Legarda to run for Antique congresswoman

As her senatorial term expires in 2019, Senator Loren Legarda has decided to seek a congressional post in Antique.

Legarda filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) for the lone district of Antique Wednesday through Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao at the Commission on Elections provincial office in San Jose de Buenavista.

She is running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), her party for more than a decade now.

The senator is currently in The Hague, Netherlands for the launch of the Ban Ki-moon and Bill Gates-led Global Commission on Adaptation where she is a Commissioner.

The senator said she already transferred domicile early this year and has transferred registration as voter last month, all compliant with the law.

“I have served our country well for the past 20 years and as I end my third term in the Senate, I wish to continue serving our country as a member of Congress, at the same time, as representative of my home province where I took my oath as a first-term senator in 1998,” she said.

Legarda served the Senate from 1998 to 2004. In 2004, she sought the vice presidential post and was the running mate of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.

She returned to the Senate from 2007 to 2013, and won another term in 2013 which will expire in 2019.

In a statement, Legarda said she would like to help Antique, the home province of her great grandfather, Ariston Gella, the first pharmacist of Antique and a member of the Malolos Congress that crafted the first Philippine Constitution; and her great granduncle, Vicente Gella, a governor of the province.

“Antique is a beautiful, rich and pristine province, but unfortunately, still vulnerable and poor. While I have poured in more projects in the province, especially on livelihood, education and health, I know that much more needs to be done to elevate the standard of living of my kasimanwa and to help the most vulnerable and needy,” she said. — MDM, GMA News