Press Release
December 1, 2009

Loren: Women's voice

Senator Loren Legarda, the vice presidential candidate of Sen. Manny Villar in the May 2010 elections, has emerged as the lone woman candidate for the country's No. 2 post.

A multi-awarded broadcast journalist before she ran for the Senate in 1998, Loren has been at the forefront in the movement to empower women, credited for a number of landmark laws such as the Anti-Violence against Women and Children Act and the Magna Carta for Women.

Loren, along with Villar and the senatorial candidates of the Nationalista Party, filed her certificates of candidacy on Monday, under a "green platform of governance" that would wage a humanitarian campaign for lasting peace, economic recovery and environmental protection.

Other women in the ticket are re-electionist Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Pia Cayetano, Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza, Susan "Toots" Ople, daughter of former Sen. Blas Ople, and Gwen Pimentel-Gana, daughter of Sen. Nene Pimentel.

Apart from pushing for women's issues, Loren has been credited for other landmark legislation such as the Clean Air Act, and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

She has also been named United Nations Asia-Pacific Champion for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction, in recognition of her lifelong environmental advocacy, including as founding chair of the environmental organization Luntiang Pilipinas.

"With my partnership with Senator Manny Villar, we can now truly say that the majority of our poor countrymen are now represented in this, our people's most important fight to bring about meaningful change," she said.

"Whoever said that heroism is long gone is mistaken, proven wrong by the many Filipinos who rose up to the challenge of typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi, including a number who gave up their lives so others may live," she added.

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