Mr. Bichara, a businessman, is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and holds a Masters degree in Business Administration. Mr. Bichara is a licensed pilot, who loves to fly in small planes as a hobby. He is a licensed scuba diver and an avid tennis player.

Honorable Bichara is a second-generation Lebanese in the Philippines. His father, Don Alfonso Panayotti Bichara, was a businessman from Lebanon, who permanently settled in the Philippines after he married a Filipino national, Doña Anacleta Garcia Del Castillo, who hails from Camarines Sur. Mr. Bichara was born in Naga, Camarines Sur. He is the father of seven children.