From her tireless crusade against illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) to pushing for meaningful and relevant legislative measures for the benefit of women, the poor and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, among others, the lone opposition senator to break into the magic 12 in the 2022 elections is putting everyone’s taxes to good use.
By JOSE PAOLO S. DELA CRUZ
Sen. Risa Hontiveros breaks into a smile when PeopleAsia asks her about her work as one-half of what Senate Minority leader Koko Pimentel playfully dubbed as the country’s first super minority — in response to the administration’s supermajority — in the Upper House.
“We’ve been working well together in the past two-and-a-half years. Sen. Pimentel and I have worked together against the sugar smuggling fiasco. We commemorated the imposition of martial law in September 2022. We worked together against the Maharlika Fund and against confidential and intelligence funds,” she enumerates. “So, kahit dalawa lang kami [even if there’s just the two of us], I think we’ve leveraged our small number by taking sharp positions, asking good questions and trying to shift the position of the Senate on what we feel are important issues.”
And one doesn’t have to simply take her word for it.
Whether it’s the curious case of deposed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo or recently captured alleged sexual offender Apollo Quiboloy, or the P 24-million textbook scam suspect Mary Ann Maslog [who pretended to have died before being discovered by the NBI after more than two decades] — Hontiveros’ office has played a pivotal role in many of the country’s most important exposés of late.
“So how are things in the super minority?” she circles back. “Very busy. And it’s going to stay that way.”
Exposing Alice’s wonderland
Of course, a rare conversation with Hontiveros — who chairs the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality — wouldn’t be complete without talking about Alice Guo, who the senator prefers to call by her real name, GuoHua Ping.
“It was almost an accident. My committee, now on its fourth year of investigating POGOs alongside government and constitutional bodies, was invited by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission [PAOCC] to inspect a recently raided POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac. While we were
there, one of the surprising things they told me was that they had been able to confiscate documents on-site that showed that the mayor of that town, who supposedly divested her interests in the company when she won, was still involved,” she starts off, citing that receipts used to pay for the building’s utilities were still under Guo’s name.
Little did the senator know that she was already opening a can of worms. “We invited her thinking
that it’d be a quick chat, that she would answer our questions and move on,” continues Hontiveros. “But she was so opaque. You can see that she was hiding something, which led us to investigate. The more we found out about her, the more questionable the entire scenario became.”
Well, we all know how that story ended, as the former-Bamban-mayor-turned-fugitive was finally captured on Sept. 4, in Indonesia.
The issue also crossed party lines within the Upper House. “Over the months, we were really able to build that coalition against POGOs because the Senate committees had been investigating different aspects of POGOs for the past years, for maybe half a decade,” says Hontiveros, who especially commended Sen. Sherwin Gatchallian, her “POGO-busting partner.”
“But I think the culmination was when even the President [Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] banned POGOs during the SONA earlier this year. They are supposed to be out by Dec. 31 but for sure mina-magic na naman ’yan [they’re finding ways around it],” warns the senator, who vows to keep a watchful eye on such efforts.
She also reminds that the issue of POGOs go well beyond Guo. “POGOs are bad as seen in their track record. About eight years ago when Cambodia “finally clamped down on POGOs, they turned their eye to the Philippines, at a time when the administration was very open to it,” she says.
The senator also adds that despite having made so many rosy promises about generating revenues and jobs, POGOs ultimately failed to deliver. “The National Economic and Development Authority itself and the government’s economic managers will tell us that they delivered so little of what they had promised in terms of the revenues,” she explains, adding that numerous reports on human trafficking, violence and abuse also plagued this controversial industry.
Priority legislation
POGO aside, Hontiveros lists down three priorities when it comes to her office’s legislative agenda. These are the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill, the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sex Characteristics [SOGIESC] Equality Bill, and the Dissolution of Marriage Bill [Divorce Bill]. She is also the first to admit that pushing for these reforms can be very frustrating.
“It’s very frustrating. Especially if and when — and it’s actually happened — one or some of the bills are held back, not by substantive debates but by the use of rules that delay them. We’re not asking for any favors. We just want that the process to be observed. We owe that to the people,” she says.
One particularly long-drawn legislative process is the ongoing fight to pass the SOGIESC Bill. It was first filed in 1998 by Etta Rosales of the Akbayan Party, which Hontiveros is part of.
“My God. It’s been 26 years already! Even babies who were just born then, and even some who weren’t born yet, they’re among our advocates and allies already!” she laments.
For what it’s worth though, the staunch LGBTQIA ally and women’s rights supporter rejoices in the fact that she feels openness, in both the public sphere and even among her colleagues, when it comes to discussing issues related to the bill.
“There is more openness to at least discuss, to dialogue, to find areas of compromise on the SOGIESC Equality Bill. The ball is in our court here at the Senate and we will definitely work double time in pushing for this,” she says.
The life of an activist
Having always been inspired by liberation theology — a Christian movement that aims to liberate the oppressed through political, economic and spiritual freedom — it comes as no surprise that Hontiveros, even as a politician, chooses to live the life of an activist.
“I think God chose for us to be born Filipinos and to be in this country, not by accident, but so we can devote ourselves to Inang Bayan (the Motherland), to love her, to serve her — the way all those who came before us did, heroes and unknown,” adds the senator, who claims to draw her seemingly endless supply of energy from the arts and, among quite a long list still, women, children, family and gender bills that are still pending.
Hontiveros, who dedicated her PeopleAsia “Women of Style & Substance” Award in 2022 to her good friend former Sen. Leila De Lima, also admits that as a human being, she could not help but take some things personally, especially injustices related to alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) committed under the Duterte administration.
She recounts seeing De Lima just one seat away from former President Rodrigo Duterte in a recent committee hearing on EJK. “My God! Why would they place her so close to that man! And in the House, it’s worse, they’re seated beside each other!” she gasps. “It might be a small thing for others, but for those who were victimized by this man, it’s no small matter. But as always, kudos to Leila for enduring him yet again.”
Hontiveros also recites the names of some EJK victims, including Kian de los Santos, who’s been given justice after years of litigation. “Kapirasong hustisya [token justice], because there were low-level police officers who were convicted. But not the mid-level and not the masterminds. Si Carl Arnaiz and Kulot, ganoon din (also the same). May conviction, pero low-level (There’s a conviction, but also low-level). Jemboy Baltazar, low-level din (likewise),” says Hontiveros, who claims there could be as many as 60,000 victims of EJK.
While the senator vows to carry on the fight for as long as she can, the former theater actress reveals that she also daydreams of going back to her first loves — music and theater — should the time come for her to call it a day.
“I’ll go back to theater and audition for plays in Filipino theater companies,” she says, reminiscing of her Sound of Music days with Repertory Philippines. “That was my original plan for life, but activism had other ideas or plans for me. But I swear I’ll get to it someday.”
For now though, Hontiveros and company are looking to expand the super minority a bit more, especially after the opposition’s harrowing defeat in 2022. “Looking back at 2022, we could have reached out farther, more effectively and for a longer period of time. [We could have] Given ourselves a longer runway. So, those lessons, painfully learned, should guide us next year for the mid-terms until the general elections in 2028. As early as now, handang-handa na kami [we are so ready],” she concludes.
Photography by PAOLO PINEDA
Art direction by DEXTER FRANCIS DE VERA
Styling by ROKO ARCEO
Grooming by LARS CABANACAN
Shot on location at Senate of the Philippines, Pasay City
