Rolando Balagtas

     Rolando C. Balagtas is the current General President of the Virginia Postal Workers Union. He was born and raised in Manila, Philippines and came to the United States in 1980. He started working with the United States Postal Service in November 1984 and immediately joined the American Postal Workers union 90 days later.

      In 1985, he became a union steward for the Charlottesville Virginia Area Local of the American Postal Workers Union. Soon thereafter, he was elected to the positions of Secretary and Vice President of the Charlottesville Area Local. In 1989, he was elected as the Director of Education & Organization for the Virginia Postal Workers Union; he have been representing the postal workers covered by the A.P.W.U. collective bargaining agreement in the state of Virginia; and have been organizing and planning seminars, conventions and conferences for the Virginia Postal Workers Union.

     Rolando held the position of Director of Education & Organization until elected as the General President of the Virginia Postal Workers Union in 2005. Rolando C. Balagtas is the only Filipino and Asian Pacific Islander ever elected as the General President of the Virginia Postal Workers Union who has been appointed as an Executive Board Member of the APALA by William Burrus, President of the American Postal Workers Union in June 2009.