Legarda urges creation of OFW hospital

Senator Loren Legarda wants the Senate to immediately pass the bill she authored creating the Migrant Workers Hospital so that returning OFWs can avail themselves of medical care.

Loren cited official statistics that 42 percent of returning or repatriated OFWs require immediate medical attention or hospital confinement.

“Many OFWs suffer exploitation and even physical abuse in the hands of their employers. Some arrive home with physical ailments, while others even have mental problems. But is government ready to help them?” Loren asked.

“Unfortunately, because many of them can no longer stand the abuse or exploitation, they are unable to finish their contracts and so they come home with little or no money,” Loren observed.

The Senator said that if it is official policy to encourage OFW deployment, then it should be the responsibility of government to look after their welfare, even after they have returned home.

She noted that few OFWs can afford urgent medical care or hospitalization. Nor can the families of ailing OFWs afford to shoulder the cost of medical care even if they have been receiving dollar remittances. Fewer still are able to get insurance that would cover medical emergencies.

Loren envisions the Migrant Workers’ Hospital as part of a comprehensive package of health services that the government, through the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, can provide OFWs.

“When they return from abroad, then they can go direct to the Migrant Workers’ Hospital. They should not have to worry about where to go for a check-up. The hospital should be able to provide all the services they need,” Loren said.

Loren said that while the senators are still deliberating this bill, she hopes they would be able to pass this important piece of legislation before the forthcoming elections, “so that we can repay the OFWs for the sacrifices they have made for their families and for the nation.” Loren has likewise initiated the earmarking of funds in the 2010 budget to financially assist the medical needs of returning OFWs and their families.

Source: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

Legarda welcomes Makabayan endorsement

Sen. Loren Legarda welcomed today the endorsement of the Villar-Legarda ticket by Makabayan, the coalition of mainstream progressive groups in the country.

Legarda, the vice presidential candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition who is running in tandem with Sen. Manny Villar, standard bearer of the Nacionalista Party, said she is “happy and proud” to accept Makabayan’s endorsement, as this would enhance the party’s chances in the coming national election.

The senator pointed out that this is the first time that the mainstream legal Left has forged a “strong unity for a common platform of reform” with another mainstream political party such as the NP.

Legarda emphasized that the alliance with Makabayan “did not materialize overnight”, but she and Sen. Villar were “keen to push the partnership despite the many obstacles” and ideological differences.

The Villar-Legarda ticket includes Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Women’ Party Rep. Liza Maza as part of its senatorial slate.

Legarda said that the NP alliance with Makabayan manifests their “common commitment to pursue social justice, poverty alleviation, good governance, peace and environmental sustainability for our country.”

She cited the “sterling records” of Congressman Ocampo and Congresswoman Maza in pursuing these goals in the Lower House. “We respect them, as much as they are fully aware of our own track records and integrity in promoting the same in the Senate,” Legarda said.

Legarda said the NP-Makabayan alliance is “not only a major breakthrough in our own electoral campaign, but perhaps more importantly, a harbinger of an emerging unity of broad forces in our nation.”

Legarda said the alliance would work together to address the problems of poverty, natural disasters related to climate change, corruption, civil strife and rampant lawlessness that “threaten the very fabric of our society and endanger the future of the younger generation.”

The NP-Makabayan team-up, Legarda said, “is a much-needed step towards dialogue, tolerance and genuine pluralism that augur well for the maturation of our democracy.”

Source: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

NPC says Loren is VP bet to beat

MANILA, Philippines - Barring any hitches, the leadership of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) expressed confidence yesterday that Sen. Loren Legarda will emerge as the winner in the vice presidential race in the May 2010 elections.

NPC spokesman Rex Gatchalian said they are not surprised at all that the female legislator is leading in the surveys, as shown by the latest one released by Pulse Asia. He added this “elated” party members and even “inspired” them to do more in helping her candidacy.

“We always believed that intrinsically Loren is a strong candidate. She is the genuine candidate of the masses. This can be attested by the fact that it is the masses that embraced and supported her which explains why she topped the senatorial race twice.”

Legarda lost the vice presidential post to Noli de Castro, a former colleague in ABS-CBN, in the May 2004 elections. Though she insisted she won in the polls, her candidacy - for the second time next year - meant she may have waived her rights in contesting it.

Gatchalian said Legarda’s continued strong showing can be attributed to her dedicated and sincere efforts to promote her advocacies of saving the environment, championing the cause of women and children and protecting the interests of OFWs.

“I think the people like what they see in her performance as a public servant and in her commitment to further her advocacies.” Gatchalian, a congressman from Valenzuela, explained.

Legarda has a tie-up with Sen. Manny Villar, standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party.

“They can see that she is a hands-on working public servant who is committed to fighting climate change and hunger as well as in providing jobs to the people. Therefore this makes her the true candidate of the masses and it follows that they expect her to be a hard-working vice president,” Gatchalian added.

Gatchalian issued the statements after survey results conducted by Pulse Asia showed that Legarda, the NPC’s bet for vice president, registered a significant jump in the ratings and is now statistically tied with Liberal Party candidate Sen. Mar Roxas II.

