Danilo Suarez

Suarez attended West 1 and Quezon High in Lucena. As a working student, he tried everything from shining shoes, to selling newspapers, to being a hotel bellboy. Armed with nothing but his wits, he moved to Manila to find greener pastures. There, he met his wife Aleta. They had a difficult life, but perseverance rewarded them with better opportunities. The Suarez couple found their calling as entrepreneurs, and in 1992, started giving back to the people of Quezon through public service.^[7]

Suarez first served as Quezon 3rd district representative in 1992 and served for three consecutive terms until 2001. Due to term limitation, his wife Aleta ran in 2001.^[3][8] He was appointed as vice chair of the National Road Board by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. After his wife's term ended, he served for three consecutive terms from 2004 to 2013. On January 16, 2012, Suarez assumed post as Minority Floor Leader of the House of Representatives of the Philippines replacing Edcel Lagman who earlier resigned due to a term-sharing agreement.^[9][10][11]

He ran again unopposed during the 2016 election. He then ran for the Speakership in the 17th Congress of the Philippines but lost to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez where he got 7 votes while Teddy Baguilat got 8 votes. Even though it is a tradition that the one who got the second highest votes is automatically the minority floor leader, a change in the house rules says that there should be an election within the minority bloc. He won as minority floor leader during the election on July 27, 2016, with 22 votes and 3 abstentions.^{[4][12][13][14]}

Suarez was elected Governor of Quezon in 2019. He assumed office on June 30, 2019, succeeding his son David.^[18]

He ran for reelection in 2022, but lost to 4th district representative Angelina "Helen" Tan.