Eddie Villanueva

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Eddie Villanueva bigraphy, stories - Filipino politician

Eddie Villanueva : biography

06 October 1946 –

Eduardo "Eddie" C. Villanueva (born October 6, 1946), most commonly referred to as Bro. Eddie Villanueva, is a religious/spiritual and political leader in the Philippines, a presidential candidate in the 2004 and 2010 Philippine election,{} and a senatorial candidate in the 2013 midterm Philippine election,{} all as the standard bearer of the Bangon Pilipinas Party. Prior to joining the politics, he is best known as the founder and leader of the Jesus Is Lord Church, yet he officially declared his leave of absence as its Spiritual Director during the launching of Bagong Pilipinas Movement on March 28, 2009 “so that [he] may concentrate on the transformation of our beloved nation.”{}

In 2004, he was a presidential candidate in the Philippine election but lost to incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and placed last in a field of five candidates, with 6.2% of the vote – although many Filipinos believed that the 2004 election in general was an alleged large-scale election fraud, particularly due to the Aragoncillo Project.

On August 21, 2009, he announced that he will be running in the 2010 election and on November 30, 2009, filed his Certificate of Candidacy with the Commission on Elections "accompanied by his running mate, former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief Perfecto Yasay, and five senatorial bets".

He is the owner and chairman of ZOE Broadcasting Network, a commercial TV station currently operated by GMA Network through Quality TeleVision (QTV) now GMA News TV. He is also the owner and president of Jesus Is Lord Colleges Foundation Inc. (JILCF), a Christian school in Bocaue, Bulacan.

Biography

Bro. Eddie was born on October 6, 1946 in Bocaue, Bulacan to parents Joaquin T. Villanueva and Maria Cruz Villanueva, both now deceased. (The elder Villanueva was a former Olympic sprinter who represented the Philippines in the Far Eastern Games for four consecutive years in 1920s).

He is married to Sis. Adoracion "Dory" Villanueva and they have four children. His eldest son, Mayor Eduardo "Jon-Jon" Villanueva, Jr., incumbent mayor of Bocaue, Bulacan lost his campaign in 2004 but won in the May 2007 elections. Jonjon was charged with murder for allegedly ordering the shooting of a soldier of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the May 2007 elections., May 2007, October 3, 2007, May 9, 2007 His daughter, Joni Villanueva-Tugna, is a Christian singer and TV host. His other son, Cong. Emmanuel Joel Villanueva, representing the CIBAC party list, became the youngest member of the House of Representatives (HOR) when he took his oath of office on February 6, 2002. According to the Philippine Star, Joel Villanueva is the fifth richest party-list congressman with a net worth of P18.4 million., June 7, 2009

Education and early life

In 1969, Villanueva graduated with a degree in commerce, majoring in economics, from the Philippine College of Commerce (PCC), since renamed the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. He was immersed in both student and labor movements in the 1970s, joining the progressive segments of society which opposed the Marcos dictatorship. Villanueva also took up law at the University of the Philippines but was already into so much activism that he never had time to take the bar [examination]. During Martial law, he fought local landgrabbers in Bulacan and ended up being jailed twice for his political beliefs and participation in various mass actions.