Enrile vows to push for women’s rights
Credit to Author: BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO| Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2019 17:08:30 +0000
FORMER Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile on Friday reiterated his commitment to push for measures promoting women’s rights if elected for the fifth time in the Senate in May.
The 95-year-old veteran lawmaker celebrated International Women’s Day with supporters from Pangasinan.
He joined former Pangasinan congressman and now Movie and Television Review and Classification Board Chairman Rachel Arenas at the celebration of Women’s Day at the Arenas-Resuello Sports Complex in San Carlos City.
“I’m very happy to spend this special occasion with the women, men and families of Pangasinan,” Enrile said.
“In celebration of International Women’s Day, I’m honored to be here not only to share my platform as a candidate but to interact with the women of Pangasinan to bring their voices to the Senate,” he added.
The former senator said, “For years, I’ve been advocating for women’s rights to give both genders the equality and respect that is due them. It’s no different this time around.”
“Aside from that, I am also pushing for same-sex marriage and rights for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community because as long as people are happy and not breaking the law, who am I to stop them from identifying as they do?” he asked.
Enrile noted that as Senate president in 2009, he pushed for the passage of the Magna Carta for Women in support of women’s protection against abuse and discrimination.
He said that former Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations chairman Jamby Madrigal had praised him for his “decisive leadership” in the approval of the bill despite the opposition of various groups.
Enrile added that prior to his leadership in the Senate in the 14th Congress, the same bill had been left untouched since the 12th Congress.
“In my decades-long career as a lawyer, I’m happy to see that we were able to dismantle discriminatory provisions that existed in our laws, such as those involving conjugal property, guardianship, marital rape and more. But the fight is far from over,” he said.
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