Of the high profile cases preventing presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos from running in the May 9 polls, it was those handled by the Commission on Election's First Division that proved most prominent, as it was at this court that a judgment to disqualify the son of dictator was made—a sole dissenting opinion by then Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon.
And while her decision was eventually cast aside in the court ruling, her conviction sparked public interest in both the case and herself.
Thus, who is Rowena Guanzon?
Ma. Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon is a lawyer, writer, professor, and well-known expert in the field of gender equality and laws on violence against women.
A highly-educated individual, she obtained her bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines (UP) and subsequently a law degree from the UP College of Law, receiving a Dean’s Medal for graduating sixth in her class. She then pursued a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, where she was an Edward Mason Fellow and Class Marshal.
In 1986, the twenty-eight-year-old Guanzon was appointed as Officer in Charge of Cadiz City—the youngest at the time—by then-President Corazon Aquino upon the recommendation of Bacolod Bishop Antonio Fortich. She then ran and won as city mayor in 1988, serving as the local chief executive until 1992 when she was able to transform Cadiz from a third-class to a first-class city.
After her mayoral stint, she returned to the practice of law and handled cases in the field of women's rights. In 2008, she began teaching at the UP College of Law and was later designated as Officer-in-Charge of the Institute for the Administration of Justice of the UP Law Center in 2011. Two years later, she was made commissioner in the then all-women-led Commission on Audit, where she vowed to prioritize the utilization of gender and development budget in the bureaucracy.
In addition to her already eventful career, the former commissioner has been writing prolifically, authoring numerous law books and publications, the most prominent of which include "The Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004," "The Government Auditing Code of the Philippines Casebook," "The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act: Notes and Cases," and the "Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act." Moreover, she was also the lead author of "Engendering the Philippine Judiciary'' published by the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the UP Center for Women’s Studies Foundation, as well as "The Davide Court: Its Contributions to Gender and Women’s Rights," issued by The Asia Foundation and the UP Center for Women’s Studies Foundation.
It was this distinguished career and stellar track record that got her appointed by President Benigno Aquino III as COMELEC commissioner in 2015—a seven-year term which we now know ended in a dramatic spectacle when she hinted at the possible political interference within the commission, which provoked the early disclosure of her vote to disqualify Marcos Jr. from the presidential race, citing the candidate's tax conviction as a crime of moral turpitude and thus should not be allowed to run for public office.
Being the lone dissenter did not deter her from making an independent judgment, one that she knows is right and just. By making such a decision, she kept the standard of quality and distinction present in the rest of her outstanding career, or as she puts it: "I want to be remembered as a commissioner with honor and excellence."
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Written by: Patrick Rabi
Layout and Design by: Charles Ian Ramos
References:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1547044/whos-this-poll-exec-in-fighting-mood-days-before-retirement/amp
https://comelec.gov.ph/index.html?r=AboutCOMELEC/CommissionMembers/CommGuanzon
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/01/30/22/the-making-of-rowena-guanzon-comelec-commissioner
https://lifestyleasia.onemega.com/hear-her-roar-rowena-guanzon-has-always-been-a-woman-of-fighting-words-way-before-twitter/
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