Empowered women in Congress

In the most recent history of the Philippine Senate, it is in the 19th Congress that has the most number of women Senators. There are currently seven woman Senators who constitute almost one third of the entire 24 Senate seats. In fact, one of the seven woman Senators is the country’s first woman Senate president pro tempore, Loren Legarda.

Five of the woman Senators are considered veteran already in the lawmaking body. They are, namely, Senators Cynthia Villar, Imee Marcos, Pia Cayetano, Grace Poe, and Risa Hontiveros. Except for Poe, they also once served at the House of Representatives. And the once neophyte and is now on her second term of office in the Upper Chamber is Sen. Nancy Binay.

After her second and last term at the Senate, Legarda went to run for a congressional seat in her home province in Antique in the May, 2019 elections. Currently, the 63-year old Legarda is at the Senate for a third term. She is the only woman also to become Senate majority leader.

According to the records of the Senate, Legarda is the only female who topped the senatorial elections twice, with more than 15 million and 18.4 million votes in 1998 and 2007 elections, respectively. Thus, she was wooed twice also to run for the Vice Presidency (VP). But she lost unfortunately in both VP bids.

As one proverb says: “You can’t keep a good (wo)man down.”

On the occasion of the National Women’s Month observed starting March 8, Legarda stood at the Senate floor and delivered a message “on a matter of personal and collective privilege” in behalf of the working wives, mothers and single Moms like her. On a higher plane of discussions, Legarda noted, the United Nations (UN) this year decided that the theme for the annual observance of Women’s Month is “something rather fresh.” The UN theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for Gender Equality” was chosen for 2023.

She turned emotional when she digressed from her prepared privilege speech. “Some issues might surprise us. When I first heard about unpaid or underpaid work, I realized that it was an issue that was invisible to me,” she cited. Then she went on to explain: “It is difficult to imagine the true monetary value of the hands that patted your bottom as a child to put you to sleep, the ones that scoured gardens and markets for what to put on the table, the feet that trudged kilometers to fetch water, the grandmother that raised her grandkids.”

Interspersed in Tagalog, the quavering voice of Legarda tried to cite many other examples of sacrifices that women workers have to do and suffer for the sake of raising their children and family. By hiring household helpers, Legarda explained, working mothers try to ensure the needs of their families are attended while they are out of the house to work for a living.

“I suppose monetizing this has not been foremost on the agenda, partly because it is priceless,” Legarda pointed out. Legarda, however, stressed, working mothers must still do some of these chores for their loved ones. And lawmakers like her are no exceptions, she added.

Legarda related her personal experience during her first Senate stint while her two sons were then growing up, one is eight years old and the younger one was five years old then. Her tears eventually gave way and Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva who was standing nearby handed her a facial tissue to wipe her tears.

“We must recognize it, reduce such labor by helping make such work easier and more efficient, redistribute the burden by having others help, actually rewarding such work, and finally representing the sector, giving them a voice,” she called out her fellow legislators.

In their counterparts at the Lower House, Tingog party list Rep.Yedda Romualdez ceremonially celebrated the Women’s Month at the halls of Congress. She is the wife of House Speaker, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez. Instead of the Speaker, she headed the all-women House leaders who presided last Monday’s plenary sessions at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City.

Seated at the Speaker’s rostrum table, Rep.Yedda banged the gavel to signal the start of the sessions. “It is an honor to be present today (Monday) with fellow women who work tirelessly to make the Philippines a better place for our countrymen,” she cited.

She lauded Filipina legislators as women who “are powerful agents of change, and the advancement of women in the society, including increased leadership and decision-making roles, is a positive indicator of progress for all of us.”

“Women have become trailblazers and powerful figures in their own fields of specialization and the world can no longer deny us of our rightful place in society’s leadership,” she added.

Pursuant to Sec. 15 (H), Rule IV of the rules of the House, the Speaker has designated Yedda and Representatives Linabelle Ruth Villarica, Florida Robes, Rosanna Vergara, Lorna Silverio, Anna York Bondoc, Ma. Lucille Nava, Ruth Mariano-Hernandez, Midy Cua, Ysabel Maria Zamora, Margarita Nograles as presiding officers during the session.

This is not to mention former President-turned Congresswoman of Pampanga Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is the Senior Deputy Speaker.

As of last headcount, there are 86 congresswomen out of 314 House members. The 86 included elected female legislators from various party list groups like Tingog. Their fellow Congressman teased the Romualdez couple by addressing Yedda as “the real Speaker of the House.”

More than the ceremonial observance of the Women’s Month, the Lower House approved yesterday on second reading a re-filed bill that would allow married women to retain their maiden surname. The proposed bill seeks to provide equality between men and women before the law by allowing married women to retain their maiden surname. This bill was actually first re-filed and approved during the previous Congress but never got out of the legislative mills.

Our women legislators are already more than empowered in Congress. Obviously, however, they are still outnumbered in the lawmaking body.