Jose de Venecia Jr.

In thisPhilippine name,themiddle nameor maternalfamily nameisClaveriaand the surname or paternal family name isde Venecia.

The Honourable Jose de Venecia Jr.
de Venecia in 2017
15thSpeaker of the Philippine House of Representatives
In office July 23, 2001 – February 5, 2008
Preceded by	Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
Succeeded by	Prospero Nograles
In office July 27, 1992 – June 30, 1998
Preceded by	Ramon Mitra Jr.
Succeeded by	Manny Villar
Member of theHouse of RepresentativesfromPangasinan
In office June 30, 2001 – June 30, 2010
Preceded by	Benjamin Lim
Succeeded by	Gina de Venecia
Constituency	4th district
In office June 30, 1987 – June 30, 1998
Preceded by	Antonio Villar Sr.
Succeeded by	Benjamin Lim
Constituency	4th district
In office December 30, 1969 – September 23, 1972
Preceded by	Jack Laureano Soriano
Succeeded by	District abolished(next held by Antonio Bengson III)
Constituency	2nd district
Personal details
Born	(1936-12-26)December 26, 1936 Dagupan,Pangasinan,Commonwealth of the Philippines
Political party	Lakas–CMD(1991–2008; 2020–present)
Other political affiliations	Independent(2008–2020) LDP(1987–1991) Liberal(1969–1987)
Spouse(s)	Victoria Perez (divorced) Georgina Vera-Perez
Residence(s)	Dagupan,Philippines
Alma mater	Ateneo de Manila University(BA)
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Journalist

Jose Claveria de Venecia Jr.(Tagalog pronunciation:[vɛˈnɛʃa]), also known asJDV,Joe De VorManong Joe(born December 26, 1936), is a formerSpeakerof theHouse of Representatives of the Philippines,serving from 1992 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2008. As Speaker, he was the fourth highest-ranking official of thePhilippines.He was the former president of thePhilippines'dominant party,Lakas–CMD.He ran forpresidentin the1998 election,but lost toVice PresidentJoseph Estrada,finishing second among 11 candidates.

Beginning in 1987, De Venecia has been elected to six terms as a Representative of the4th districtofPangasinan.He served asSpeaker of the Philippine House of Representativesthroughout theNinth,Tenth,TwelfthandThirteenthCongresses of the Philippines.He had served for more than a year as the House Speaker of theFourteenth Congresswhen on February 5, 2008, 174 representatives, or a considerable majority of members of the House, voted to remove de Venecia as Speaker. He is the first Filipino who has held the Speakership five times in separate terms. He was conferred an Honorary Doctorate in International Relations from theUniversity of Cambodiain 2008.

Early life and career

De Venecia was born inDagupan,Pangasinanto Judge Jose R. de Venecia Sr. and Casimira Villamil Clavería. De Venecia came from an influential political family. His grandfather, Guillermo de Venecia was the municipal president (now known as mayor) from 1916 to 1918 and from 1925 to 1926. He ran and won as congressman of the2nd districtofPangasinanfrom 1969 to 1972. After the restoration of theHouse of Representativesin 1987, he ran and won as congressman of the fourth district of Pangasinan.

In 1947, he finished his elementary studies at the Dagupan Elementary School where he was accelerated by one year. He completed his secondary education at theDe La Salle CollegeHigh School, and finished Journalism at theAteneo de Manila,being an outstanding Associate Editor of The Guidon and Editor-in-Chief of the school annual, The Aegis.

As an entrepreneur, de Venecia pioneered overseas contract work for Filipinos where he was one of the first Philippine prime contractors in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-1970s. He hired 51,000 Filipinos for his companies and engaged in port operations inSaudi Arabia,agriculture in Africa, and mass housing and oil exploration in theUnited Arab Emirates.His Middle East initiative was followed and later led to the employment of millions of Filipinos. In the 1970s, he was initiated anoil and gas explorationprogram that led to the first oil and gas strikes in offshorePalawan.He was elected president of the Petroleum Association of the Philippines.

De Venecia was a diplomat as Minister-Economic Counselor from 1966 to 1969. He conceived and implemented the historic dollar-remittance program for overseas Filipino workers worldwide. He was one of the Ten Outstanding Congressmen beforemartial law in the Philippines.

Speaker of the House (1992–1998)

He was reelected in 1992 and joined the newly created party,Lakas Tao,of PresidentFidel Ramos.He initiated the move to unite theNational Union of Christian Democrats,a cluster of theProgressive Party of the Philippines,theUnion of Muslim Democrats,and theLakas Taoto make it a dominant party. That same year, he was electedSpeakerof theHouse of Representatives.Since Ramos got a low plurality in the election, De Venecia created aRainbow Coalition,converging political parties that include theLDP,NPC,Lakas NUCD,and other minor parties to make a solid majority in the House. He was reelected as congressman and speaker in 1995.

