MAY 30, 2011

NR # 2420E

Belmonte leads tribute to the late Justice Leonor Ines Luciano

The Philippines is among the few countries in this part of the world recognized for
embracing the fundamental equality between the sexes, and enacting legislation to uphold that
equality, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. declared today in tribute to a great women’s rights
advocate, the late former Justice and Rep. Leonor Ines Luciano.

Belmonte, together with Hon. Ma. Angelica Amante-Matba, Chairperson of the House
Committee on Women and Gender Equality, on Monday led the ribbon-cutting ceremonies of the
Photo and Memorabilia Exhibits at the North Wing Lobby, Batasan complex in the presence of
the family members of the late Justice Luciano.

Belmonte said that this social achievement is not sheer accident because “it is the result of
commitment and life’s work of a few individuals who saw beyond the physiological disparity
between sexes.”

Referring to the late Justice Luciano, Belmonte said she was one among the few who saw
the evil of gender-based discrimination and who earlier on understood the benefits that accrue to
a society that ensures equal treatment before the law of all peoples regardless of sex or gender.

“This social enlightenment was founded upon the passion and courage of these individuals
who were not only ahead of their time in their intellect and humanity, but more importantly were
selfless enough to swim against the tide, even at the expense of their own comforts or personal
interests, that we may be liberated from the constraints of societal misconceptions,” the Speaker
said, adding that the late Justice Luciano belonged to this select group of individuals.

Even before her public life, Belmonte noted that Luiciano already distinguished herself as
a champion of women empowerment, “teaching rural women and youth the value of self-
reliance, and of cooperativism.”

Unknown to many, Belmonte recalled that the lady-Justice was a model farmer on her own
right for having introduced to farmers in far-flung areas modern farming techniques, increasing
the efficiency of farmers.

More accolades poured, highlighted by the presentation of a copy of a House Resolution

containing the congressional recognition of the lifetime achievements of the late Justice Luciano
by the Speaker and leaders of the lady legislators led by Hon. Amante-Matba, Deputy Speaker
Isabelle G. Climaco, Pangasinan Rep. Gina de Venecia (President, HOR Association of Lady
Legislators), Hon. Josephine Veronique R. Lacson-Noel (one of Luciano’s grand children), Rep.
Maria Zenaida B. Angping, and Gabriela Party-list Representatives among others.

Mr. Victor Jose Luciano, in behalf of the late Justice Luciano’s family, thank all the
members of the House of Representatives, all the women’s groups and organizations who were
instrumental to the ongoing efforts and achievements in support of his late mother’s advocacies
to make life better of women and the youth. (30) mrs-prib