Antique Representative and senatorial aspirant Loren Legarda expressed her gratitude to Mayor Sara Duterte for being one of the handpicked senators of the vice presidential aspirant.
Duterte on Tuesday declared Legarda as one of her senatorial picks, which also includes Harry Roque, Jinggoy Estada, Mark Villar, Gibo Teodoro, and Herbert Bautista.
Legarda, who is running under the Nationalist People's Coalition, said she was elated and thankful for being personally picked by Duterte as a guest candidate for her party.
"Natutuwa po ako at nagpapasalamat po kay vice presidential candidate Mayor Inday Sara sa pag-endorso po niya at pagiging guest candidate ko na personal niyang pinili," she told DZRH in an interview.
(I am happy and thankful to vice presidential candidate Mayor Inday Sara for her endorsement and being personally selected as a guest candidate.)
Legarda, who is also serving as the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, is not a stranger in politics.
She previously served several Senate terms from 1998 to 2004, and then from 2007 to 2019. After her senatorial stint, she was elected as the representative of Antique's lone district.
She recently filed a legislation that seeks to give healthcare workers monthly special risk allowance (SRA) during a state of public emergency.
"Nag-file po ako ng special risk allowance sa lahat ng ating health workers para po mabigyan natin ng dagdag compensation at masiguro ang kanilang pangangailangan po ay mabibigyan ng importansya," she later told DZRH.
(I filed a special risk allowance to all health workers so they can be given additional compensation and so we can assure that their needs are given importance.)
"Ang proposed SRA po natin ay katumbas ng 25% ng monthly basic salary or pay ng ating health workers, at ito po'y exempted sa aking proposal sa income tax," she added.
(The proposed SRA is equivalent to 25% of the monthly basic salary or pay of health workers. It is also exempted in my proposal from income tax.)
"Maaaring maliit na bagay ito kung titignan po, pero kumpara naman sa serbisyong binibigay ng healthcare workers talagang dapat nating bigyan. So I hope this bill gets proper attention."
(This is only a small thing when looked at, but compared to the services offered by healthcare workers, they should definitely be given. So I hope this bill gets proper attention.)