Peace envoy

As Ramos' peace envoy, Speaker De Venecia reached out to insurgent groupsMoro National Liberation Front(MNLF) secessionists in Mindanao, the RAM-SFP-YOU military rebels, and theCommunist Party of the Philippineswhich operates theNew People's Army(NPA). He crossed Africa'sSahara Deserttwice to meet theLibyanleaderMuammar al-GaddafiandMNLFChairmanNur Misuariand assisted in forging a peace agreement atTripoliin 1976. His persuasion to Misuari to accept autonomy led to the signing of the peace pact on September 2, 1996.

In 1992, De Venecia began secret talks with leaders of the military rebels, led by Commodore Calajate, Gen. Abenina, and Col. Honasan, which led to a ceasefire in December of that year and a final peace agreement in 1995. In April 1997, De Venecia journeyed to the Netherlands to meet with self-exiled leaders of theNational Democratic FrontandNew People's Armyled byJose Maria Sisonand Luis Jalandoni. He was the first Christian leader to enter Mindanao's Camp Abubakar mountains in November 1997 and open breakthrough peace negotiations withHashim Salamat,Chairman of theMoro Islamic Liberation Front(MILF), and military Commander Murad.

1998 presidential election

See also:1998 Philippine general election

In 1998, the dominant partyLakas-NUCD-UMDPheld a convention to select Ramos' successor as titular president and candidate for the May 11 election. A long list of candidates was trimmed and led to a choice between De Venecia and then National Defense SecretaryRenato de Villa.Though De Villa was seen as the frontrunner, De Venecia won the convention vote and De Villa bolted the party to form a new one calledPartido Reporma.

De Venecia garnered the second highest number of votes in a field of 11 candidates, though he was far behind the winner,Joseph Estrada.After he lost his bid, he departed from media attention and political limelight. In one of his interviews, De Venecia said that he was depressed and took several months to recover.

Reentry to the politics

De Venecia reemerged onNew Year's Dayof 2001 calling for asmooth transition of powerto theVice President.Estradabelittled de Venecia's statements, however, the former was ousted January 20 of that year by afour-day people power uprising.

Speaker of the House (2001–2008)

In the2001 election,he won without opposition as congressman of the 4th District ofPangasinan.He was reelected overwhelmingly by the House, and was voted by some critical left-wing partylist representatives. He is formed alliance with other political party to formSunshine Coalition.In 2003, he received an unexpected high commendation from the public when he accepted theSupreme Courtruling that junked the petition for theimpeachmentof theChief Justice.[1]In the2004 election,he became instrumental forGloria Macapagal Arroyo's victory aspresident.He also won by a landslide as congressman and was reelected as speaker for the fourth time.

NBN-ZTE scandal

On July 10, 2007, De Venecia's supporters opposed secret balloting by the majority coalition to select the speaker of the House of Representatives in the Fourteenth Congress. Rep. Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque, said the House is not a "secret society."[2]Meanwhile, Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis accused De Venecia's son, Jose de Venecia III, for questioning a $330 million broadband connection deal between the Philippine government and Chinese firm ZTE. Solis hit De Venecia III for desiring to have his Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. (AHI) get the deal (which will connect national government agencies to local government units through the Internet and save government up to P3 billion in telephone expenses every year). Solis further claimed that AHI is a "veritable mom's-and-pop's enterprise with a reported paid-up capital of only P650,000. How can AHI possibly undertake this project when it may not even have enough funds to run a mini grocery?"[3]

Re-election as Speaker

On July 23, 2007, 159 lawmakers picked De Venecia House Speaker for 5th time—after the House commenced at 2:17 pm, a roll-call vote for the position. De Venecia was the lone nominee, while his opponent, Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia, was not nominated. Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor was elected Majority Leader while San Juan Rep.Ronaldo Zamorawas elected minority leader. The 14th Congress of the House of Representatives is composed of 240 lawmakers, 21 of whom are party-list representatives.[4][5]

Ousted as Speaker

On January 31, 2008,Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino(KAMPI) announced that 134 congressmen signed amanifestoof "loss of confidence" versus Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.Camarines Sur's 2nd districtRep.Luis Villafuerte,KAMPI president, said the successor should beDavao City's1st districtrepresentativeProspero Nograles.

