Loren on pork barrel, ‘gay’ senators, Charter change, climate change & the two ‘nevers’ in her life

Amid the furor raised by the alleged billion-peso “pork barrel” scam, Sen. Loren Legarda said last Tuesday that like Sen. Franklin Drilon (who she said has the “numbers” to be Senate President when the chamber begins sessions next week), she favors talks on the abolition of the controversial fund.

Some legislators have been implicated in the alleged allocation of the funds, which are officially known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), to dummy NGOs.

However, Loren told the Bulong Pulungan lunch forum at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza the other day that she favors scrapping the PDAF only if there is a discussion and a consensus for it. She is also for limiting it to medical assistance and scholarships to State Colleges and Universities.

Legarda was forthright about many issues during the forum. When asked if there is a “gay” senator in the 16th Congress, she said she didn’t know, “pero walang masama doon kung mayroon man.”

When asked if she was for “gay” marriage, she elected to whisper her answer into the ear of the forum’s moderator Deedee Siytangco. Bulong Pulungan, indeed!

She also said she preferred to describe so-called “gay” people as “people with a different sexual orientation.”

Like Sen. Cynthia Villar, she said she favored a two-party system in the Philippines instead of the current multi-party system so party lines and stands could be clearly delineated. But she isn’t for Charter change.

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In an exclusive interview in her North Forbes Park home on the eve of the May elections, where she placed second to Grace Poe, the daughter of her running mate in the 2004 polls, the late Fernando Poe Jr., Loren revealed the two things she would “never” do.

“Never higher office and never remarry,” she declared with resolve. “Ang buhay, huwag mong ipagpipilitan ang hindi para sa iyo. Magpasalamat ka sa buhay na ibinigay para sa iyo. Accept what has been given to you and be grateful for whatever blessing that was given to you. No matter how small, or how big. And those that were taken away or never given to you, accept it.

“I have lost all my ambitions. I feel liberated. My son Lean is disappointed, the others are disappointed, but no, it’s liberating that I no longer have plans for higher office after my last term in the Senate ends in 2019. After this term, I’m going to retire from politics but do many other things, which is still service, and do humanitarian things.”

Loren said she spent two decades as a broadcast journalist and would have spent another two decades as a senator when she exits in 2019. “Maybe it would be time for a third career,” she mused. She will only be 59 years old by then.

At last Tuesday’s Bulong Pulungan, she was asked if she planned instead to run for a local post, not a higher post. She admitted she is being coaxed to run for governor of Antique, where her late mother Bessie Legarda’s relatives hail from. After all, there have been officials who have switched from national to local politics and were successful in both. Former President Joseph Estrada, for instance, ran for Mayor of Manila and won.

Loren’s answer was an evasive “no.” But she didn’t say “never.” Hmmm, come to think of it, running for a local government post wasn’t in her list of nevers.

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Climate change adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) were actually Loren’s main topics at the forum, it’s just we couldn’t resist putting political tidbits on her plate.

“Disasters cause us budget deficits,” she lamented. “In 2009, typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng caused economic damages equivalent to 2.7 percent of our GDP.

“As we experience the intensity of the changing climate through extreme weather events, our communities and citizens become more vulnerable to disaster risks. A 2013 World Bank report revealed that 74 percent of the country’s population are vulnerable to disasters caused by natural hazards,” she added.

Loren pointed out that in 2012, the Philippines recorded 2,630 disaster-related deaths, the highest data recorded WORLDWIDE for that year.

Loren will soon lead the launch and special screening of Ligtas, an instructional video on disaster preparedness.

Ligtas gives valuable instructions and information to families and communities on how to prepare for and act during typhoons, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis.

The instructional video was directed by award-winning Brillante Mendoza.

Loren, chairman of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, said her second team-up with Mendoza is part of her continuing advocacy to educate people on disaster prevention and preparedness. Mendoza also directed Buhos, a documentary Loren produced explaining the science of climate change and how it affects daily life.

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Many times during the forum, Loren knitted her brows and showed some weariness at having to dodge the slings and arrows of political life. So what makes it all worthwhile?

Loren is the only female senator who topped the elections twice, with over 15 million votes in 1998 and 18.4 million votes in 2007. (Like Grace Poe, she was surprised she ranked number two when the votes came in, but she isn’t questioning the outcome at all. She says the outcome of the 2013 elections is a vindication of the Poe-Legarda victory in 2004.)

Loren is also the only woman to have become majority leader.

“The seemingly little things, which are actually big to me, make it all worthwhile,” she answered. “I get psychic income when a farmer tells me how my climate change video taught him when to evacuate his family during a storm. A deputy consul telling me how a law on indigenous fabrics has enriched our culture. A woman who approached me to tell me she depended on my Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act when she stood up to her abuser. Knowing how the laws that I was chiefly responsible for helped others... makes it all worthwhile.”

(For inquiries on the disaster preparedness handbook, text or call 0917-5030207 or 0928-5046017.)

(You may e-mail me at joanneraeramirez@yahoo.com.)