Know Your Candidate: Leody de Guzman
Esquire Philippines is running a series of profiles on the most high-profile candidates for the position of President of the Philippines during the 2022 elections. This is intended to educate and inform Filipino voters as they make the potentially life-changing decision of choosing the country’s next leader.
Full Name: Leodigario “Leody” de Guzman
Birthdate: 25 July 1959
Age: 62
Birthplace: Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines
Languages Spoken: Filipino, English
Family
Wife: Marieza Tolentino
Children: Prolan, Lea, and Dexter
De Guzman’s parents were farmers. His wife and children are full-time employees or small business owners. The family lives in Cainta, Rizal.
Education
Elementary: Rosauro Almario Elementary School
Secondary: Naujan Academy
Tertiary: . De Guzman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Customs Administration at the Philippine Maritime Institute.
After graduating, he worked for 13 years at a leather gloves factory to support his parents and family.
Affiliations
De Guzman was a member of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), which he left in 1993. He then became the Deputy General Secretary of Bukluran ng Manggagawa para sa Pagbabago (BMP).
He is a member of the international council of the International Center for Labor Solidarity. He is also vice president of the Asia Regional Organization of Bank, Insurance and Finance Unions.
He is also a member of the board of trustees of PhilRights and Bulig Visayas.
Legal Proceedings
As an activist, De Guzman was arrested multiple times while protesting during Martial Law. He was accused of breaking into the World Bank headquarters and stealing 3,000 pages of confidential documents connecting the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to Marcos. De Guzman has said that he “cannot work with” Marcos should the two of them win.
Politics
Leody ran for senator in 2019 under the opposition Otso Diretso slate and for the House of Representatives in 2016 under Sanlakas. He failed to win a seat both times.
If elected, De Guzman said he will first solve hunger and malnutrition
Advocacies and Platforms
Social Issues
- End contractualization
- Dissolve the Rice Tariffication Law
- End destructive Mining
- Immediate repeal of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020
- Support for women’s reproductive self-determination
- Decriminalization of abortion
- Uphold marriage equality and support alternative family arrangements
- Uphold non-majoritarian ethnic communities
- Support the passage of the divorce bill
On the Marcos Family
- De Guzman wants to exhume the remains of the late dictator Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani
- He plans to seize the P126 billion Marcos ill-gotten wealth to boost the COVID-19 response budget
- He has proposed the review of Philippine history books and to fight attempts of historical revisionism
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