the commuters. I know in my heart that somehow, the public felt that the DOTr listens, delivers, and serves. That, I think, was my purpose,” she said.

She declared that her stint at DOTr was one unforgettable ride. “It toughened us, honed us, prepped us, and allowed us to grow to eventually conquer the world. I am who I am now because of all of these. I believe I am a better public servant now than before. I am better at my craft now than before. And I am a better Filipino now than before.

“And as I begin the next chapter of my life, I will always look back at the days I spent at the DOTr and like Dr. Seuss I say, ‘I will not cry because it’s over. I will smile because it happened,” Libiran ended.

Photos from Asec. Goddes Hope Libiran's Facebook page

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