With just two days before the elections, the Kamalayan party-list hopes it can bring to Congress its various advocacies for the basic sectors, which it had pushed and promoted as an organization.
As a group, the Kamalayan (Kalipunan ng Maralita at Malayang Mamamayan), had been pushing for the interest and welfare of various sectors like women, youth, senior citizens, overseas workers and others.
The party-list, which ranks first on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ballot for 166 party-list groups in the May 9 elections, anchors its advocacy on “Health, Edukasyon, Livelihood, Pabahay at Seguridad” (HELPS).
“This is our guide and platform in pushing for solutions that would uplift the quality of life of those in the basic sectors, especially the poor,” the party-list said, whose first nominee is lawyer Tinette Burgos.
Burgos practically grew up in the world of public service, joining and leading groups in relief missions in times of calamities, and in providing other forms of assistance to impoverished areas around the country.
The lawyer was a fixture in Northern Luzon, especially in Cagayan and Isabela during the times that the country’s northern portion was hit by successive powerful typhoons, distributing assistance and spearheading relief operations.
The Peace Kamp, a group that is educating an Aeta community in Porac, Pampanga is one of Burgos’ involvements in the area of education advocacy.
As a third-year law student at the Ateneo de Manila University, she put up the Batang Henyo, a non-profit organization that promotes the full development of children and the total recognition of their rights.
Burgos’ exposure in public service and her personal advocacy to help alleviate the plight of the poor and marginalized propelled her to collaborate with Kamalayan and the firming up of its advocacies before it turned into a party-list group.
Although Kamalayan is widely present in the National Capital Region, it also has chapters in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, and has forged alliances with various groups and associations around the country.