Background
Nograles was born in Davao City, and finished his primary and secondary education at the Ateneo de Davao University.
Nograles was born in Davao City, and finished his primary and secondary education at the Ateneo de Davao University.
He then studied at the Ateneo de Manila University, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts Degree major in Political Science in 1967, and his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Ateneo Law School in 1971.
He was elected as the Speaker of the House on February 5, 2008, the first ever elected Speaker from Mindanao in a hundred years in Philippine legislative history. He placed second in the 1971 bar examinations with an average of 90.95%. Nograles was active in the political opposition against President Ferdinand Marcos.
He was involved in the litigation of human rights cases during that period, and was an active campaigner for Corazon Aquino during the 1986 snap presidential elections.
After Aquino assumed the presidency, Nograles sought a seat in the House of Representatives, representing the 1st district of Davao City. He gave up his House seat in 1992 to make an unsuccessful challenge to the re-election of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, but regained the seat in the 1995 election.
In 1998, Nograles again gave up his House seat to make another unsuccessful bid for election as Davao City mayor against Duterte-backed Benjamin de Guzman and lost in his bid. In the 2004 and 2007 elections, Nograles ran unopposed for two consecutive terms.
In his stay in Congress, Nograles was able to author 17 House bills and co-authored 85.
He chaired the Special Committee on Law Enforcement and its subcommittee on Gambling, Committee on Housing and Urban Development, and the Committee on Rules. He was the Majority Floor Leader during the 13th Congress of the Philippines. Before his election as Speaker, he was the head of the House contingent to the Commission on Appointments.
He ran again for the mayorship of Davao City in 2010.
lieutenant"s now against Vice-Mayor Sara Duterte, daughter of mayor Rodrigo Duterte who ran for vice-mayor. However, he was once again unsuccessful.
He filed an election protest against Duterte on the counts of fraud. Shortly after midnight, February 5, 2008, the House of Representatives approved a motion to declare the position of as vacant.
Several minutes later, de Venecia nominated Nograles to be his replacement.
Nograles was immediately elected as Speaker after no other representative was nominated to the post and no objection was posed to his election.
Beginning in 1989, Nograles has been elected to five terms as a member of the House of Representatives, representing the 1st District of Davao City. In early 2008, several members of Congress dissatisfied with the leadership of Jose de Venecia expressed support for Nograles as the new Speaker.