PANGASINAN

José Clavería de Venecia, Jr. also known as JDV or Joe De V (born December 26, 1936) is the Speaker of the House of Representatives and fourth highest ranking official of the Philippines. He is the president of the dominant party LAKAS-CMD. He ran for president in the 1998 election, losing to Vice President Joseph Estrada and finishing second in a field of 11 candidates.
He represent the 4th District of Pangasinan and served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th (1992-1995), 10th (1995-1998), 12th (2001-2004) and 13th (2004- ) Philippine Congress.
De Venecia was born in Dagupan City, Pangasinan 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. He graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila in 1955.
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 reemerged on New Year's Day of 2001 calling for a smooth transition of power to the Vice President. Estrada belittled De Venecia's statements, however, he was ousted January 20 of that year. In the 2001 election, he won without opposition as congressman of the 4th district of Pangasinan. He was reelected overwhelmingly by the house including some of the critical left-wing partylist representatives. In 2003, he received an unexpected high commendation from the public when he accepted the Supreme Court ruling that junked the petition for the impeachment of the Chief Justice. [2] In the 2004 election, he became instrumental for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's victory as president. He also won by a landslide as congressman and he was reelected as Speaker for the fourth time.