Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Fernando Feliciano "Sonny" Racimo Belmonte Jr.,KGCR(born October 2, 1936) is a Filipino politician who served as the 18thspeaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippinesfrom January to June 2001 and from 2010 to 2016. As a Congressman, Belmonte representedQuezon City's 4th congressional districtfrom 1992 to 2001 and 2010 to 2016. Between his two stints in Congress, Belmonte served as the ninthmayor of Quezon City.
Belmonte was born at 1:35 p.m. on October 2, 1936, at Emmanuel Community Hospital inTondo, Manila, to judge Feliciano Belmonte Sr. and Luz Racimo.Belmonte began studying at age seven and he attended grade school inBaguioand earned his high school diploma at theSan Beda UniversityinManila. He finished Law at theLyceum of the Philippines University; while in law school, he worked as a reporter at theManila Chronicle, covering the police beat and events at thePhilippine Commission on Elections.
At age 25, Belmonte began his law career after taking thebar examination, which he passed with a score of 85.55 percent.He began his government service as the presidential staff assistant of PresidentDiosdado Macapagal. He also worked as a special assistant for the Commissioner of Customs, and as an executive assistant at theBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.In 1986, PresidentCorazon Aquinoassigned him to head various financially struggling government-owned corporations. He became president and General Manager of theGovernment Service Insurance System(GSIS) and theManila Hoteland chairman of the National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines.He also represented the government as member of the board of directors of theSan Miguel Corporationand thePhilippine Long Distance Telephone Company(PLDT).He assumed the position of president and chief executive officer ofPhilippine Airlines, which was then wholly owned by the Philippine government.
Belmonte was first elected as member of the House of Representatives fromQuezon City's fourth congressional district. He held the seat for three consecutive terms, from 1992 to 2001. Belmonte briefly served as thespeaker of the House of Representativesin 2001, and also served as House Minority Leader. In his first two terms, he served as the vice chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.
During his term, Belmonte authored and co-authored several major bills, including the General Appropriations Act, the Act Providing for a Dual System of Education, the Act Creating theMetropolitan Manila Development Authority, and the Salary Standardization Law.
Although largely concerned with budget and financial matters, Belmonte also did work for the low-salaried employees,and was instrumental in the passage of the Second Salary Standardization Law (SSL 2), which corrected the gross inequities of SSL 1. He also pushed for the continued implementation of the Personal Economic Relief Alliance (PERA) for low-salaried government personnel.
Belmonte gained national prominence as the lead prosecutor in the impeachment trial of PresidentJoseph Estrada. On January 20, 2001, during theEDSA Revolution of 2001, Estrada left theMalacañan Palaceand Vice PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyowas sworn to the presidency at theEDSA Shrineby Chief JusticeHilario Davide Jr.Accompanying Davide were the chairs of the two houses of Congress,Aquilino Pimentel Jr.and Fuentebella. Four days later, on January 24, the Arroyo allies mustered enough votes to unseat Fuentebella, replacing him with Belmonte.
On August 4, 2000, Belmonte announced his intention to run formayor of Quezon City.In 2001, he won the election for the position of mayor and was re-elected in 2004 and in 2007, with vice mayorHerbert Bautistaas his running mate in each election.As mayor, his nine years of prudent fiscal management, aggressive tax management strategies, as well as increasing efficiency and growing discipline in the management, and use of City resources has made Quezon City the most competitive city of Metro Manila, and second in the Philippines today. These are rankings made by businessmen in the Philippines in studies of the Asian Institute of Management, in cooperation with international agencies.
Quezon City was cited for the dynamism of its local economy, the quality of life of its residents, and the responsiveness of the local government in addressing business and other needs.
In 2007, Quezon City was ranked No. 7 Asian City of the Future, based on a survey commissioned by theLondon Financial Times, through a consultancy based in Singapore. In a 2008 Tholons special report on global services, Quezon City ranked as the number 21 emerging global outsourcing city, the highest among all nine new entrants.
Belmonte was a long-standing member of theLakas–CMDandLakas–Kampi–CMDparties from his first term in Congress in 1992 until November 2009, where he last held the position of senior vice president for externals. On November 19, 2009, he and Vice Mayor Bautista were sworn in as members of the oppositionLiberal Party.
After serving as mayor of Quezon City, Belmonte made a successful bid for a fourth term in the House of Representatives. At the opening of the15th Congress, Belmontewas again electedas speaker of the House, defeatingEdcel Lagmanof the former ruling partyLakas Kampi CMD, with a vote of 227–29. He succeededProspero Nograles, whose term had ended almost a month earlier. He was re-elected as representative in 2013 and in 2016.
In 2016, having been re-elected to his third consecutive term as representative, Belmonte decided not to seek another term as Speaker for the incoming17th Congressand instead supported the bid ofPantaleon Alvarez, the representative-elect ofDavao del Norte's1st districtand member of the incoming ruling partyPDP–Laban.Alvarez eventually clinched the speakership, succeeding him.
In 2018, Belmonte left theLiberal Party, where he served as its vice chairman, as he would be retiring from politics at the end of his term.Belmonte ended his congressional term on June 30, 2019, and was succeeded by councilor Bong Suntay, who ran under his daughterJoy's ticket.
Belmonte was a member of the Manila Jaycees, theRotary Clubof Manila and theKnights of Rizal. He was alsoJunior Chamber InternationalWorldPresidentin 1976.
He marriedBetty Go-Belmonte(1934–1994), founder ofThe Philippine Star, in 1959.They have raised four children: Isaac, Kevin, Miguel andJoy. Their three sons have also held editorial and managerial positions at thePhilippine Starand its sister publications likePilipino Star NgayonandPang-Masatabloids published in the Filipino vernacular, as well as theCebu-based newspaperThe Freeman. His daughter, Joy, has served as mayor of Quezon City since 2019. Belmonte also has a nephew, Kit, who served as a representative fromQuezon City's 6th congressional districtfrom 2013 to 2022.