During the Marcos era, as a public servant, Magcalas served during 1985 as chairman of the Kabataang Barangay of the town.

[4][5][6] In 2010, under the banner of Lakas-CMD he ran for reelection, but was defeated by his predecessor Domingo G. Panganiban by 3,733 votes.

In a bid to reclaim the mayoralty post, he again ran for mayor during the 2013 Laguna local elections under the banner of United Nationalist Alliance, but lost again to Panganiban.

He again tried to reclaim the mayoralty post along with his running mate, three-termer councilor Laarni A. Malibiran who the latter won during the 2019 Laguna local elections, but he lost to former Congressman Edgar San Luis.

[11] As mayor, Magcalas delivered transparency to the citizens of Santa Cruz during his term, setting up tents for the evacuation center.