Prospero Pichay Jr. is a Filipino politician who served as Representative of Surigao del Sur's 1st district from 1998 to 2007 and from 2016 to 2022. He was chairman of the House Committee on National Defense and deputy speaker. He owns various business interests. Pichay faced allegations of corruption related to his time as head of the Local Waterworks and Utilities Administration from 2008 to 2011 and was dismissed by the Ombudsman, though he appealed the decision. He was reelected to Congress in 2016 and 2019.

1. 18TH CONGRESS
OF THE
PHILIPPINES
CONGRESSMAN PROSPERO PICHAY
JR.

2. PROSPERO A. PICHAY JR.
• Prospero Arreza Pichay Jr. (Tagalog pronunciation: [prosˈpero ˈpittʃaɪ], born
June 20, 1950), also known as Butch Pichay, is a Filipino politician who
served as Representative of Surigao del Sur's 1st district in the Philippine
House of Representatives from 1998 to 2007 and from 2016 to 2022. He
was the chairman of the House Committee on National Defense in
the 13th Congress and deputy speaker in the 17th and 18th Congresses.
He is a member of the formerly dominant political party Kabalikat ng
Malayang Pilipino and was a senatorial aspirant in the 2007 Philippine
Senate election but lost.

3. EARLY LIFE
• Pichay was born on june 20, 1950, in the town of cantilan in the then-
province of surigao (now surigao del sur). He is the son of former carmen,
surigao del sur provincial treasurer prospero pichay sr. He is the brother
of philip pichay, a former congressman and mayor of cantilan. He is also
a relative of wenceslao arreza, former mayor of carmen, surigao del sur;
alfred arreza, former mayor of carrascal, surigao del sur; and carmeling
pichay-crisologo, former governor of ilocos sur whose husband is former
ilocos sur representative floro crisologo.
• Pichay went to tandag central elementary school and graduated in 1962.
He went to saint peter's seminary of surigao and graduated in 1966. He
graduated bachelor of science in commerce at de la salle
university in manila in 1970.

4. CAREER
• Pichay is the owner of carlo commercial publishing, a
printing press, and carlo publishing, the makers of hit
street tabloid "remate". He also owns DZME a
commercial AM radio station in roosevelt avenue
in quezon city.

5. POLITICAL CAREER
• Congressman (1998-2007)
• Pichay ran for congressman for the 1st district of surigao del sur in the 1998 elections and
won.
• In 2000, pichay joined fellow congressmen who endorsed the verified complaint
against president joseph estrada. Coming under the heels of EDSA 2, congress was
reorganized and pichay was elected chairman of the house committee on national defense.
He was again named to the same post when his constituents overwhelmingly voted him into
office in the elections for the 12th congress.
• Pichay ran for congressman for the 1st district of surigao del sur in the 1998 elections and
won.
• In 2000, pichay joined fellow congressmen who endorsed the verified complaint
against president joseph estrada. Coming under the heels of EDSA 2, congress was
reorganized and pichay was elected chairman of the house committee on national defense.
He was again named to the same post when his constituents overwhelmingly voted him into
office in the elections for the 12th congress.

6. • Pichay voted to junk the 2005 and 2006 impeachment complaints against
president gloria macapagal arroyo. At the height of the "hello garci scandal", he
said there was nothing wrong with arroyo talking to commission on
elections officials, as all candidates talk to them to protect their votes. In october
2006, pichay authored house resolution 1285, which sought to convene
a constituent assembly to amend the 1987 constitution. One of his proposals is
the abolition of the philippine senate and the creation of a unicameral
parliament. The resolution was widely opposed by civil society and church
groups and the resolution was shelved on the same month.
• When the department of justice announced a plan to ban all government officials
from going to bars, karaoke joints and other nightspots, pichay assailed the
move as the "highest form of hypocrisy." Pichay believed there was nothing
wrong with going to bars if public officials do it on their own time, saying
“moralizing is very subjective. We should not mix it with governance."

