Suarez first served as Quezon 3rd districts representative in 1992 and serve for three consecutive terms until 2001. Due to term limitation his wife Aleta Suarez run in 2001. 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. He ran again unopposed during the 2016 election. He then ran for the Speakership in the 17th Congress of the Philippines but lost to SpeakerPantaleon Alvarez where he got 7 votes while Teddy Baguilat got 8 votes. Even though it's 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.
Environmental Advocate
Suarez has been championing the protection of the environment throughout his political career. He opposed the Kaliwa Dam Project in Rizal province during the term of former President Benigno Aquino III. As House Representative, Suarez has been fighting for the growth and development of local palm oil industry, urging the Department of Trade and Industry and other concerned agencies to stop the importation of palm oil in support of the development of the country’s coconut industry. Suarez pushed for a congressional investigation on palm oil importation back in 2013 since it was dragging copra prices down.
Bills filed
Suarez introduced House Bill 599, an Act Mandating the Construction of the Quezon-Bicol Expressway to be called QuBEx, an expressway that shall link the provinces of Quezon with the Bicol regions starting from Malicboy in Pagbilao, Quezon and terminating in the province of Sorsogon in Bicol. He also filed House Bill 6479, an act establishing Quezon Coconut Research and Development Center in Catanauan, Quezon. He filed House Bill 7503, an act declaring Filipino sign language as the National sign language of the Filipino deaf. This was enacted into Republic Act RA11106 on 2018.