During the regular session on February 4, 2008,PalawanRepresentative Abraham Kahlil Mitra moved that the position ofHouse Speakerbe declared vacant.Before the motion was submitted to a vote, De Venecia delivered a speech before the House where he criticized PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyoand alleged that her government was behind the move to oust him from the speakership.He recounted the times he had stood to defend President Arroyo, and said,"It pains me grievously to hurt the President and to hurt the First Family because I have invested so much more than any of you in this chamber to help the President become Vice President, become President…."Shortly after his remarks, de Venecia acknowledged to reporters: "I will join the opposition to denounce corruption in this administration. I will join the battle against corruption."

During his speech at the House plenary, De Venecia said that three military generals visited his house. They were accompanied byRaul Lambino.

General Santos, commanding general of the Philippine Army, commander of the United Nations Forces in East Timor, came to my house accompanied by Attorney Raul Lambino, who is his friend, and who is also my friend, and he said, 'Mr. Speaker you and your son [should] keep quiet because they want to kill you and I know they can kill you and I know they have killed other people.

De Venecia's son reported the incident to the Makati police. The Speaker, meanwhile, wrote a letter to President Arroyo to ask her to do something about the threat on their lives.

My son reported this to the Makati Police and in the same day following, General Santos, such a respected general of the Armed Forces, changed his tune and said he never said such a thing. How could he say that he never said such a thing when he came to my house to ask me to listen to his story, accompanied by Raul Lambino in the presence of my son Joey, in the presence of my wifeGina.

The Speaker said he asked Mrs. Arroyo in a letter to "please do something."

So I wrote a letter to PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo.Dear Madam President, I write to you because General Santos came to see me and said to me, and confessed to me that they wanted to kill myself and my son and that they have killed other people. I asked you because these three generals belonged to your government, please do something. That was late October of last year. Do you think up to know Malacanang has lifted a finger to arrest or to investigate these attempts on my life and of my son?

"It's simple arrogance. Just plain arrogance that Malacañang and the people of the Palace are above the law. Someday this can happen to you,"he said. The speech was delivered hours afterPalawan's 2nd districtRep.Abraham Kahlil Mitra,an ally of Davao City Rep.Prospero Nograles,moved the speaker's position be declared vacant.

Post-speakership

Shortly after midnight, February 5, 2008, 174 members of the House voted in favor of the motion to declare the position of House Speaker as vacant, removing de Venecia from his position. 35 members voted against the motion while 16 members abstained.Nograleswas elected as the new House Speaker.

On March 10, 2008, De Venecia resigned his post as president ofLakas–CMD.Since then, he has remained active. In 2010, he travelled to the United States to speak to Filipino people who were living and working there. He mentioned that overseas workers sent overUS$18 billionhome every year and said about this: "This is your contribution. You must be aware of it, you should be proud of it. This is why we call you the heroes and heroines of the Filipino people."

In April 2017, De Venecia was appointed by PresidentRodrigo Duterteas Special Envoy for Inter-Cultural Dialogue. TheDepartment of Foreign Affairssaid that as special envoy, De Venecia would serve to advise the administration on policies regarding cultural diversity and citizen participation under theUNESCOdeclaration.

De Venecia joined the second incarnation ofLakas–CMDin 2020.

Performance rating

On January 7, 2008, theSocial Weather Stations(November 30 to December 3, 2007)surveystated that Speaker Jose de Venecia's performance rating has 37% satisfied and 37% dissatisfied, or net +1, having been in single digit since December 2004.

Personal life

De Venecia married Victoria Perez, the daughter ofEugenio Pérez,who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1946 to 1953.Together, they had 4 children: Alexandra (Sandra), Leslie, Vivian, andJose III (Joey).Their marriage, ended in a divorce,and Perez now lives inAlbany, New York.

De Venecia then marriedGeorgina Vera-Perez,daughter of Filipino film producer. They have two children:Christopherand Kristina Casimira (KC). Georgina, also known asManay Gina,was previously married to construction manager Felipe Cruz with whom she had 2 children.The former host of a television drama series, she is currently a social worker and a radio host.

House fire

On December 17, 2004, a fire originating from Christmas tree lights gutted de Venecia's house inDasmariñas Village,Makati.His 16-year-old daughter KC died of suffocation after being trapped inside the house.KC's remains were cremated and her ashes were buried at theSantuario de San Antoniochapel inMakati.

References

• Resume/CV of Jose de Venecia
• Dagupan History

External links

• The biography of Jose de Venecia Jr.
• The official website of Jose de Venecia Jr.
• The official website of the Philippine House of Representatives