De Venecia strengthens Visayas ground support
The City and Province of Iloilo welcome back today senatoriable Joey De Venecia III, an Ilonggo favorite, for a quick visit with local supporters and key political figures backing his bid for the Senate.
Enjoying Ilonggo support as the sole candidate believing in Iloilo’s future as hub of Information Technology (IT), De Venecia will primarily be in vote-rich Passi City.
While known as a neophyte in Philippine politics, De Venecia III is a tried and tested veteran in global business and finance.
To his credit is a number of “firsts” in Philippine business. He successfully organized the first nationwide financial information paging network called “Index” in 1996 and helped set up the National Bank of Equatorial Guinea in West Africa.
He was also instrumental in the launching of broadband technology in the Philippines in 2000 and set-up the first full-pledged call center in the Philippines. Realized with “Q” interaction, it led to the creation of 600,000 Filipino jobs and payroll salaries of at least $6-billion or more than P280-billion a year into our economy.
As a businessman, he brought in around $100 million US dollars of foreign direct investments into the Philippines.
In running for senator, he draws his inspiration to serve the public to his father and maternal grandfather. He is the son of five-term Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and is the grandson of Eugenio Perez, the last Speaker of the Philippine Commonwealth and the first Speaker of the Republic of the Philippines.
Joey de Venecia III became nationally known when he exposed the graft-tainted ZTE-national broadband network project and courageously testified in the Senate, exposing high officials. His expose led to the cancellation of the project and saved the Filipino people from a scandalous P16-billion foreign loan.
A firm believer in the saying, God helps those who help themselves, Joey envisions a society that gives every Filipino the opportunity to help himself or herself through a working partnership between the private and public sectors. He also believes that through information technology (IT), the Philippines can achieve dramatic economic growth that will lift it out of third world status.
His school years were spent at the Ateneo de Manila and La Salle Greenhills. After which, he continued his studies in the USA and earned a College degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Finance from the Fordham University as a full scholar. While at Fordham, Joey also taught accounting to MBA students.
Before taking his Master’s degree, he worked for five years at Arthur Andersen & Company (now known as Accenture) in Washington DC, the most prestigious accounting firm in the world at that time. He is owner and chairman of Hong Kong-based, Castle Rock Holdings, Ltd. which provides financial, information technology; and engineering services for infrastructure projects worldwide. He sits on the board of the agricultural company, Agrifisheries World Corporation, a joint venture with Chinese, Taiwanese and Filipino investors.
Joey de Venecia III is involved with several civic projects and organizations, notably: as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Virlanie Foundation which provides homes and education for street children; a member of the board of the New Beginnings Foundation: which helps victims of drug abuse; and a member of the Makati Business Club. He is likewise involved with One.org which combats extreme poverty; the Freedom From Debt Coalition Philippines which promotes economic development; the Jubilee USA Network which fights crushing debts of developing countries; and the Alay Sa Kawal Foundation which helps the families of Filipino soldiers. He also endowed a professional chair to the St. Luke’s College of Medicine for the research and study of liver disease.
A Rotarian and a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Joey de Venecia III has been cited in the international publication of “Who’s Who in the World” in 2000.
