Representative Joey Sarte Salceda is now serving his 2nd term as Congressman of the Second Congressional District of the Province of Albay. He is currently the Chairperson of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Vice Chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations and Committee on Economic Affairs this 18th Congress. He is also the Co-Chairperson of the Economic Stimulus Response Package (ESRP) Cluster of the Defeat COVID-19 Special Committee.
His work in the House of Representatives started when he was voted unopposed in his 1st term as Congressman of the Third District of Albay. This was followed by two more terms (1998-2007) holding key positions such as Chairman of the Committees on Appropriation, Economic Affairs, Oversight and Trade & Industry. He then served as the Chairperson of the House Special Committee on Climate Change for the 17th Congress, where he also became the Senior Vice Chairman of the House Committees on Ways and Means, Economic Affairs, and Local
Government; and Vice Chairman of House Committee on Appropriations.
He also served as an economic adviser to various Philippine presidents, and was the Presidential Chief-of-Staff of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Prior to being elected to Congress, he also worked as the Chief-of-Staff of then Congressman Raul S. Roco and was a Congressional Fellow under Speaker Ramon V. Mitra.
Representative Salceda is the principal author of the following laws:
He is also a principally authored bills which were enacted into 11 other laws passed during the
In the 18th Congress, Representative Salceda is the principal author of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, the largest tax reform initiative since 1997. He is also the principal author of the Comprehensive Education Reform Agenda, a series of ten education reform bills aimed at strengthening the country’s education system.
For his efforts as a senior legislator, Salceda has been given various awards and recognitions recently. For championing and principally authoring the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Law, Representative Salceda was honored with the CHED Gawad Parangal. As principal proponent of the corporate income tax exemption for the Pag-IBIG Fund, he was awarded the Lingkod Pag-Ibig CEO Award. As a leading partner and advocate for skills development, both in Albay and nationally, he was also given the TESDA Kabalikat National Award.
Representative Salceda was elected as Chairperson of the Department of National Defense MultiSector Advisory Council (DND MSAC) for the implementation of the Philippine Defense Transformation Roadmap 2028. He was also the Chairperson of the Regional Advisory Committee for Philippine National Police Transformation and Development (RACPTD).
Before heading to Congress, Representative Salceda was formerly a 3-term Governor of Albay and was unopposed in four of six gubernatorial elections. He was also a 3-term Chairman of Regional Development Council (RDC) of Region V having been solely nominated for the position.
Under his leadership as Governor which started in 2007, the Province of Albay gained various recognitions both in the local and international community. Albay has been named by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as the Best Province in Local Governance, ranking No. 1 among the 80 provinces. Its disaster management body, the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) is a pioneer in Asia, leading the Province of Albay to its Galing Pook Award for Outstanding Governance Program on Disaster Preparedness; and the Gawad Kalasag Hall of Fame Award for Best Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for three consecutive years. In 2016, the Province of Albay was declared by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve; was awarded with Manuel L. Quezon Achiever’s Award from the Department of Health (DOH) for its implementation of the National Tuberculosis Control Program and for achieving the status of a tuberculosis-free province; and was also awarded with Tourism Star Philippines Award from the Department of Tourism (DOT) for his efforts in the growth of its tourism industry that is recognized globally.
Representative Salceda understands the impacts of climate change and has been active in ensuring that legal frameworks are properly laid to minimize its risks. He has been a member of the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the finance arm of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC). He was elected its Co-Chairperson (for Developing Countries) – the first Asian to chair the GCF – which was established by the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in December 2011. It is intended to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. He was also acknowledged as the First Senior Global Champion on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR).
In addition, Representative Salceda also pioneered the establishment of the Climate Change Academy – the first in the country. He is recognized as the “Green Economist” and the father of the “Albay and Manila Declarations on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)”. Both declarations paved the way for the enactment of the Republic Act 9723 (The Climate Change Act of 2009) and Republic Act 10121 (The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act). These laws established disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation as both a national and local priority for building community resilience to climate change impacts and disasters.
Representative Salceda has worked with Swiss Bank Corporation Warburg and ING Barings, and was named the best analyst (and the best paid as well) in the 90’s.
A native of Polangui, Albay, he was born in 1961. He is a graduate of Bachelor of Science major in Management Engineering, Cum Laude at the Ateneo De Manila University. He earned his Masters Degree in Business Management with a Distinction from Asian Institute of Management and was conferred Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa by the Bicol University.