Loading ...Jose Claveria de Venecia, Jr. also known as JDV or Joe De V (born December 26, 1936) is a former Speaker of the House 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 the Philippines. He was the former president of the Philippines’ dominant party, LAKAS-CMD. He ran for president in the 1998 election but lost to Vice President Joseph Estrada, finishing second among 11 candidates.
Beginning in 1987, De Venecia has been elected to six terms as a Representative of the 4th District of Pangasinan. He served as Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives throughout the Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses of the Philippines. He had served for more than a year as the House Speaker of the Fourteenth Congress when 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.
De Venecia was born in Dagupan to Judge Jose R. de Venecia, Sr., and Casimira Villamil Clavería. In 1947, he finished his elementary studies at the Dagupan Elementary School where he was accelerated by one year. Then in 1951, he completed his secondary education at the De La Salle College High School.
As an entrepreneur, de Venecia pioneered overseas contract work for Filipinos where he was one the first Philippine prime contractor in the Middle East and the North Africa in the mid-1970s. He hired 51,000 Filipinos for his companies and engaged in port operations in Saudi Arabia, agriculture in Africa, and mass housing and oil exploration in the United Arab Emirates. His Middle East initiative was followed and later led to the employment of millions of Filipinos. In the 1970s, he was initiated an oil and gas exploration program that led to the first oil and gas strikes in offshore Palawan. 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.
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 the second district of Pangasinan from 1969 to 1972. After the restoration of the House of Representatives in 1987, he ran and won as congressman of the fourth district of Pangasinan.
He was reelected in 1992 and joined a newly created party Lakas Tao of President Fidel Ramos. He initiated the move to unite the National Union of Christian Democrats, a cluster of the Progressive Party of the Philippines and the Union of Muslim Democrats to Lakas Tao to make it a dominant party. At the same year, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. Since Ramos got a low plurality in the elections, De Venecia created a Rainbow Coalition, converging political parties that include the LDP, NPC, Lakas NUCD, and other minor parties to make a solid majority in the House. He was reelected as congressman and Speaker in 1995.
Other Information
- Name : Jose Claveria de Venecia, Jr.
- Also known as : JDV or Joe De V
- Birthday : December 26, 1936
- Residence : Dagupan City, Pangasinan
- Birthplace : Dagupan City, Pangasinan
- Political party : Lakas-CMD (1991-2008)
- Other political affiliations : Liberal (1969-1972)
- Schools Attended :
- Elementary studies, Dagupan Elementary School (1947)
- Secondary education, De La Salle College High School (1951)
- Father : Judge Jose R. de Venecia, Sr.
- Mother : Casimira Villamil Clavería
- Spouse : Georgina P. De Venecia
- Other Profession : Businessman, Journalist
- Religion : Catholic
Career Highlights
- 14th Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives (July 23, 2001 – February 5, 2008)
- Member, House of Representatives of the Philippines, Pangasinan’s 4th district, Incumbent (June 30, 2001)
Affiliations
- Former president, Asia-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union
- Former president, Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-Parliamentarians Forum
- Founding chairman, Foundation for an Asian Parliament
- Founding chairman, Global Foundation for Christian-Muslim Partnership
Notable Events
- 1998 presidential election
- Reentry to the politics (2001)
- Speaker for the 5th Time (July 23, 2007)
- Ousted as Speaker (February 4, 2008)
- House fire(December 17, 2004)
Thomas Torralba
Pablo John Garcia