Note: this biograpy is lifted from his own website josedeveneciajr [dot] com
Jose de Venecia is a four-time Speaker of the House of Representatives, unprecedented in Philippine post-war history. He has been a journalist, diplomat, business leader and a prominent political figure co-founded the Philippines′ biggest party, the ruling Lakas CMD. De Venecia, early in his career, conceived and implemented the first Philippine dollar deposits and remittances program credited for having killed the dollarblack market and earning for the Philippines more than $110 billion as of 2005. At age 30, he headed the Presidential Committee on Dollar Remittances. De Venecia was also the Philippine pioneer and first prime contractor in the Middle East and North Africa in construction, ports operations and aquaculture" opening the way for the employment of millions of skilled Filipinos in these regions.
As a Peacemaker
As Speaker, he negotiated the ceasefire with the RAM-YOU military rebels, effectively ending the series of coup attempt "and the period of political instability" in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He initiated the breakthrough in peace negotiations with the MNLF, crossing the North African desert twice to meet with Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Khaddafy and Chairman Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Consequently, de Venecia helped negotiate the 1996 Peace Agreement between the Philippine Government and the MNLF.
De Venecia also helped propel the ongoing peace negotiations, now nearing completion, with the residual rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). De Venecia was the first to propose the global Interfaith Dialogue, which the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted in November 2004, to mediate ethnic and politico-religious conflicts in regions of the world.
Parliamentary Leader
De Venecia was elected president of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) in 1993 and re-elected AIPO head in 2006. He was elected president of the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) in 2003-2004, his term highlighted by approval of his proposal converting the AAPP into the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA)"the beginnings of an Asian Parliament" after a five-year transition period.
He was also elected chairman of the AAPP Senior Advisory Council in 2005. He conceived and implemented the first meeting in history of the Asia’s political parties "ruling and opposition” with the launching in Manila of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in 2000. He was thrice elected chairman of the ICAPP Standing Committee and was also elected chairman of the Philippine Political Parties’ Standing Committee.
He was secretary-general of the Lakas CMD (formerly Lakas NUCD), which he co-founded with President Fidel Ramos and the late Sen. Raul Manglapus. Later, de Venecia was elected party president and then chairman, and again president of Lakas CMD, with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Chair, and former President Ramos as chairman emeritus.
As a Lawmaker
As a lawmaker, de Venecia authored the highly successful Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, the Bases Conversion law that turned into thriving economic enclaves the former US bases at Clark, Subic, and John Hay and led to the creation of the Fort Bonifacio Global City. Between 1992 and 1998, he steered the approval of 220 reform laws that enabled the Philippines to exit from the International Monetary Fund, after 35 years of straitjacket controls. He conceived the Debt-for-Equity Program to convert part of the foreign debt of the world’s poorest nations into equity programs to finance their requirements for national development. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the governments of Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi and of former Chancellor Schroeder of Germany have endorsed the program among a number of leaders from Asia, Europe and Africa. Last year, de Venecia presented the program in detail to senior officials of the IMF, World Bank, and the Paris Club.
Family
Married to Georgina Vera Perez, they have six children: Alexandra, a patent lawyer and scientist, a graduate of Wellesley, with a doctorate from Princeton University and Fordham. She is married to Mark Haner, official of Lucent. Leslie Norton, graduate of Yale and Columbia University, and is now Asian columnist and Asian Editor of Barron’s. Vivien Garcia, graduate in of Smith University. Married to noted physician, Dennis Garcia. Jose de Venecia III, who earned his MBA from Fordham University. Carissa Cruz, Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry and a graduate of Boston University. Philip Cruz III, journalist and columnist of Philippine Star.
