Joey truly comes from a political family as his mom, Victoria Perez (now married to Glyn Norton), is the daughter of former speaker Eugenio Perez of the first Philippine congress. But although politics run in his blood, he never thought of going into politics himself since he has a master's degree in accounting from Fordham University in the U.S. where he was a full scholar. . "I chose to be in the private sector as a businessman," he says. "I put up the first call center in our country in 1997. It now gives jobs to about a million people all over the country. I actually started as an OFW in Kuwait and Iraq until war broke out in 1981 between Iraq and Iran."
Being a whistleblower in the ZTE scandal changed his life. "Isinama nila ako sa negotiations then as I brought broadband in the Philippines, but sobrang katiwalian ang involved, hindi ko masikmura. P500 million ang suhol sa'kin pero di ko tinanggap. Maraming banta sa buhay ko as they lost P16 billion after the contract was cancelled. Up to now, I get warnings from friends in the military not to go to this place on such and such a date as my life would be in danger. Lahat ng taong connected sa family ko, tinanggalan ng trabaho. Now, I look at it as parang part of a purification process for me. The whole experience brought me rto God. Parang itinakda ng tadhana pati itong pagtakbo ko sa senado as representative ng private sector."
If ever the ZTE scandal would be filmed, who would like to play him on screen? "Siguro si John Lloyd Cruz, kasi hindi nagkakalayo ang hitsura namin," he says.
