A day with the lady mayors and Ma’am Vicky

CITY of BALANGA, Bataan – Mrs. Vicky Garcia, Gov. Abet Garcia’s mother and presently the Chairperson of Women’s Organization in the province, gave the opening remarks at the culminating activity of this year’s Women’s Month celebration held at Lou-Is restaurant yesterday.

Ma’am Vicky Garcia gave honor and tribute to the women of Bataan who have made a difference in the lives of many people in our society, these women she said, are our great inspirational leaders who made a mark in the change and development of our province.

Ma’am Vicky made mention of the 4 lady Mayors of the province; Mayor Cynthia Estanislao of Morong town (who had an earlier commitment), Mayor Gene dele Fuente of Samal, Mayor Alice Pizarro of Pilar and Mayor Gila Garcia (her daughter) of Dinalupihan, whom she stressed are women who have displayed indispensable roles in the growth, progress and good governance of the province.

Lastly, the Garcia matriarch urged the women of Bataan to be empowered, to encourage and motivate other women to step up, not only in fighting for gender equality but also in rendering quality services and in giving back to the community.

At one point during the program, the three (3) lady mayors present were requested to come up on stage and were asked some unfamiliar questions that they had to answer quickly on the spot, just like the “fast talk” portion in a popular tv show, to the excitement of the audience and the lady mayors themselves as well.

The questions were so interesting that the audience were in awe on how sincere and straight forward the answers were, coming from the 3 lady mayors. Questions like, how they landed in politics, the biggest challenge they’ve gone through as a lady mayor and other stunning questions.

For Mayor Gene dele Fuente, it is interesting to know that one of her challenges being a lady mayor is, how to balance being a mother, a wife, a friend and as a leader all rolled into one. While for Mayor Alice Pizarro, she said that she finds it hard how to be “one of the boys,” like in a meeting with all men barangay captains. For Mayor Gila Garcia, she said that obviously, her inspiration in being a leader is her father, the late Congressman Tet Garcia and said that she was brought up by her parents with the teaching that no gender is weak enough to do anything, that empowering women is a big challenge for her in Dinalupihan.

The audience, especially the women, said that they enjoyed the “scene” with the 3 lady Mayors because they told 1Bataan that they were able to relate to the mayors, “totoo pala silang tao tulad namin, na isang nanay, isang kaibigan at asawa,” but just like wonder woman in terms of being a leader.