María Ana Consuelo Madrigal Valade known as Jamby Madrigal is a candidate for senator in the upcoming 2013 elections. She was first elected as senator during the 2004 general elections. In the 2010 presidential elections, she ran for president in but lost.
She is formerly the Chairperson of four Senate Committees: Committee on Environment, Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations, Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, and the Committee on Cultural Communities.
As a legislator, Jamby Madrigal has worked for the protection of the environment and has authored significant bills defending human rights and the rights of women and children. Under her chairmanship, the landmark Magna Carta of Women law was finally enacted after pending for more than a decade in Congress. Likewise, she successfully authored and passed the Anti-Child Pornography Law.
Jamby Madrigal has also filed bills in the areas of education, juvenile justice, gender equality, empowerment, anti-trafficking, and protection of the the indigenous peoples and their ancestral domain as well as the protection and conservation of the environment.
Madrigal also filed bills to advance nationalist economics and has a 100% consistent nationalist voting record. Jamby Madrigal voted against oppressive legislation such as the E-VAT law, the JPEPA treaty and the Anti-Terrorism law.
Her parents are Antonio Madrigal and Amanda Teopaco Abad Santos. She is the granddaughter of the former Supreme Court Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos. Her granduncle – pre-Commonwealth Assemblyman Pedro Abad Santos – founded the Socialist Party of the Philippines. Jamby Madrigal’s paternal grandfather was Senator Vicente Lopez Madrigal and her aunt, Pacita Madrigal-Gonzalez was a senator during the Quezon and Magsaysay administrations. Jamby Madrigal is married to Frenchman Eric Jean Claude Dudoignon Valade.
Platforms/Advocacy of Jamby Madrigal
Jamby Madrigal’s platform pushed for “Philippines for the Filipinos,” where Filipinos are empowered to regain sovereignty over their environment and resources, trade, and economy from big foreign players. She also asserted the role of an “innovator for social justice and advocate of economic policies that benefit the majority.”
Jamby Madrigal aimed to advance a pro-Filipino industrialization through extensive processing of native produce while protecting the local market from inequitable foreign competition and smuggling. By ensuring fair trade, she aspired to develop favorable ties with various organizations here and abroad, and abolish monopolies and cartels.
She also pushed for the enactment of a genuine agrarian reform program that would liberate peasants from poverty, stop non-agricultural conversion of lands, and ensure just income distribution.