What is it with Philippine politics that makes it so unapologetically and scandalously about self-interest in how to preserve one’s exclusive foothold on power? For many, that is a rhetorical question; the Filipino electorate knows the answer. But those who think they are God’s gifts to the Filipino people can never care less for rhetorical questions.
Loren Legarda’s website is a superlative spotlight on what a gift she is to the nation—the planet rather.
Loren Legarda’s life mantra has been for the Filipino people, the country, and the planet.
She is a true Filipina at heart, passionately advocating for the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and promoting arts and culture in the local and international arena.
She started out in the public mind as a reporter of Radio Philippines Network (RPN) during the Marcos dictatorship. A later plum post came at ABS CBN where she was hired as co-anchor of The World Tonight newscast with Angelo Castro Jr. The network would later upgrade her as host of her own current events series The Inside Story. Her journalism career brought her accolades: the Gawad Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Catholic Mass Media Awards Hall of Fame, the Golden Dove Award of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas, the Benigno Aquino Award for Journalism, and more than 30 other awards.
The verdict was: her name recall was indubitable.
That jumpstarted the political career of this “true Filipina at heart” in 1998 when she ran for senator under the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP party. Her presidential candidate was Jose de Venecia. She was the topnotcher of that senatorial race with 15 million votes. Nothing wrong with that.
Twenty-seven years later, the altruism that all neophytes swear to in serving the country needs evaluation. The Loren Legarda we see today has mutated into a traditional politician who has alternated between the Senate and the House of Representatives to transcend term limits. And more.
In the last elections, after she had served for one term as representative for the lone congressional seat of Antique, she fielded her younger brother Antonio Agapito “AA” Legarda to take over. Legarda herself claims she also keeps residence in Pandan, Antique, home of her maternal grandmother’s Gella family. For his first congressional run, AA Legarda registered his political alias as “Inday Loren.” How long has she been known truly as Inday Loren in Antique before she had run there in 2019 after her senate term had ended? Does she even speak Kinaray-a?
In the certified list of candidates for Antique, the brother’s name appeared as “Legarda, AA Inday Loren.” Promptly, a resident of Bugasong town, Salvador Ungsod, petitioned the Comelec that this was a deception to Antique voters that it was Loren running. The prayer was to declare him a nuisance candidate.
But as it is always in Philippine politics, having two family members in elective positions is not enough. Our democracy rests on the power, not of the people, but of presiding families over cities, provinces, and districts. And Loren Legarda has joined the drift of the fickle.
What was the price of that budding dynastic ambition? In the present 2025 congressional race, AA Legarda is running for reelection. Loren had to sever ties with her political allies in Antique led by the Gov. Rhodora Cadiao who was eyeing the lone congressional seat because she had completed her three terms as governor. They had run on the same ticket in 2022. Loren had become a determined dynast.
And why not? Imagine the combined pork barrel benefits of a senator and a congressman. Antique’s voters will have their hands full of campaign largesse.
The 2022 presidential campaign was said to be particularly unkind to candidate Leni Robredo in Antique. Supporters were dismayed that the 18 municipal mayors were reportedly ordered not to extend any welcome to the vice president, including at the provincial capitol. But the Bongbong Marcos team was given permission to use the Evelio B. Javier Freedom Park. Javier was the martial law hero who was assassinated in cold blood by the forces of Antique kingpin and Marcos henchman Arturo Pacificador.
Who gave the order for the cold welcome to Vice President Robredo? Antiqueños say the municipal mayors fear Loren. She was running in the Marcos-Duterte ticket. The coattail of the Edsa People Power she had originally run on was gone.
And then for this present electoral race, a third family member will join the two Legardas. Leandro Legarda Leviste, the senator’s son, is running for the first congressional district of Batangas.
Readers, judge for yourselves if Legarda Leviste needs a congressional seat. At 31 years old, the young Leviste is already worth P12B. He is CEO of the renewable energy firm Solar Philippines (that he claims he had patterned from Elon Musk; he had once invested in Tesla). He is also a sugar baron through the sugar firm Roxas and Company, Inc. (Central Azucarera de San Pedro in Nasugbu, Batangas) that he had saved from bankruptcy after buying 188.89 million shares.
Last year, Leviste’s LL Holdings Inc. and Countryside Investment Holdings bought 10% of ABS CBN Corporation, making him the second largest shareholder of the media conglomerate after the Lopez family. It boggles the mind why a billionaire would lust for more power beyond what he already has. Protecting his business interests is a common script among Filipino politicians.
See where the traditional politics of Leandro’s mother had landed on the lap of this wealthy young man? In July 2020, when the House of Representatives killed press freedom by denying the franchise of ABS CBN at the behest of Rodrigo Duterte, Representative Loren Legarda abstained.
She cited a House rule that barred bill authors from voting otherwise (her bill, House Bill 6293, would have renewed ABS CBN’s franchise). She claimed that the rule on conflict of interest barred her from voting to deny the franchise. But House sources say the rule only applies to members of the legislative franchises committee who are not ex-officio members. Legarda was ex-officio; she was Deputy Speaker, a House big shot.
The mental gymnastics did not work. The public instead saw an alibi that her absence during the House hearing was because of fear of Rodrigo Duterte, who had once proclaimed Leandro Leviste as a future president of the Philippines.
Loren Legarda would savor that future reality predicted by Duterte.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.