Senator elected first Filipino chief in int’l body

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Pilar Juliana "Pia" S. Cayetano was unanimously elected president of the Committee of Women Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) yesterday during the IPU’s 118th General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa. Ran unopposed and supported by women political leaders from the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Euroasia, Africa, Europe and the Arab Group, Ms. Cayetano was also designated as the first Filipino and Asian to head the committee, a statement sent by the senator’s office in Manila yesterday read. "I feel deeply honored by this opportunity accorded me by my colleagues in the IPU to serve as its president and frame the agenda and steer discussions among women parliamentarians based on our common interests and advocacies," Ms. Cayetano was quoted as saying. She also served as speaker at this year’s assembly on the topic of maternal, infant and child health. "My presentation alone on the migration of health professionals in the Philippines has already captured the attention of certain developed countries. Their (MPs) members of parliament have promised me they will look into their policies on Filipino health professionals who are lured to their countries," she said. Ms. Cayetano was previously elected first vice-president of the committee in 2006 at the IPU’s 114th general assembly in Nairobi, Kenya. IPU is an international organization of parliaments established in 1889 and is considered the world’s very first permanent forum for multilateral cooperation. It has 143 national parliaments as members and seven regional parliamentary assemblies as associate members. - Bernard U. Allauigan, BusinessWorld