Five out of 26 Lucena City councilor aspirants are women, first in 12 years
For the first time in twelve years and four elections, more than two women are vying for a Lucena City, Quezon councilor post.
Five out of 26 aspirants to Lucena City’s council are women, a 150 percent increase from the 2022 elections, when there were two out of 30 who ran for council.
These five are Rhaetia Marie “Sunshine” Abcede-Llaga from Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), a former three-term city councilor; Ma. Veronica Garcia, an independent aspirant; Sonia Paraiso, an independent aspirant; Elizabeth “Beth” Sio from STAN Q, a reelectionist and a businesswoman; and Kneigoutina “Tinton” Suarez, from Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), of the Quezon Suarez clan.
Of the five women running for councilor this upcoming election, Abcede, who was city councilor from 2013 to 2022, is notable for being the only woman to sit on the council for the entire nine years of her three-term tenure. She was also the sole female candidate in the 2016 and 2019 elections. In the 2022 Lucena City mayoral elections, she was the sole female candidate, although she did not win the post.
At a 2022 seminar for Angat Bayi, a University of the Philippines (UP) Women’s Center for Women’s and Gender Studies-led political fellowship, Abcede said that during campaign sorties, she would often crack the joke that she was the “pinakamagandang konsehal”, the most beautiful councilor, in reference to her position as the sole woman on the council.
“Pero bakit kailangan gan’on ang joke? Hindi ba puwedeng sabihin ako ang pinakamasipag? Ang pinakamatalino?” she asked.
(“But why does that have to be the joke? Can’t I say I’m the most hardworking? The smartest?”)
Sio, a wealthy businesswoman with multiple grocery stores and gas stations to her name, was one of two female councilor candidates during the 2022 elections. She was also the sole woman to sit on the council for the 2022-2025 term, inheriting Abcede’s position as the only woman on the council.
In fact, over the past twelve years and four elections, there has only ever been one woman on the Lucena City council at any given point. For the years 2013-2022, that was Abcede; for 2022-2025, it was Sio.
But the demographic of Lucena’s, and all of Quezon’s, political leadership is changing. After all, in 2022, Quezon elected its first female governor, Angelina “Helen” Tan, after 29 male governors and 123 years after its establishment as a province.
Tan is currently seeking reelection for a second term as the province’s governor. She was previously a three-term congresswoman for Quezon’s fourth district.#