Roxas got 39 percent of the voter’s support from 37 percent in the October survey, while Legarda garnered 37 percent, up 14 points from 23 percent in the Pulse Asia survey last October.

Pulse Asia said both Loren and Mar are statistically tied in first place due to a +/- 2 percent margin of error but it was the lady senator who registered the highest jump in the ratings among all the candidates.

Gatchalian likewise observed the strong showing of NPC senatorial bet former Sen. Vicente Sotto III who garnered 40.2 percent in the same survey, placing him in the top 10 among the senatorial hopefuls.

Source: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

Loren Pushes Gender Equality

Vice presidential candidate Sen. Loren Legarda today vowed to work further for the empowerment and protection of Filipino women, even as she rallied support for the respective bids of re-electionist Sens. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Pia Cayetano, and new senatorial aspirants Gabriela Party List Rep. Liza Maza, newcomers Gwen Pimentel and Susan Ople..

A co-author of the landmark Magna Carta for Women (Republic Act 9710) and the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act (RA 9260), Loren said that her tandem with presidential candidate Sen. Manny Villar will work to ensure gender equality at home, workplace and in all other sectors of Philippine society.

“The track records of Senators Santiago and Cayetano, and Rep. Maza not only on the concerns of women, speak for themselves. On the other hand, we need new faces and insights at the Senate that may be provided by Ms. Pimentel and Ms. Ople,” said Loren.

A member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Loren has been adopted as candidate by Villar’s Nacionalista Party (NP). Senators Santiago and Cayetano, and Rep. Liza Maza, as well as Pimentel and Ople, are part of NP’s senatorial slate.

“There are much more to be done to fight all forms of gender-based discrimination and violence. This issue should be a priority of the next administration, along with easing poverty and addressing the threats of climate change,” said Loren.

Loren pointed out that the “barbaric” Maguindanao Massacre even pointed to much needed societal changes on how women are treated, as they are often times seen as mere objects.

“The reported rape of the women victims before they were killed makes us shudder because, if true, it completed the objectification of women, who were disposed of after being abused,” she said.

“Crimes like these have no place in civilized society, ditto with the many abuses being committed against women that are not being reported because of the social stigma they carry,” said Loren.

Loren warned that while the Magna Carta for Women already exists, there is the danger of its provisions not being enforced like what’s happening with RA 6725, which was passed in 1989 to recognize women’s role in national development; and RA 7192, which prohibits discrimination against women in the workplace.

“Sadly, RAs 6725 and 7192 are largely being ignored, something which we should not allow to happen to the Magna Carta,” said Loren.

Senate Bill 7192 authored by Loren incorporated into the Magna Carta the provision of comprehensive health services for women, the upholding of the rights of women in marginalized sectors, ensuring women’s access to livelihood, credit, capital and technology, and the strengthening of the role of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women which had been renamed the Philippine Women’s Commission.

Aside from co-authoring the Magna Carta, Loren also played a major role in the passage of RA 9260, the law being used now by emotionally and psychologically battered women to free themselves from abusive relationships through the seeking of protection orders from courts.

Source: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

Loren Legarda, The Green Vice President

Senator Loren Legarda yesterday challenged presidential and vice presidential candidates in next year’s elections to a debate on their environmental platforms and “on what they intend to do to address the apocalyptic effects of climate change.”

Loren warned that climate change threatens the very survival of man, as can be seen from the recent natural catastrophes such as the storms and floods in the Philippines and Maldives and the earthquakes in Indonesia.

“Thus, no candidate for 2010 cannot be without a platform and clear-cut solutions to environmental problems,” said the chair of the Senate Oversight Committee on Climate Change who is running for vice president.

Loren said that a candidate who has no platform of government dealing with environmental issues “has no right to lead.”

“Only 19 percent of our forest cover remains, resulting to erosion of about 50 percent of our mountains’ top soil. Where does the top soil goes? It buries villages at the foot of mountains while contributing to the salutation of our river systems,” she said.

The United Nations Champion for Climate Change Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction for the Asia-Pacific region, Loren said that the loss of the country’s forest cover results to animals losing their habitats, ultimately affecting forest biodiversity or the number of species thriving in any given area.

She said that with mountains being left bare of trees, low-lying communities are left to the mercy of cascading floodwater and landslides, citing as example the province or Rizal which went underwater during the onslaught of typhoon Ondoy.

Ondoy dumped on Metro Manila a record 340 milliliters of water in a few hours, the equivalent of the average total rainfall for the month, swamping the province of Rizal, and the cities of Marikina and Pasig, among others.

Loren lamented that the pollution of inland waters has been so wanton that, at present, only 36 percent of the country’s river systems can be used as water source, in itself a looming crisis as the supply of potable water diminishes.

The senator explained that global warming increases water evaporation and the volume of rainfall, even as it raises sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps.

She echoed the warning of ecological experts that a rise by one meter in sea levels would result to the flooding of 28 of the about 80 provinces of the country.

Loren said that environmental disasters have the potential of becoming humanitarian crises, especially when a nation’s leaders do not prioritize climate change mitigation and disaster risk-reduction in their platforms and policies.

Source: http://www.luntiangpilipinas.com.ph/2009/11/loren-issues-debate-challenge-on-%E2%80%98apocalyptic%E2%80%99-climate-change/