Guanzon: Women are capable leaders

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Moves exhorting Vice President Leni Robredo and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte to seek the presidency in the May 2022 polls are indications that many Filipino women are capable of taking higher national leadership positions.

Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections, one of the speakers at the Provincial Women’s Day Celebration at the Capitol Social Hall, rallied women to band together and enter the political realm.

Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections | Photo from PNA

Guanzon, who served as Cadiz City mayor, is a staunch women’s rights advocate and championed the cause of children and families caught in armed conflicts.

Guanzon advised women to organize themselves and remain active in political affairs starting at the barangay level, and accumulate friends.

The filing of certificate of candidacy for the 2022 local and national elections starts in early October this year.

Politics is the most powerful place for decision-making, not only because of the resources and the machinery but also the capacity to change the law and advocate for reforms, Guanzon said.

Election and politics are also the most powerful avenue for women, who want to create change and make reforms, she continued.

She cited, among others, women leaders the likes of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand and Taiwanese President   Tsai Ing-wen, as well as the Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States.

As of 2019, Comelec records showed that Negros Occidental ranked fourth with the highest number of registered voters among 78 provinces, where 60 percent are women who elected men into office.

Women are not running for public office because it is expensive and they give priority to their children first.

Political parties are not recruiting women because the gatekeepers are usually the men, Guanzon said.

Because of vote-buying, which is deeply embedded in Philippine politics, Guanzon said women are prompted not to seek public office.

“We don’t get the best leaders, who run for public office,” she said, adding that vote buying is the No. 1 scourge in elections.

Guanzon encouraged Congress to pass the proposed law, which is currently pending, to provide state funds, like in other countries, to political parties that have a certain percentage of women for elective positions, or an all-women political party, to break the cycle of inequality.

Gatekeepers of political parties must also be pressured, either by their parties, or by law, that at least 30 percent of their candidates are women, especially in local elections, she added. – GB