She makes it look easy. You might even think she spends a lot of time in making herself look pretty. But behind the effervescent smile and the healthy lifestyle, there is a prolific legislator who authored and sponsored the Environmental Awareness and Education Act (environmental classes in all school levels); the Expanded Senior Citizens Act (No VAT for medicines of senior citizens); the Cheaper Medicines Law (greater access to generic drugs); the Hospital Detention Law (patients should be allowed to leave the hospital/clinic even if they haven’t paid fees in full); the Magna Carta of Women (promotion of gender equality in our country); the Expanded Breastfeeding Act (lactation stations for breastfeeding moms in workplaces); and many others.
With meaningful laws like these under her belt, it’s no wonder Senator Pia Cayetano is doing extremely well in the senatorial surveys for next month’s elections. Soon we will find out if she can top her sixth-place finish in the 2004 Senatorial Elections. The latest Pulse Asia survey says she could be in the top three. Let’s vote and wait and see!
Blogger’s Note: Special thanks to Atty Karen Sarinas and Ms Noemi Lardizabal-Dado for inviting me to Sen Pia Cayetano’s meeting with Blogwatch held last 31st of March 2010.
Popularity: 1% [?]
…meanwhile, her brother Alan Peter Cayetano, is proof that not all half-breeds come out beautiful.
exercise is a critical component of a healthy lifestyle. One of the benefit is it helps one’s brain work better and smarter. I am hoping that our next President is physically and mentally healthy. :-) yeah let’s wait and see..
Is this a Political Advertisement? Seems like a veiled political advertisement. Cheaper on FV…
I will not vote for her. Her comment was insulting when she told every1 that teachers must have an increased rather than soldiers for they are only High School graduates as compared to the later with their College Degree.
Does she knows what she is even talking about? Did she 4get the PMAers? they are soldiers 2? Why should soldiers not deserver their salaries? They are after all risking their limbs for the Republic and she has the audacity to insult them? The Profession of Arms is the noblest of jobs and it should be given its due respect.
Office of Sen Pia S. Cayetano
April 22, 2010
Response to spam texts and emails on Sen. Pia’s alleged anti-soldier remarks
On behalf of Senator Pia Cayetano, I wish to clarify the malicious allegations being raised in anonymous spam texts and e-mails being circulated recently to criticize the Senator Cayetano’s alleged anti-soldier remarks on “Harapan” (an evening show on ABS-CBN that features national candidates).
First, allow us to correct a factual error in these spam texts/emails that have sadly led some people to read and interpret the good senator’s statement out of context. No, the senator has never appeared on ABS-CBN’s “Harapan.” But she did guest on the “Hiritan 2010” segment of “Unang Hirit” (GMA7 morning show) last April 16. Obviously, those circulating the spam texts and emails never even bothered to check their facts, and in all likelihood, might not even have personally seen or heard Sen. Cayetano on Hiritan. Still, her detractors proceeded to unfairly judge the senator.
What’s even worse is when these spammers even paraphrased portions of the Senator’s full statement to make it appear that she maligned “our soldiers just because they are high school graduates only and they should be paid less.”
For those who are not aware of the Senator’s full statement, below is the full text, verbatim, of the interaction between senatorial bets Sonia Roco and Sen. Cayetano on Unang Hirit for a full background and better appreciation of the context of Sen. Pia’s one-minute remark:
SONIA ROCO: Senadora Pia, gusto ko lang malaman kung mayroon ka talagang nakahanda na plataporma ngayon kung sakaling maibalik ka sa senado, para sa edukasyon lalong lalo na yon ating mga guro.
SEN PIA: Thank you po sa katanungan na yan Tita Sonia …doon ho sa 14th Congress, pinaglaban ko po sa salary standardization law ang sweldo po ng teachers and nurses… kasi may discrimination diyan against women…ang mga profession na dominated by women laging mas mababa ang sweldo…college graduate sila pero ang antas ng kanilang sweldo kapareho lang ng graduate sa high school na mga sundalo…so I have been already fighting for that…on record yon… natalo ho ako sa botohan… ang nagawa ko lang taasan yong sweldo ng teachers ng sciences and math… so I promise, because I have been doing it na, uunti-untihin ko ito dahil talagang mababa ang sweldo nila…saan manggagaling? We have unprogrammed funds…more than hundred billion…119 nineteen billion ang unprogrammed funds…56 billion from the mobile vehicle fund na walang destino…na hindi natin alam kung sann ginagamit…madalin hong gamitin yon…pinaglaban ko din yan sa budget hearing na ilipat yan sa defined programs of education and health.
In this exchange, please note:
1. There is nothing in Sen. Pia’s statement that would suggest she is advocating that our soldiers should be paid less.
2. The thrust of her response was to offset the discrimination against professional women in the civil service and seek an increase in their salaries.
3. Underscoring the discrimination by government, she merely inferred that professional soldiers who didn’t finish college are better off because they get equal, if not better pay than the women in professional sectors who are required to have college degrees. Nothing in it suggests soldiers should be paid less; only that teachers and nurses should be paid commensurately for their education.
The Senator sympathizes with the plight of our Filipino soldiers for their daily sacrifices and heroism. Taking off from that premise, the Senator has nothing but the highest respect for our men and women in uniform. In fact, in past budget hearings in the Senate, she and her brother, Senator Alan Cayetano, had proposed among others, that soldiers, regardless of rank, who die in action or are permanently disabled on duty must continue to receive their salaries until they reach the age of 56.
For your enlightenment, I remain
Very truly yours,
ERMIN F. GARCIA, Jr.
Chief of Staff