In 1979, he finished the Bachelor of Laws degree from University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos and passed the Bar Examinations conducted by the Supreme Court of the Philippines with a rating of 81.90% that same year.

[3] From 1978 to 1986, he first entered public service as Provincial Field Coordinator of Negros Occidental for the Department of Tourism, holding the position for almost nine years.

In the 1998 Philippine general election, however, he was defeated by Oscar Verdeflor, who won the mayoralty seat, with his running mate, Luzviminda Valdez as vice mayor.

One of Leonardia's brothers, Andres, aged 62, was found dead with a bullet wound in the head in his room in Silay City, Negros Occidental in the morning of January 2, 2013.

The police chief of Silay, superintendent Arturo Francisco, ruled that it was a case of accidental firing as there was nothing to show that there was foul play or that it was a suicide.

Both Evelio Leonardia and the previous incumbent, Puentevella, filed their certificates of candidacy in October 2015 for the mayoral post in the 2016 local elections of Bacolod.

Billionaire businessman and rival Albee Benitez for the position of city mayor managed to unseat him in the local 2022 Philippine general election.

The graft case was dismissed by the Sandiganbayan in February 2018 [7] and the ombudsman appointee by the president Duterte, Samuel Martires cleared him of the charges.

Evelio Leonardia is married to Elsa Jeruta Fuentes, who graduated summa cum laude from the University of St. La Salle.