Legislation aimed at enhancing women’s empowerment and gender equality will be among his priorities if given the mandate by the people in the May elections, according to senatorial candidate Martin Romualdez. In remarks during the celebration of Women’s Month in San Fernando, Pampanga, Romualdez emphasized: “Behind every successful man is a strong woman. I would not be where I am today, if it were not for the most important women in my life: my mother, my wife and my daughters.”
The three-term Leyte congressman said he “I can personally attest to the virtues of the Kapampangan woman, having been brought up by one such woman.” The lawmaker was referring to his mother, Juliet Gomez Romualdez, who was recently conferred the Most Outstanding Kapampangan Award in the Parenthood category.
Romualdez said that to empower Filipino women, there should be enough laws to protect them from abuse and exploitation. He suggested that the government and the private sector should create more gender-sensitive jobs for working mothers and livelihood opportunities for mothers at home.
According to Romualdez, he would also pursue the enactment of the Conditional Cash Transfer program, also known as 4Ps or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Cash transfers to the poorest of the poor, he explained, will have many benefits, such as helping women with their management of their household budgets, increasing live births in safer facilities, improving prenatal and postnatal care, and promoting regular growth monitoring of children during critically important early ages.
Romualdez is running for a seat in the Senate on a platform of compassionate governance with focus on job creation, health, education and disaster resilience.