Assumption Student Council backs call to remove Loren Legarda's portrait from honor wall

The student council of Assumption College San Lorenzo has expressed support for a petition for the removal of Sen. Loren Legarda’s portrait from the school’s Wall of Empowered Women.

In a Facebook post on Friday night, the wall already shows a blank frame in a row of portraits.

The Assumption Student Council’s statement came days after Legarda cast her vote for Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday.

“While her past contributions are acknowledged, her recent political actions no longer reflect the values that Assumption upholds,” the council said.

The statement indicated that it was signed by the ASC for the school years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.

GMA News Online is trying to get a comment from Legarda and will publish it as soon as it is available.

The student council said, “The takeover occurred as the chamber prepared to receive the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, who stands accused of grave misuse of public funds and betrayal of public trust.”

“Its timing raised serious concerns that the move was politically engineered to delay or influence the proceedings,” the statement read.

The student council said Legarda voted for Cayetano as Senate President, “following Senator Vicente Sotto III's public statement that the impeachment trial would convene forthwith upon receipt of the Articles and be decided strictly on the merits of the case.”

“No public office grants immunity from the standards of ethical conduct,” the council said.

“Any act that enables impunity and obstruction of justice, however subtle or procedural, diminishes public trust and compromises the dignity of institutions that serve the Filipino people,” it added.

The student council said Assumption College San Lorenzo “forms leaders who are expected to act with integrity, exercise social responsibility, and uphold courage of conviction.”

“In view of this, the Council encourages the entire Assumption College community to support this petition,” the council said.

“It is in this spirit that the Council calls upon Senator Legarda to reflect on the principles she once upheld as a student and as a public figure,” it added.

“She is encouraged to clarify her actions, correct her course, and demonstrate renewed commitment to accountability and justice,” the council said.

We express our earnest hope that Senator Legarda will confront this moment with integrity and a clear sense of duty. It remains within her capacity to rebuild the trust of a community that once regarded her as an alumna of distinction. Now is the time to prove that such trust was not misplaced.

The Council maintains that a place on this wall is an honor reserved for women who continuously embody Assumption's ideals in action and character, and only those who do so will ever belong there. –NB, GMA News