ORANI, Bataan – “As the New Year approaches I cannot help but be thankful for all the love and support many people (especially my family, friends and constituents) have shown me.”
So goes a part of the year-ender message of Bataan First District Rep. Geraldine B. Roman on her Facebook Page as she bade goodbye to year 2017 and welcomed 2018.
Roman added that she is grateful for the “new experiences, the opportunities, the challenges, the small victories, even the small disappointments and lessons learned from the past year.”
The first-termer lawmaker has been a part of numerous TV and radio interviews on various national issues especially on the topics pertaining to the welfare of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer) communities in the country. Various university and college campuses and LGUs nationwide, speaking engagements were also a part of her daily life in the previous year.
Going back to her hometown here, Roman made sure that her constituents were not left behind despite her busy schedule. Fridays are still her “people’s day” at her district office/ancestral home when and where she personally entertains visitors from all walks of life. She also attends to some events and gatherings in the province, the latest was during the groundbreaking ceremonies and inauguration of buildings inside the Bataan General Hospital coinciding with 76th founding anniversary of BGH.
Roman, the country’s first transwoman lawmaker, in the latter part of the year 2017 became the “talk of the town” when Senate President Koko Pimentel and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez announced over major national media entities that she’s one of the senatorial bets being considered by the ruling party PDP- Laban for the 2019 midterm elections.
When asked by a reporter whether she thinks that the Filipino nation is ready for a transgender senator, she replied, “Filipinos have a ‘soft spot for people who are normally discriminated against.’”