His initial term as PLM president was broken when he briefly served as Undersecretary of the Department of Education.
[2] Aside from manning the city university, he served as the President of the Association of Local Colleges and Universities,[3][4][5] the 1st Vice-President of the Philippine Association of Technological Association (PATE),[6] member of the board of trustees of the Institute for Studies on Diabetes Foundation[7] and Laguna University,[8] and an incorporator of the National Network of Quality Assurance Agencies (NNQAA).
[9] In 2005, he was chosen as one of the executive committee members of the Cinemanila International Film Festival.
[1][12] Although Tayabas helped continue the development of PLM onto the national stage,[1][13] his administration had been linked to countless anomalies uncovered by the Commission on Audit.
Moreover, he had been notorious in suppressing student rights and academic freedom, including campus press freedom, and the shutting down of the official student paper Ang Pamantasan twice during his terms of office.