TACLOBAN CITY– Leyte’s provincial board will be packed with more women, a development welcome by Vice Governor Carlo Loreto, the presiding officer of the body.
Aside from the reelected board members Gina Merilo (1st district), Trinidad Apostol (2nd district) and Maria Corazon Remandaban (3rd district), three more women were elected to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
They are Raissa Villasin (2nd district); Anna Tuazon (3rd district); and Caren Rama of the fourth district.
Tuazon is the daughter of reelected Rep. Vicente Veloso (3rd district) while Rama is the elder sister of Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez (4th district).
Villasin is an outgoing councilor of Tacloban City and sister of incumbent board member Niccolo Villasin.
Incidentally, the current provincial Sangguniang Kabataan president, Jo Vanille Chua, is also a woman, adding girl power at the provincial board.
Aside from Vice Gov. Loreto, the incoming provincial board will have six men as members.
“I think that will be something. Stereotypes are often distorted but in my own observation, women are more attentive to details and I think having more female board members is an advantage,” he said.
“Their presence will be felt significantly in the legislations that we are about to make, the standards, concerns and how to address the demands of the new normal,” the vice governor added.
The provincial board has already produced vice governors.
They were Mimietta Bagulaya, who later became acting governor, and Apostol, also a former congresswoman representing Leyte’s second district.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
