'MY DAILY RACE' BOOK LAUNCH SET IN CEBU DEC.9
5:12 AM
Vernon Joseph Go
'My Daily Race' (My Life as a Senator, Mom and Triathlete), the very
first book authored by Senator Pia S. Cayetano, will be launched in Cebu City
on December 9, 2011 (Friday), 6:30 pm at the Active Zone of the Ayala Center,
Cebu Business Park.
The lady senator will sign copies of the book which recounts her story
from the 2004 electoral campaign. Starting out as an unknown and reluctant
senatorial candidate, she would become the youngest woman elected in the
history of the Philippine Senate, and later, as the first Filipino and Asian to
be elected president of a standing committee of the Geneva-based
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Chapters of the book are devoted to Cayetano's life in politics, sports,
and as a mother, representing the multi-tasking senator’s interwoven worlds.
She intimately shares how her ‘daily race’ consists of continuously balancing
her schedule to meet her official duties at the Senate, as well as her
responsibilities at home to her two daughters (Maxine and Nadine) and son (Lucas),
while still finding time to pursue her passion for sports and various
advocacies.
The lady senator also recalls how she overcame the loss of her
9-month-old son Gabriel in 2001 and her father, Senator Compañero Rene Cayetano
in 2003, by turning to running to cope with her grief. Over the years, she
would continue to challenge herself by taking on even tougher sports, including
marathons, duathlons, triathlons and Ironman races here and abroad.
It may be recalled that Cayetano topped her age group in the women's
division of the inaugural XTERRA Philippines Off-road Triathlon in Liloan, Cebu
last March. The win earned her a ticket to the world XTERRA championships that
was staged last month in Maui, Hawaii. Last year, she also organized the Cebu leg
of 'Pinay In Action,' an all-women's run held at the Lahug IT Park.
As one of the Senate's most accomplished members, Sen. Pia is credited
for passing a number of important laws such as the Expanded Senior Citizens
Act, Food and Drugs Administration Act, Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act,
and Magna Carta of Women.
Now serving on her second term, Cayetano has shown no signs of slowing
down. She is currently one of the two women advocates of the
highly-debated Reproductive Health (RH) Bill in the Senate, along with
co-sponsor Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
“You see, there are really two kinds of women who run: Women who put on
running shoes and run recreationally or competitively, and women who run for
public office. I am a woman who runs, on both accounts,” Sen. Pia wrote in her
book about women and ‘running.’
What makes her run? The senator continues: “When I run in a race, I
proudly run on behalf of women. I run to empower women. I run to raise
awareness that there is still a lot of discrimination and injustice against
women in our country. I run because I know this will be a better place when
women’s voices are heard as loudly as men’s. Mostly, I run because I know a
little girl is always watching from the sidelines; and I hope to empower her, to
inspire her to be a woman of substance and perhaps a woman who runs one day.”
