KIKO BENITEZ

Jose Francisco “Kiko” B. Benitez, PhD, is the Representative of the Third District of Negros Occidental, and the current Chairman of the Committee on Housing and Urban Development, and Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Creative Industry and Performing Arts. 

Rep. Benitez has been championing bills that promote new development paradigms to balance the imperatives of social equity, economy and ecology, and aim to harness technological innovations to ensure sustainable economic development.  

He authored bills to address the country’s housing needs; accelerate the digital transformation in the economy and bureaucracy; adapt the education system to the changing world; strengthen creative industries; promote the blue economy, circular economy, food security, and sustainable urbanization, among others. 

Rep. Benitez earned his MA and Ph.D. in comparative literature (minor in Southeast Asian studies) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his Bachelor of Arts in comparative literature (summa cum laude) and English (cum laude) from Cornell University.