Press Release
March 20, 2017

Statement of Sen. Juan Miguel F. Zubiri on the Passing of Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani

I will miss Senator Leticia Valdez-Ramos Shahani as a lady who doesn't know the word retirement, much less retreat. She is made of true Genuine Ilocano stuff of kasipagan, katipiran at kagitingan. Up to her last years she was active in her farming endeavors.

She once sought me out to improve farm productivity and increase the incomes of farmers in Pangasinan. She knew age-old problems needed modern solutions which she applied in Pangasinan and the rest of the Philippines. She headed the Senate Committees on foreign Affairs, on Education, Culture and Arts and on Agriculture and Food, to which she came home to as a champion of farmers and of the dairy industry.

She was first among modern day Filipinas in bringing trailblazing statements on women's liberation movements when she was elected as the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on the Decade of Women in Kenya in 1985. Before she was elected Senator, she was into poverty alleviation. Long before we heard the term inclusive growth, Madam Shahani was already in on the germination of this idea in the 21st century as then UN Assistant Sec. Gen. for Social and Humanitarian Affairs.

She is irreplaceable for her noble causes and her humility despite her intellectual and political stature.

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