Chiz Escudero

Francis Joseph Guevara Escudero (born October 10, 1969), also known as Chiz Escudero, has been a member of the Philippine Senate since 2007. He previously served as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, representing the 1st District Sorsogon, where he served as the Minority Floor Leader of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. He is a leading candidate for Vice President of the Philippines in the 2016 presidential election to be held in May 2016.

Escudero was born on October 10, 1969 in Manila, Philippines, the second of the three children of the late Salvador Escudero, former Agriculture Minister and representative of the first district of Sorsogon, and educator Evelina B. Guevara.

Escudero was educated in the Philippine public school system. He attended the University of the Philippines Integrated School in elementary (1981) and high school (1985). He obtained his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City (1988) and Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Philippines College of Law (1993).

At the University of the Philippines, Escudero joined the Phi Beta Fraternity and was a member of the Alpha Phi Beta Debating Team, which was the 1991 U.P. Open Debate Champion. He recalled, "The most participation I had in campus was in the debate team where we won in '91. I was also president of my Law class for four years." A consistent honor student, Escudero was a member of the Order of the Purple Feather or the U.P. Law Honor Society (1989-1993). He became the Secretary General of the Association of Law Students of the Philippines on his senior year at law school (1992-1993).

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Escudero was a teaching assistant at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines(1988–1989). In 1989, he became a Junior Political Analyst of the Batangas Development Planning office.

After he received his law degree, Escudero joined the Bautista, Picazo, Buyco, Tan and Fider Law Office in 1993 as junior associate. A year later, he became a legal consultant of the UNLAD Ship Management and Manning Corp. and legal counsel of the Crusade Against Violence (CAV). By 1995, he was a partner at his own firm, the Escudero, Marasigan, Sta. Ana, Vallente and Villareal Law Office (EMSAVIL Law). He remains with the firm to this day.

In 1996, Escudero received his Masters in International and Comparative Law at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Aside from pursuing his law practice, Escudero was senior lecturer at the College of Law at University of the Philippines (1996-1998). He also taught at the Graduate School of the Ateneo de Manila University in 2000.

On July 3, 2000, Escudero was named a Commander of the Philippine Navy Reserve Command.

While serving as a lawmaker, Escudero also dabbled in media. From May to August 2000, he hosted "Ngayon na Pinoy", a TV program on RPN-9. He also anchored the radio programs "Magandang Umaga Bayan" on the Angel Radio, DZAR 1026 AM; and the "Usapang de Campanilla" and "Usapang Legal" both on DZMM.

Escudero also penned a column, "Usapang Legal ni Chiz Escudero" (later renamed "Say Chiz") in two tabloids: Abante and Abante Tonite.

Escudero's involvement in politics started in the 1980s as an organizer for the local campaign of his father. He first expressed interest in running for public office as municipal councilor of Sorsogon when he was 22. At 25, he again indicated his intention run, this time as mayor of the municipality. However, on both occasions, his family forbade him from entering politics and insisted that he finish his law studies before embarking on a political career.

Escudero was 28 when he began his political career. He ran and won as representatives of the first district of Sorsogon in 1998. He was one of the youngest lawmakers in the11th Congress.

Escudero was a member of the Nationalist People's Coalition, the second biggest political partyin the Philippines, from 1998 to 2009.

He was elected Assistant Majority Floor Leader of the 11th Congress from June 1998 to November 2000 and became Second Deputy Majority Floor Leader from November 2000 to January 2001. He was Assistant Deputy Majority of the 11th Congress from January to June 2001. In his last term as member of the House of Representatives, he served asMinority Floor Leader from 2004 to 2007.

While in Congress, Escudero pushed for the cityhood of Sorsogon. On August 16, 2000, Republic Act 8806 was passed, merging the municipalities of Sorsogon and Bacon into a component city of Sorsogon province. The law was ratified during a plebiscite on December 16, 2000, and Sorsogon functioned as a city on June 30, 2001, with the assumption into office of its first officials.

In 2004, Escudero figured prominently in the Philippine presidential elections as the campaign spokesperson of presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., a popular movie actor. Poe eventually lost to the incumbent president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in a highly contested electoral exercise.

When evidence of alleged electoral fraud surfaced, Escudero was among the lawmakers who moved for the impeachment of then President Arroyo. However, the President's allies in Congress voted to drop the impeachment complaint.

On September 6, 2005, Escudero voted no on the dropping of impeachment complaints against President Arroyo.He explained, "It is the truth that has lost. But the search for the truth does not end today. The president and her allies will always be haunted by questions. "A new set of impeachment case was filed on 2006 and Escudero maintained his vote against its dismissal. Despite another round of defeat, Escudero said the results "will not change the fact that there was cheating, lying, anomalies and stealing in government."

Escudero belonged to the anti-Charter Change bloc who voted against the constitutional reform initiatives of then Speaker Jose De Venecia. He believed these attempts to change the Constitution are nothing but last ditch efforts to keep the president and his allies in power.

Escudero was a member of a group of NGO-legislators proposing an alternative national budget called "Imperatives of Real and Equitable Growth: An Alternative Proposal for Financing the Millennium Development Goals in the 2007 Budget". This is in response to the proposed national budget of the administration for not being perceptive to the social development needs of the Philippines.