Joel Villanueva

Joel Villanueva is a senator in the 19th Congress, serving his second term since 2016.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in commerce from University of Santo Tomas and took up special studies in business administration at Harvard University. He was also conferred an honorary doctorate degree in humanities by Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

Villanueva is the son of evangelist Eddie Villanueva, founder and spiritual director of the Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide.

His political career started in the House of Representatives, where he represented party-list group Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption from 2001 to 2010. From 2010 to 2015, he led the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority during the Aquino administration, for which he was conferred by the former president with the the prestigious Order of Lakandula – one of the highest honors given by the Philippines.

Villanueva joined the Senate in 2016 and was reelected for a second consecutive term in 2022. Months after his election in 2016, he was ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman after he was found liable for misuse of pork barrel back in 2008. But the Senate did not dismiss Villanueva, adopting the opinion of its legal counsel that the Senate has an “inherent power” to discipline and punish its members.

In Congress, he was a proponent of important laws such as the Anti Red-Tape Act and those on Filipino workers, including the Salary Standardization Law and the Department of Migrant Workers Act, among others.

He served as Senate majority leader from 2022 to 2024. He currently chairs the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.