2. Pia Cayetano
• Pilar Juliana Schramm Cayetano (born March 22, 1966),
known as Pia Cayetano, is a Filipina politician and lawyer
serving as a Senator since 2019, a position she previously held
from 2004 to 2016. She was also
the Representative of Taguig's 2nd district from 2016 to 2019
and was one of the Deputy Speakers.
• Cayetano was born to a political family currently based in
Taguig. Her father was the late former senator Rene Cayetano;
her younger brother, Alan Peter, is an incumbent senator who
formerly represented Taguig-Pateros district and became
Speaker of the House during the 18th Congress; another
younger brother, Rene Carl, is a former councilor
of Muntinlupa; her youngest brother, Lino, was mayor of Taguig;
and her sister-in-law (Alan Peter's wife) Lani, is the incumbent
mayor of Taguig.
3. • Cayetano authored the Expanded Senior Citizens Act, Expanded
Breastfeeding Promoting Act, and the Responsible Parenthood and
Reproductive Health Act of 2012, among others. She earned her
economics (cum laude) and law degrees at the University of the
Philippines, where she played volleyball for the UP Lady Maroons team
that won the 1983 UAAP title. She has also played for the national
women's volleyball team.[1] Cayetano is also a runner, cyclist,
and triathlete.
• Pia Cayetano was conferred the Rizal Women of Malalos Award by
the Order of the Knights of Rizal.
4. Early life
• Cayetano was born on March 22, 1966, to Renato "Compañero"
Cayetano, who would later become Senator, and German-
American former school teacher Sandra Schramm.[2]
5. Education
• Cayetano took up Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of the
Philippines, and graduated cum laude in 1985. She then took up
Bachelor of Laws at University of the Philippines Diliman. She
graduated in 1991 with academic distinction, #7 in her class. She also
became a member of the Honor Society, Order of the Purple Feather.[3]
6. Legal career
• From 1992 to 1995, Cayetano was an associate lawyer at the Castillo,
Laman Tan, and Pantaleon Law Offices, specializing in corporate and
intellectual property law.[4] From 1996 to 1999, she was an officer for
the legal and corporate affairs of the Belle Corporation and its affiliates,
including the gaming conglomerate BW Resources. In 2000, she was
general counsel for the Philweb Corporation. In 2001, she was
appointed chairwoman of the Maxi Group of Companies, a retailer and
distributor of educational toys, infant apparel and accessories.
• In 2012, she opened her own cafe, Slice, at Bonifacio High Street in
Taguig.[5]
7. Political career
• Following the death of her father, then Senator Renato Cayetano, due
to liver cancer on June 25, 2003, several legislators including senators,
encouraged Pia Cayetano to run for office. As a result, she ran for a
Senate seat in the 2004 elections. Initially she was a virtual unknown to
the electorate but with the liberalization of political advertisements, she
gained popularity with her TV advertisement as a runner, cyclist, and as
a tri-athlete, and as a new host of her father's TV program Compañero
y Compañera for a short stint. She won in the elections landing in the
sixth position. In 2010, Cayetano ran for re-election as a guest
candidate under the Nacionalista Party. She won, again landing in sixth
place. Her second term as senator ended in 2016.
8. • During 112th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Manila, Cayetano
was elected President of the 10th Meeting of Women Parliamentarians
during the sidelines of the annual meeting. On April 17, 2008, she was
elected for a two-year term, president of the Committee of Women
Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) during its 118th
General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa. As the first Filipino and
Asian to head it, she ran unopposed and took over from Uruguay's
Monica Xavier.[6] This is the highest position held by any Filipino or
Asian in the history of the IPU.[7]
9. • Cayetano pushed for the enactment of the ‘Magna Carta of Women’
which seeks to end all forms of gender discrimination, and the
‘Expanded Breastfeeding Act,’ which establishes lactation stations in
the workplace to encourage nursing mothers to continue breastfeeding
even at work.[8]
• Cayetano is likewise credited for the passage of the ‘Expanded Senior
Citizens Act’ which allowed the elderly to fully enjoy the 20-percent
senior citizens discount by exempting their purchases of medicines and
other vital services from the 12-percent Value Added Tax.[8]
10. • Cayetano pushed for the enactment of the ‘Magna Carta of Women’
which seeks to end all forms of gender discrimination, and the
‘Expanded Breastfeeding Act,’ which establishes lactation stations in
the workplace to encourage nursing mothers to continue breastfeeding
even at work.[8]
• Cayetano is likewise credited for the passage of the ‘Expanded Senior
Citizens Act’ which allowed the elderly to fully enjoy the 20-percent
senior citizens discount by exempting their purchases of medicines and
other vital services from the 12-percent Value Added Tax.[8]
