Actor-politician Jinggoy Estrada is a public servant like no other.
Even when he was a young boy, the former senator always knew that public service was his calling. Being the eldest son of Joseph Estrada, a popular movie actor who went on to have a storied political career that included distinguished terms as mayor, senator and president of the Philippines, Jinggoy knew he was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Even as he also dabbled in acting himself, Jinggoy started to throw his hat in the political arena at an early age. At only 25 years old, Jinggoy was already the Vice Mayor of his hometown in San Juan City, where his father served as its longest-tenured and best-known mayor. Shortly thereafter, Jinggoy became the country’s youngest-ever elected local chief executive just before he reached 30.
For three consecutive terms, the man dubbed as “Anak ng Masa” transformed San Juan into one of the most progressive and most peaceful municipalities in the entire Philippines. Having spearheaded projects and programs for the city’s economic, social, political, and cultural affairs, it was no surprise that he gained the trust and admiration of his fellow chief executives when he was elected as the National President of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001.
This allowed then Mayor Jinggoy to showcase his impressive public administration skills on a national level. In recognizing the potential of local government units as reliable partners in nation-building, Mayor Jinggoy was at the forefront of numerous programs that empowered local government units (LGUs) and helped secure and produced better and more modern service facilities to at least 1,525 municipalities.
By the end of his third term and with San Juan now a highly urbanized metropolis, Mayor Jinggoy was already looking forward to bigger things ahead. 2004 marked a new beginning for the young Estrada as he started the first of two six-year terms as Senator of the Republic. He immediately buckled down to work and in no time, earned a reputation as one of the country’s hardest working and most prolific legislators.
From within his Senate stints, Senator Jinggoy held the position of Senate President Pro Tempore as well as chaired the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources and the Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment as well as membership in the numerous other committees including the Commission on Appointments.
As a legislator, Senator Jinggoy filed hundreds of bills within his two terms. Over 600 of these bills alone were filed in the 16th congress from 2013 to 2016, many of which were credited to him as principal author. Most of his priority bills were geared towards improving and strengthening the policies affecting our workforce and overseas foreign workers, empowering our local government units, protecting and preserving our freedom of expression and assembly, and promotion of youth welfare.
One of the landmark laws that he himself principally authored is Republic Act 10361 or simply known as the Kasambahay Law, or the law promoting the interests and welfare of the domestic workers in the Philippines as it established prescribed standards, privileges and rights beneficial to them.
Senator Jinggoy has also successfully sponsored and steered the passage into law the PESO Law or RA 10691, the SPES law or RA 10917, the strengthening of NLRC or RA 10741, the lifting of night work prohibition for women or RA 10151, among others. He has also actively participated in fine-tuning other important measures like the AMLA Law, Amendments to the National Internal Revenue Code on E-VAT and the Excise Tax, National Budget, Synchronized Barangay and SK Elections, Ratification of the International Labour Organization Convention on Forced Labor.
Even with all these achievements and not counting his equally sterling accolades as an actor, Senator Jinggoy feels that his work as a public servant is far from over. On September 29, 2021, he officially announced that he is once again seeking a Senate in next year’s national elections.
“Mga kababayan, mga kasama, mga ka-masa, ako po si Jinggoy, buong puso kong inihahayag ang aking intensyong makibahagi sa malinis na halalan upang maging senador muli,” Jinggoy declared in a personal address streamed on Facebook Live.
In seeking a new mandate and adopting the new tagline, “Aaksyon para sa masa,” Senator Jinggoy hopes “to assist in addressing the fundamental ills and challenges facing the country under the new normal.” He hopes to achieve this by crafting new legislation that focus on food security, job generation, strengthening health system and ensuring equitable access, youth empowerment, modernized agricultural sector, strong and robust digital economy, sustainable environmental protection, and adaptable and accessible quality education.
Senator Jinggoy also hopes to author or co-author measures that emphasizes the strengthening of local governments towards full devolution and more sustainable developments in areas outside NCR.
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