Fernando Feliciano "Sonny" Racimo Belmonte Jr., KGCR (born October 2, 1936) is a Filipino politician who served as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives for the Fourth District of Quezon City from 1992 to 2001 and from 2010 to 2019. He was the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from January to June 2001 and from 2010 to 2016. He also served as the Mayor of Quezon City from 2001 to 2010, where he was hailed Most Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines.
Early life and career
Belmonte was born at 1:35 PM on October 2, 1936, at Emmanuel Community Hospital in Tondo, Manila to judge Feliciano Belmonte Sr. and Luz Racimo. Belmonte began studying at age seven and he attended grade school in Baguio and earned his high-school diploma at the San Beda University in Manila. He finished Law at the Lyceum of the Philippines University; while in law school, he worked as a reporter at the Manila Chronicle, covering the police beat and events at the Philippine Commission on Elections.
At age 25, Belmonte began his law career after taking the bar examination, which he passed with a score of 85.55 percent. He began his government service as the presidential staff assistant of President Diosdado Macapagal. He also worked as a special assistant for the Commissioner of Customs, and as an executive assistant at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. In 1986, President Corazon Aquino assigned him to head various financially struggling government-owned corporations. He became president and General Manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Manila Hotel and chairman of the National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines. He also represented the government as member of the board of directors of the San Miguel Corporation and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). More importantly, he assumed the position of president and chief executive officer of Philippine Airlines, which was then wholly owned by the Philippine government.
House of Representatives (1992–2001) Belmonte was first elected as member of the House of Representatives from Quezon City's fourth congressional district. He held his House seat for three consecutive terms, from 1992 to 2001. Belmonte was Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2001, and also served as House Minority Leader. In his first two terms, he was the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.
During his term as Congressman, he authored and co-authored several major bills, among them: The General Appropriations Act, The Act Providing for a Dual System of Education, The Act Creating the Metropolitan 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.
Speaker of the House (2001) Belmonte gained national prominence as the lead prosecutor in the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada. On January 20, 2001, during the EDSA Revolution of 2001, Estrada left the Malacañan Palace and Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn to the presidency at the EDSA Shrine by Chief Justice Hilario 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.
Mayor of Quezon City (2001–2010)
On August 4, 2000, Belmonte formally announced his intention to run for Mayor of Quezon City. In 2001, he won the election for the position of mayor; he was re-elected in 2004 and in 2007, with vice mayor Herbert Bautista as his running mate. As Mayor of Quezon City, 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.