2010 Philippine's Vice Presidentiable: Loren Legarda

Lorna Regina Bautista Legarda was born January 28, 1960, is a Filipino broadcast journalist and politician and better known as Loren Legarda. In the 2004 Philippines general election, she ran for the position of Vice-President as the running mate of Fernando Poe, Jr. As of 2007, she is serving her second term as an incumbent senator in the Philippines. As a journalist, she had received the national honor of the Ten Outstanding Young Men and Women (TOYM) award and for her humanitarian and environmental work she was named one of the Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and a United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) laureate included in the Global 500 Roll of Honour in 2001. In 2004, she became an Environment Awardee of the Priyadarshni Academy in Mumbai, India.

In 2008 Loren was appointed as UNISDR Asia Pacific Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. She recently participated in the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, BBC World Debate and Forum on the Human Impact of Climate Change in Geneva, Switzerland.

During the launch of her humanitarian program Lingkod Loren in Luneta last October 23, 2009, Loren Legarda declared her intention to run for vice-president in 2010 under NPC. Recently, NP Presidential candidate Manny Villar formally declared his team-up with Legarda for the 2010 Elections.



Life

Loren was born on January 28, 1960 in Manila to parents from Antique Province. She has Spanish and Karay-a lineage and speaks Ilonggo, Tagalog, English, and her native Kinaray-a.

Political career

She ran for the Senate in 1998 under the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP Party. She was elected with more than 15 million votes, becoming the senator with the highest number of votes in that year's election. After the 2001 elections she was chosen to be the Senate's Majority Floor Leader.

Senator Legarda played a crucial role in the expeditious release of five military and police officers and personnel held captive by the CCP-NPA-NDF in April 1999. The captives included General Victor Obillo of the Philippine Army. In April 2001, Senator Legarda again championed human rights when she led the Humanitarian and Peace Mission for safe and successful return of Army Major Noel Buan to his family after almost two years of captivity by rebel groups. She was also instrumental in the release of fellow journalist Arlene dela Cruz from her abductors in Jolo, Sulu.

During her first six years in the Senate, from 1998 to 2004, she authored legislation benefitting women and children, such as the Anti-Domestic Violence Act and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. She is also the author of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law and the Tropical Fabric Law, which is consistent with her advocacy for indigenous fabric.

She has put to school dozens of former child laborers through the Libro ni Loren Foundation, and conducts regular medical missions benefiting indigent breast cancer patients through the Bessie Legarda Memorial Foundation.

With the Luntiang Pilipinas program, she planted over two million trees all over the Philippine archipelago. Early this year, Luntiang Pilipinas launched its 10@10: The Ten Million Trees Campaign, a viral campaign to plant 10 million trees by the year 2011. This campaign aims to contribute to the UNEP, which aims to reach the seven billion-tree mark by 2009.

A major accomplishment this year is the passage of the Climate Change Act in October 2009. Senator Legarda filed this measure two years ago, which took inspiration from the Albay Declaration, the outcome document of the First National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, as it called for “the passage of a policy prioritizing climate change adaptation in the national agenda”.

Vice-Presidential run

In 2003, she quit the administration party Lakas to join the opposition KNP coalition of Fernando Poe, Jr. In the 2004 election, she lost to fellow ABS-CBN anchorman and Senator Noli de Castro by a margin of 800,000 votes.

After her bid in the election, she filed an electoral protest before the Supreme Court, which was later thrown out. The case was thrown out upon Legarda's participation on the 2007 elections for another bid to the Senate.

Senator

In 2007, Legarda ran again for Senator under the Genuine Opposition coalition, receiving more than 18 million votes in which she became, once again, a topnotcher in that year's election.

Legarda is the only woman in history who has topped the Senate race twice, once in 1998 with over 15 million votes and in 2007 with over 18 million votes.

Personal life

Born Lorna Regina Bautista Legarda in Metro Manila, she is the only daughter of Antonio Cabrera Legarda of Manila and San Pablo City, Laguna and of Bessie Gella Bautista of Metro Manila and Antique. She is the granddaughter of one of the pillars of Philippine journalism, Jose P. Bautista, editor-in-chief of the pre-Martial Law Manila Times.

She was a valedictorian from the Assumption Convent in grade school and cum laude graduate from the University of the Philippines. She was also a popular commercial model as a teenager, appearing in various television and print ads.

She started her career in journalism as a reporter of RPN-9. While working as a broadcast journalist, she obtained a master’s degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines, where she emerged as topnotcher (NDCP awarded her gold medals for Academic Excellence and Best Thesis) and where she was the youngest in the class. She is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve Corps.

She reached the peak of her television career while she was with ABS-CBN, when she used to anchor The World Tonight (ABS-CBN). She also hosted the highly acclaimed current affairs program The Inside Story, also from ABS-CBN. She received more than thirty major awards during her 20-year television career, including the Catholic Mass Media Hall of Fame, KBP Golden Dove Award, and the Gawad CCP, among many others.

While she was with the Senate, prior to her candidacy for the Vice-President position, she hosted Kabalikat, a docu-drama show and Tara Tena, a youth drama previously aired at ABS-CBN When She left The World Tonight (ABS-CBN).

She is highly regarded by the Muslim population in the Philippines and the Maranao Sultanate League bestowed on her the title of "Bai Alabi," or "Princess.

Legarda was married to former Batangas province Governor Jose Antonio "Tony" Leviste, with whom she has two sons, Lorenzo and Leandro, but the couple have been separated since 2003.

Filmography/TV Shows

* Discorama (GMA 7, 1975-1986), as a DJ
* Who Knows That? (GMA 7, 1980-1981)
* The World Tonight (ABS-CBN 2, 1986-1998)
* Pep Talk (ABS-CBN 2, 1986-1990)
* The Inside Story (ABS-CBN 2,1990-1998)
* Kabalikat (ABS-CBN 2, 2001-2003)
* Tara Tena (ABS-CBN 2, 2003-2004)
* Real Stories Kasama si Loren (ABC 5 "now TV5", 2004-2007)

Movies

* Markova: Comfort Gay (2000)

010 Presidency

On January 10, 2008, President Joseph Estrada officially announced (at the People Asia magazine’s "People of the Year" awards at the Hotel InterContinental, Makati City) that he picked himself as the 2010 opposition presidentiable: "Wala sa kanila mananalo. Sarili ko na lang ang pipiliin ko (None of them is winnable. I will only pick myself)." The commissioned December 15 to 30 survey of presidentiables showed Loren Legarda leading, followed by Noli De Castro, Sen. Francis Escudero, Sen. Panfilo Lacson as 4th most favored, followed by Senate President Manuel Villar, Jr., Mar Roxas, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, Metro Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando, Sen. Richard Gordon, and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.[1]

On January 29, 2008, Philippine Sen. Loren Legarda donated P 1 million ($ 1 = P 40) needed for 4-year-old deaf Filipino Raphael Angelo Provido’s cochlear implant at the Philippine General Hospital. Guillermo Mallillin, president of the Gruppo Technico Medico International Inc., distributes the cochlear implant device in the Philippines. Its Australian counterpart granted 70% discount on the device, which costs $20,000 a pair.[2]

Last October 23, Senator Loren Legarda launched her humanitarian effort Lingkod Loren and explained her platform of governance to thousands of people present during the event held in Luneta. During the media interviews, she formally declared her intention to run as VIce-President in the 2010 National Elections under the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC).

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