Presentation

1. Senator of the
Philippines
Migz Zubiri

2. MIGZ ZUBIRI
• Juan Miguel "Migz" Fernandez Zubiri (Tagalog: [hwan mɪˈɡɛl
feɾˈnandes zʊˈbɪri]; born April 13, 1969) is a Filipino businessman
and politician serving as the Senate President of the
Philippines since July 25, 2022. Since 2016, he has been on his
second stint in the Senate, first serving from 2007 to 2011. He
previously served as the Senate Majority Leader from 2008 to 2010
and 2018 to 2022, and was the representative of Bukidnon's 3rd
district from 1998 to 2007.

3. • He is also the current chairman of the Philippine Eskrima Kali
Arnis Foundation[5] and the vice chairman of the Philippine Red
Cross.[6]
• Zubiri resigned from the Senate in August 2011 following
allegations of poll fraud during the 2007 elections and an electoral
protest filed by Koko Pimentel. He continued to deny the
allegations.[7][8][9][10] His resignation marked a first in Senate history,
as other senators who left the Senate did so in order to take up
another post in public office.

4. Personal life
• Zubiri was born in Makati, Philippines to a Negrense father
of Spanish Basque heritage, Jose Maria Rubin Zubiri Jr.
from Kabankalan City and a Bicolana mother, Maria Victoria
Ocampo Fernandez of Libon, Albay who was raised in the province
of Bukidnon in Mindanao. He speaks Cebuano, Tagalog, English,
and his father's native Hiligaynon. His father Jose Maria is the
incumbent Bukidnon provincial governor.

5. • Zubiri maintains a residence in the province of Bukidnon.
• On March 16, 2020, Zubiri announced that he was diagnosed
with COVID-19. As of March 27, 2020, he is one of the four highest
ranking Philippine Government official to have been infected with
the SARS-CoV2 including Senator Angara, Senator Pimentel and
AFP Chief of Staff General Santos.

6. Education and athletics
• Zubiri finished elementary and high school in Colegio San Agustin-Makati.
He graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños with a
degree in Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management. He also
earned a Master of Environment and Natural Resources Management
degree from the University of the Philippines Open University.
• Zubiri began training for Arnis, a martial art and the national sport of the
Philippines, at the age of sixteen. He won the Arnis World Championship
title in 1989, defeating Jeff Finder of the United States.[13]
• In 2018, he was conferred with an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal
Institution of Singapore, an unaccredited institution

7. Political career
• Congress
• After serving as chief of staff of his father, Rep. Jose Maria Zubiri, Jr.,
from 1995 to 1998, he ran for the seat representing the third district of
Bukidnon to be vacated by his father in the 1998 elections. Winning easily
in that election, he served his first term in the 10th Congress. During his
first term, he was one of the members of what the media dubbed as the
"Spice Boys", a group of neophyte and two-term congressmen who were
openly critical of President Joseph Estrada's administration. He was
subsequently re-elected to the Philippine House of Representatives in
the 2001 and 2004 elections.

8. Senate
• After serving as a congressman for three terms, he was drafted by Lakas
CMD to be one of their candidates in the pro-Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo administration TEAM Unity ticket for the 2007 mid-term elections.
• In the final tally for the 2007 senatorial race by the Philippine Commission
on Elections (Comelec), Rep. Zubiri narrowly defeated opposition
candidate Koko Pimentel for the 12th and last slot in the Senate. Zubiri
had a total of 11,001,730 votes against Pimentel's 10,983,358
votes.[15] The margin of some 18,372 votes was strongly contested,
particularly the votes from the southern Philippine province
of Maguindanao, where Pimentel had lost to Zubiri by a landslide.

9. • Claiming that the votes in Maguindanao were tainted,[16] Pimentel petitioned
the Philippine Supreme Court to invalidate the votes from Maguindanao,
effectively disenfranchising a whole province. The Supreme Court voted
unanimously 14 -0 against Pimentel and allowed the COMELEC (Commission on
Elections) to count the votes in Zubiri's favor. Pimentel then returned to the
Supreme Court for a second time. This time, he petitioned the justices to issue a
restraining order against the proclamation of Zubiri. After oral arguments,
however, the High Tribunal again voted to uphold the COMELEC's decision to
proclaim Zubiri, consequently failing to grant Pimentel's petition.[17] The next day,
July 14, 2007, Zubiri was duly proclaimed elected to the Philippine Senate.
However, the Court's judgment did not prevent Pimentel from bringing his poll
protests to the Senate Electoral Tribunal.

10. • On March 14, 2008, the Supreme Court, in a 40-page decision penned by
Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, dismissed Koko Pimentel petition to stop
the Commission on Elections from canvassing votes from the province
of Maguindanao,[18] a definite morale booster for Senator Zubiri.
• While serving his stint in the Senate, Zubiri began advocating a more in-depth
study of biofuels in order to prevent food shortages, all the while allowing current
production of alternative clean energy and biofuels so as to lessen dependence
on imported oil and allow the Philippine economy a new avenue of economic
success, "especially in this day and age of constant rising oil prices".[19] In the
14th Congress of the Philippine Senate, he became Senate Majority Leader,
replacing Senator Francis Pangilinan on November 17, 2008.[3] During his
Majority Leadership, the Senate passed a record 650 bills