This is one woman who does not need all that machiavellian advice given by the celebrated author Harriet Rubin in The Princessa (Machiavelli for Women), a bestseller for many years, as she uncovers and analyzes that, "A princessa, like Machiavelli’s prince is a woman among women..." Rubin states: "A Prince is a man among men, a canny fighter, a steely sovereign who takes what he wants out of life. The term has been one of honor, but the female corollary ‘princess’ has been a term of derision until now." Rubin quotes Katherine Ann Porter who said it plainly: "What a man did only for God, a woman did always for a man." But now, according to Rubin, "A princess may do for herself." I am firmly convinced that Loren Legarda does not need The Princessa.
En route to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend the graduation of my only daughter, it was indeed great to find out that Senator Legarda was on her way to receive an award for one advocacy of hers which she has been known to fight for the unbelievable dedication and brilliance of The Princessa I had encountered in Rubin’s bestseller. Senator Legarda had just been elected to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global 500 Roll of Honor. This award was to be bestowed on her the next day, the 5th of June in Torino, Italy, coinciding with the celebration of "World Environment Day," established by the UN all over the globe, with the intent to focus world attention and stimulate very essential action on environmental issues plaguing this earth. Aside from human rights and world security, we are all aware that the environment has become one of the most critical global concerns.
UNEP launched this award in 1987 to recognize the environmental achievements and efforts of individuals and organizations around the world. Six hundred fifty eight individuals and organizations from more than 59 countries have received the Global 500 award. Past awardees include former Prime Minister Go Harlem Brundtland of Norway; His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh; Paul Crutzen, the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize winner from the Netherlands; Raffi Cavoukian, the ecotroubadour from Canada; Sir David Attenborough, outstanding producer of environment and wildlife television programs, and Jane Goodall, the world renowned primate expert from the UK.
Loren Legarda was cited by the world body for her dedicated advocacy of environmental issues particularly those pertaining to forest and marine resources. And it is here where indeed Loren has devoted a great deal of her time and energy. Energy – she’s got a lot of that! I’ve known Loren Legarda from way back – even during the time when she was much younger – Bessie Bautista and Tony Legarda’s star of a daughter. It was already after her mother had passed away that Loren topped the senatorial elections and I remember having told her that in spite of the fact that relatives and friends rejoiced over her spectacular victory, the tug of pain that hit our hearts over the fact that Bessie was no longer around to rejoice with everyone was certainly there, although Bessie must have watched from above and bubbled with joy. Also going for Loren are two extremely supportive "Tonys" – a husband and a father – and that certainly should be good enough for anyone, even a "Princessa" of great caliber.
The UNEP has hailed her as an "ecological warrior" and though she has been called so, and though her firmness showed in her clever and skillful cross-examinations, Loren Legarda has always behaved like the fine lady that she is. Her stance, her mien, her manner of speech, every aspect of her spell out the word "lady," in fact, a lady with immense grace. When, as a broadcast journalist, and while on the family way, she emerged the topnotcher among the graduates for a master’s degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines, a course I am quite familiar with having been with the DOTC for close to 19 years where I saw a number of my colleagues graduate from this course, not the easiest in the world by the way, I knew that the "Princessa" – the youngest in this particular class, winning a gold medal for submitting the best thesis, and being overall topnotcher – was just forging a beginning, the commencement of greater endeavors for her country.
Some critics have said that she is merely a creature of her own media hype, and very recently, there were press releases that underscored the fact that there has been a lot of media coverage of her activities which made her "suspect" as far as aspiring for higher office was concerned. This is certainly not fair. There is just so much going for her, and as the youngest female senator who has developed astute political sense and savvy, and is an ardent admirer of another lady, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, she knows when that time will open up for her... In the meantime, she is committed to give the greatest possible support she can give to the tremendous and difficult presidential effort towards the economic and political stability of the Philippines.
At the time the award was given, the written citation paid tribute to her work as a broadcast journalist for 20 years, as she championed the cause for a healthier ecology by heightening the public awareness of environmental problems through her weekly programs Pep Talk and The Inside Story. Her next program EarthLink was the first television documentary series on the environment and was awarded both the much-coveted KBP Golden Dove Award and the Earth Savers Media Award. She has filed more than 103 bills and 68 resolutions, including the Clean Air Act of 1998. Senator Legarda has launched a national environmental project called Luntiang Pilipinas or greening of the Philippines which seeks to create 1,600 forest parks in urban areas throughout the country, and certainly deserves everyone’s support. She is chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs and Tourism, vice chair of the committees on environment, natural resources, public information and mass media. She is also chair of the Environment Committee of the Commission on Appointments. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland elected her to membership for the year 2000 as a Global Leader of Tomorrow. One of her many awards is from the DENR, the Likas Yaman award for her work as founding chair of the Save our Seas and Trees for Life foundations.
As she received her award in Torino, Italy, Loren called her country a "paradise," but she said that, "Even in paradise, we endure problems caused by a high incidence of poverty, by industrial expansion, and by rapid population growth. There is considerable abuse of our natural resources – the destruction of coral reefs, poison and dynamite fishing, slash and burn farming on our mountains, the pollution of our lakes and rivers. We have been personally and directly involved in the effort to diminish five major problems of the Philippine environment, the problems of deforestation, air pollution, urban waste and garbage and their toxic contamination as well as the toxic contamination of the former US military bases. The effects of deforestation have been tragic and devastating. Some 6.5 million tribal Filipinos have lost rich hunting and inland fishing grounds. Species of flora and fauna have been lost forever. Biological diversity has been greatly diminished and there are periodic erosions and floods everywhere."
The work to alleviate or remedy the problems she has enumerated is a mammoth task. The "ecological warrior," the "princessa," – Senator Loren Legarda-Leviste is definitely bound to succeed.