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Women have gone a long way at the Senate since the election of
Geronima Pecson as the first lady senator in November 1947 and
served for two terms. From 1947 to 1965, only one lady senator was
elected in each election—Pecson, 1947 to 1953, Pacita
Madrigal,1956to 1961, Maria Kalaw Katigbak in the 1961 election.
Now, in the Fourteenth Congress, there are four lady senators—Pia
Cayetano, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Loren Legarda and Jamby
Madrigal. Four is the biggest number of lady senators ever and this
was also reached at the Eleventh Congress and the Thirteenth
Congress.
I now fear that the strides made by lady
politicians would be set back by the latest incident between Pia and
Senator Madrigal. The two entered the Senate at the same time, in
2004, and almost immediately, Madrigal showed her antagonism towards
Pia. A member of the majority, Pia was given two committee posts,
one of which was coveted by Madrigal, who belonged to the minority.
When Pia said she was willing to give up one of the committees in
favor of Madrigal, the latter angrily retorted that committee
chairmanship is not a thing that could be given to somebody as a
favor.
Bad blood
The “bad blood” between the two was also
discernible each time Pia sponsored something on the floor. Madrigal
would ask for the submission of even minute details about the
subject. Maybe, Pia would have wanted to return the “favor,”
except that Madrigal had never sponsored anything since 2004. Oh
yes, she did sponsor one—the Juvenile Justice System—as chairman
of the Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations.
However, she later disowned the bill, interpellated the sponsor,
proposed amendments and even voted against it—unthinkable for a
chairman of a sponsoring committee if you ask me.
The latest “encounter” between the two took
place last Tuesday when Pia held a hearing on protected areas as
chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural
Resources. Madrigal walked out of the hearing after failing to
convince Pia to hold separate hearings on each of the 30 bills on
protected areas, and called her “a spoiled brat.” She had also
derided Pia as one who was not born with a silver spoon. The
Madrigals (Pacita Madrigal, the second senator of the land was her
aunt) are old rich that made their fortune in shipping and mining,
among other businesses.
I may be partial towards Pia but I do know that
she would call as many hearings as possible to get full data and
cross-section opinions on a bill. Her industry might have escaped
public notice because very often, her committee hearings were not
extensively covered by the media. In several such hearings, I was
the only newsman present and in some instances, I was joined by
Bulletin’s Mar Casayuran. During the holiday break, Pia was
conducting hearings while others were enjoying their vacation.
Jamby’s record
Madrigal would have been more credible in
seeking more committee hearings had she been as industrious as Pia
in conducting them. Since 2004, she had never sponsored on the floor
any of the hundreds of bills referred to her committees. In the
Fourteenth Congress, I think she did hold one committee
“hearing,” but this was held in The Netherlands and by his
lonesome, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Peace, Unity and
Reconciliation.
Her negligence as chairman of the Senate
Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations was also evident in
her inaction on various bills proposing a Magna Carta for Women. A
group of women activists led by Inquirer columnist Rina Jimenez
David went to the Senate Wednesday to lobby for passage of the
proposed law, whose bills had been languishing in Madrigal’s
committee.
The Magna Carta for Women seeks to give more
teeth to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women that was adopted in 1979 by the United
Nations and ratified by the Senate in August 1981. Although it has
been in force for 26 years in the Philippines, Filipino women
continue to suffer from various forms of discrimination. The
proposed Magna Carta for Women is meant to strengthen the promotion
of gender equality in the country, which should be a priority for
Madrigal’s committee.
Incidentally, there are six bills pending in the
Senate on the Magna Carta for Women. These bills were filed by
Senators Manuel Villar, Bong Revilla, Ping Lacson, Loren Legarda,
Edgardo Angara and Pia Cayetano. Could Pia’s authorship have any
bearing on Madrigal’s failure to act on the bills? Expect media,
to give full coverage to that hearing if and when it is held in
anticipation of sparks flying between the two again.
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com
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