Trade Union Congress Party Representative Raymond Democrito Mendoza (House of Representatives website)
An advocate of laborers' rights and welfare, Raymond Democrito Mendoza has been Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP Partylist) representative since the 14th Congress.
TUCP Partylist was set up by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the country's biggest confederation of labor federations, composed of 23 labor federations with a membership of some 480,000.
According to its website, TUCP was founded by Mendoza's father, Democrito T. Mendoza, on Dec. 14, 1975, to "unite into a strong and dynamic labor center."
Born in Cebu City on July 7, 1962, Mendoza earned a degree in Philosophy at Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1983, obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of San Carlos in 1993, and passed the bar examination in 1998. The representative also earned a master's degree in Business Administration at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2002.
He is married to North Cotabato Governor EmmylouTaliño-Mendoza. He is the father of Cotabato 3rd District Congresswoman Ma. Alana Samantha Santos, and Emilio Ramon Mendoza, according to information sent by TUCP to Manila Bulletin,
As a legislator, Mendoza has prioritized the welfare of local and migrant workers and the vulnerable and marginalized by being one of the principal authors of HB 7773 or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act (4Ps), the Magna Carta of the Poor, and the Department of Migrant Workers Act, which aims to serve the needs and concerns of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). He also pushes for the passage of the Security of Tenure Bill, which aims to stop the practice of labor-only contracting.
Currently, Mendoza serves as one of the House of Representatives Deputy Speakers in the 19th Congress. In the last Congress, he sat as the chairperson of the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs and vice-chairperson of the Committee on Labor and Employment and the Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regulation, his office said.
Other notable assignments were the chairperson of the following committees during the 16th Congress: Committee on East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA) from August 2013 to June 2014, Special Committee on Food Security from July to October 2015, and the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs from October 2015 to June 2016.
He also served as the chairperson of the Committee on Poverty Alleviation and vice chairperson of the Committee on Labor and Employment, and the Committee on People's Participation during the 15th Congress,
Mendoza has concurrently served as TUCP's president since April 2016. He has also been serving as the chairman of the Associated Philippine Seafarers Union (APSU) since February 2022, the national vice president for Mindanao affairs of Associated Labor Unions – TUCP (ALU-TUCP) since July 2011, the president of Veterans Federation of the Philippines – Sons and Daughters Association Inc. (VFP-SDAI) since December 2019, and as a titular member of the Regional General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) – Asia Pacific since October 2019.