By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – After serving three consecutive terms as a lawmaker of Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP), Arlene Brosas announced her bid for the senatorial race in the 2025 midterm elections.
Brosas has been a member of the House of Representatives from 17th Congress to the present.
Brosas announced on July 16 that she will be running as a senator under the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of progressive partylists. She is the second of the 12 candidates to be fielded by Makabayan in the upcoming elections.
Read: Makabayan to field 12 senatoriables in 2025 elections
“I am deeply grateful to the Committee of 100 Women – representing various sectors and professions – who will lead the charge in bringing Gabriela from Congress to the Senate,” Brosas said, adding that “this decision is driven by the urgent need to defend women’s rights against the ongoing onslaught of patriarchal and anti-women policies.”
The Committee of 100 Women, said Brosas, would lead the senatorial campaign. “I am not alone in this bid. Even if we are bringing my name, I know that we have them, we have everyone on board.”
Women and family advocacy
Brosas has long been a staunch advocate of women’s rights and welfare.
“Arlene, unlike other lawmakers in Congress, sees the everyday lives of women. She sees how women suffer, not only from violence but also from poverty,” said Gert Libang, chairperson of Gabriela.
Libang stressed Brosas’s efforts to protect women from gender-based attacks. These include the campaign for the law raising the statutory rape age from 12 years old to 16 years old and increasing the penalty for sexual harassment and rape.
Brosas, too, has pushed for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill.
“Women should not be discriminated against because of their gender,” Libang said.
Brosas has also been advocating for the passage of the Absolute Divorce Act as a means to protect and provide options for women in abusive marriages.
Child rights advocacy
She is also a known activist for women and children’s rights prior to her stint as a lawmaker. During the gathering of the women’s leaders and groups held in Quezon City Brosas vowed to be the genuine voice of their sector in the senate.
“Women are burdened two-folds in the ongoing crises in the country — exploitation, harassment, and all forms of violence against women. This serves as my determination in elevating the fight for the marginalized and vulnerable women,” Brosas added.
Brosas served as the executive director of Akap sa Bata ng mga Guro, a nationwide alliance of volunteer day-care teachers. From there, she worked with local government units (LGUs), church institutions, peoples organizations (POs), and civil society organizations (CSOs).
“In 2008, I first met and worked with Cong. Brosas. We worked on services on early childhood development within the NCR (National Capital Region), provided training for volunteer-teachers, organized women in the communities, and advanced the rights of Filipino children, ” said Anna Saplor, former spokesperson of child rights group Akap Bata Sectoral Organization.
Back then, one of the primary advocacy they led as an organization was the passage of the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 or Republic Act (RA) 9775.
“The campaign started in 2006 due to the alarming number of youth who were victimized by pornography. Then, there was no law protecting them from such abuses. Rep. Brosas spearheaded the planning on campaigning for the law inside and outside the chambers of Congress,” said Saplor.
As part of this initiative, she led the creation of Anti-Child Pornography Alliance (ACPA), with the objective of reaching out to families, politicians, teachers, government agencies, and child rights advocates to garner support for the passage of RA 9775.
“This resulted in broad mass actions and protests to put pressure on the government, prompting the signing of the law in November 2009,” Saplor added. “Rep. Brosas was key to the success of the campaign for the Anti-Child Pornography Act.”
Aside from this notable victory, Brosas also served as spokesperson for the Save Nena Campaign, seeking to stop child prostitution. She continues to campaign for the Magna Carta for Day-Care Workers.
Persistent
“We are witnessing a systematic attempt to roll back hard-won gains for women’s rights, and we must resist this with all our might,” said Brosas.
As a lawmaker, she highlighted several landmark victories that benefit women and children, in which she also attributed to the efforts of the people. Among these are Occupational Safety and Health Law (RA 11058), Expanded Maternity Leave Law (RA 11210), Safe Spaces Law (RA 11313), Increasing the age for statutory rape (RA 11648), and Expanded Solo Parent Welfare Act (RA 11861).
“These laws are crucial protections for women, yet we see continuous attempts to water them down or obstruct their implementation,”Brosas noted. “In the Senate, I will not only defend these laws but push for more comprehensive legislation to safeguard women’s rights.”
For her, the fight is far from over. She pledged to continuously push for wage increase, genuine agrarian reform, and national industrialization. She emphasized that women’s liberation is linked to national development and economic justice.
This aspiration is seemingly linked to her personal roots. Brosas came from a poor family, the third in a brood of five. Her father was a farmer and her mother came from a fisherman’s family. Both her parents left the province and went to the capital to have a better life for the family.
Read: Arlene Brosas : Teacher and defender of women and children’s rights
“If what the people see are the same rotten, criminal, corrupt, oppressive leaders subservient to the interests of the few and foreign powers, I, Arlene Brosas – like you and many other women who aspire for genuine change – will not remain silent and merely watch,” said in a speech. (JJE, RTS, RVO) 