7. • During his time as congressman, pichay contributed to the following laws:
• RA 9355 - act creating the province of dinagat islands
• RA 9340 - amending RA 9164 to extend the terms of office
of barangay officials and reset the date of barangay elections
• RA 9344 - juvenile justice and welfare act
• Senatorial bid[edit]
• Pichay ran for senator in 2007 under TEAM unity but lost after placing
16th in the overall results. He reportedly spent P127.39 million for
campaign ads, the highest candidate expenditure for that election.

8. LOCAL WATERWORKS AND UTILITIES
ADMINISTRATION
• Following his defeat, it was rumored that pichay would be appointed by president arroyo
as head of the overseas workers welfare administration.[3] it was later reported that he
would be appointed as a member of the board and chair of the local waterworks and
utilities administration (LWUA). On august 28, 2008, pichay announced that he will not
accept his appointment as board member of the LWUA, for he is satisfied with his
current job in a private company.[4][5][6] however, on september 4, he changed his mind
and accepted his appointment. Eduardo ermita announced that pichay has decided to
accept his appointment as board member with a nomination to be elected as chair.
• In september 2010, an employees' group of the lwua filed a plunder complaint against
pichay before the office of the ombudsman for allegedly using the agency's money for
his personal interest. The complaints stemmed from lwua's ₱780-million investment in
the express savings bank, inc.[

9. • In april 2011, during the administration of president benigno aquino III, criminal and
administrative charges were filed against pichay and other LWUA officials for their
"highly irregular" and "anomalous" acquisition of a controlling stake at express savings
bank, inc., A thrift bank in cabuyao, laguna, owned by the gatchalian family which
suffered losses of up to ₱27.87 million from 2005 to 2009.
• On july 4, 2011, the ombudsman ordered the dismissal of pichay and two other officials
for grave misconduct in connection to the 2009 acquisition of express savings bank, inc.
By LWUA. They were stripped of all benefits and were permanently disqualified from
working in government. Pichay responded by saying his dismissal was "political
harassment"[11] and accused the aquino administration of getting back at him for his
staunch support for the previous arroyo administration.[12] he appealed to the court of
appeals in october 2011[13] but his dismissal was upheld in november 2013.[14] he then
appealed to the supreme court whose first division in november 2021 found no merit to
reverse the previous decisions of the ombudsman and the court of appeals.

10. CONGRESSMAN (2016–22)
• Pichay ran for congress in the 2016 philippine general election to regain his seat from
neophyte congresswoman mary elizabeth ty-delgado who was not seeking reelection.
He won the election, receiving 90,843 votes.[17]
• On july 13, 2016, a petition was filed before the house of representatives electoral
tribunal against pichay by his opponent in the election, gregorio murillo, jr. Murillo stated
that pichay was ineligible to run for public office since the july 2011 decision of the
ombudsman disqualified him from working in government.[17] the petition was later
dismissed for lack of merit due to pichay's then-pending appeal in the supreme court.
• In october 2016, pichay filed an ethics complaint against surigao del norte 2nd
district representative ace barbers following a confrontation between the two during a
hearing of the house committee on constitutional amendments.[19] the two got into a
heated argument during discussions on whether the panel should vote on
recommending a constituent assembly or a constitutional commission to amend
the 1987 constitution.

11. • The two congressmen previously had a squabble back in 2005 when pichay moved to "kick
out" barbers from the lakas–cmd party of then-president arroyo following the latter's backing
of the impeachment complaint against the president.
• Pichay was a member of the house committees on agriculture and food, energy, foreign
affairs, good government and public accountability, government enterprises and
privatization, information and communications technology, mindanao affairs, and national
defense and security during the 17th congress.
• In august 2018, following the ascension of pampanga representative gloria macapagal
arroyo to speaker of the house, pichay was elected house deputy speaker, replacing
representative miro quimbo who resigned to pursue his bid for minority leadership.
• In the 2019 philippine house of representatives elections, pichay again ran for another term.
A disqualification case was filed against him by his predecessor former congresswoman
mary elizabeth ty-delgado. The petition cited the same july 2011 ombudsman decision that
barred pichay from working in government. Pichay responded by saying that the case has
not been decided with finality and that a similar petition was junked by the COMELEC during
the 2016 elections.[24] he further argued that as a member of the house of representatives,
he was not subject to disciplinary actions of the ombudsman.[25] he later won the
congressional seat with 102,361 votes.