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Tom Villarin

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Tomasito "Tom" Sepe Villarin (born February 13, 1965) is a social development worker and activist from Mindanao who currently sits as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, representing Akbayan Citizens Action Party[1] since 2016.

Prior to the 2016 election, Villarin served as Undersecretary for Special Concerns and Informal Settler Families[2] under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) from 2014-2015, and as Undersecretary for Constituency Affairs[3] under the Office of the Political Adviser (OPA) in Malacañang from 2012-2013.

Early life

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Born and raised in Bislig, Surigao del Sur,[4] Villarin finished his primary and secondary education at the La Salle John Bosco School. From Mindanao, he flew to Manila and earned his degree in Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics in 1985 from the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

As a college student, he was elected to the Arts and Letters Student Council under Sandigan, where he began his activism with the Youth for the Advancement of Faith and Justice (YAFJ). He also became features editor of the Flame, the official student publication of his college at the UST, and an officer of the Artlets Economics Society (AES).

After finishing his bachelor's degree, Villarin studied law at San Beda College in 1988 but dropped out to do labor organizing work.

Further studies and accolades

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Villarin received a fellowship grant from the Ford Foundation to support his summer studies at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex in Brighton, United Kingdom from 2000 to 2001.

In 2012, he finished his master's degree in Development Management at the Asian Institute of Management as a scholar of the Zuellig Foundation.

He also received the Thomasian Alumni in Government Service (TAGS) award from the UST Alumni Association in 2018 but returned it in an act of protest over the association's decision to award the same to Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, an entertainer-turned-blogger who was widely criticized for allegedly spreading fake news even during her current stint at the Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO).

Life in Philippine civil society

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From being a student activist during the martial law years under the Marcos dictatorship, he became a trade union organizer under the National Federation of Labor. He helped organize the Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), Balikatan Association of Construction Workers, Builders Initiative for Labor Development (BUILD), Center for Education Research for Government Employees (CERGE), and later joined the Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN).

Villarin also took an active role in the formation of the Bukluran ng Ikauunlad ng Sosyalistang Isip at Gawa (BISIG) and the Kristiyanong Katipunan (KK).

After his work with trade unions, Villarin shifted his political activism to the farmers sector when he joined the Kaisahan tungo sa Kaunlaran ng Kanayunan at Repormang Pansakahan (KAISAHAN), a non-government organization (NGO) formed in 1990 by then-recently resigned Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad to actively campaign for the meaningful implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.

Villarin later took over as Executive Director of KAISAHAN from 1998 until 2001 when he moved to the Institute of Politics and Governance as its Executive Director. He then headed the Barangay-Bayan Governance Consortium that advocated from grassroots participatory budgeting and barangay development planning through participatory resource appraisal.[5]

Drawn by his Mindanaoan roots, Villarin eventually moved to Davao City, where he establishing the SIAD Initiatives in Mindanao Convergence for Asset Reform and Rural Development (SIMCARRD)[6], an NGO devoted to empowering people and communities in southern Philippines. He worked on programs for asset reform, participatory local governance, peace-building, sustainable agriculture, enterprise development, and community organizing.

He also helped establish the Reform ARMM Now (RAN)[7] that lobbied for reforms in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Life in Philippine politics

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Villarin started his political career as a founding member of Akbayan Citizens Action Party (Akbayan) in 1998. He was elected as its national treasurer and later served the party as the chairperson of the Mindanao commission. In such capacity, Villarin steered discussion of the party on issues such as the Bangsamoro, decentralization, autonomy, and the rights of indigenous peoples.

In 2010, he was internally elected as Akbayan's third nominee but failed to get a seat in the House of Representatives as the party only garnered two under the party-list system of elections.

Between 2010-2015, he focused on his work under the executive branch of the Aquino administration as undersecretary at the OPA and later the DILG.

In 2016, he was elected by party members as first nominee and eventually earned a seat as the party's sole representative[8] in the lower house of the 17th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines.

Legislative record

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Villarin's first act as legislator was to join the authentic minority bloc in the lower house known as the "Magnificent Seven."[9] He also became member of the following committees in the lower House:

  • Committee on Local Government
  • Committee on Human Rights
  • Committee on Labor
  • Committee on Health
  • Committee on Urban and Housing Development
  • Committee on Aquatic and Fisheries Resources
  • Committee on Agrarian Reform[10]

Despite being a member of the political opposition and a first-term congressman, Villarin has successfully ushered the passage of the following laws as their principal sponsor in various House committees:

  • Strengthened Anti-Hospital Deposit Law (Republic Act No. 10932)[11]
  • Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (Republic Act No. 10931)[12]
  • National Mental Health Act (Republic Act No. 11036)[13]

After twenty years of lobbying for the prohibition of labor-only contracting, Villarin saw to the passage of Akbayan's bill strengthening the workers' security of tenure in the lower House.

Other bills authored by Villarin that has hurdled the third and final reading at the lower House include:

  • Comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Policy Bill
  • Anti-Discrimination on Sexual Orientation, Gender, Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) Bill[14]
  • Coconut Levy Trust Fund Bill
  • In-city, On-site, or Near-city Resettlement for Informal Settler Families Bill[15]
  • National Land Use Bill

In various stages pending the lower House's approval are the following measures that Villarin has similarly authored:

  • Bill institutionalizing the conditional cash transfer or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)
  • Bill penalizing street-based sexual harassment and ensuring safe public spaces, especially for women and members of the LGBTQI+ community
  • Bill expanding the maternity leave for Filipina workers
  • Bill introducing the National Autism Care Plan
  • Bill extending the notice of coverage for CARPER
  • Bill creating the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DOFAR)
  • Bill ensuring the Students' Rights and Welfare (STRAW)

Opposition stance

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Early on the Duterte administration, Villarin has strongly condemned the extrajudicial killings committed under the all-out war against illegal drugs,[16] the re-institution of the death penalty,[17] the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility,[18] and the move to change the 1987 Constitution through a constituent assembly.

Together with the members of the Magnificent Seven, Villarin challenged[19] the declaration and the subsequent extension of Martial Law in the whole of Mindanao in the Supreme Court.

He has also been cited by House leaders for calling out[20] the impeachment of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was ousted by her colleagues at the Supreme Court via quo warranto.

Other engagements

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Villarin is currently member of the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD)[21], serving as its Secretary.

He is also a trustee of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)[22], participating in various missions in the Southeast Asian region including Cambodia where APHR members produced a critical report[23] on the democracy and human rights situation in the country. They have also conducted a fact-finding mission on the Rohingya human rights crisis in Myanmar.[24]

Personal life

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Villarin is married to Lia Jasmin Esquillo, an environmental advocate and fellow social development activist. They have two daughters, Ianna and Neema.


References

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  1. ^ User, Super. "Home - Akbayan Party List". akbayan.org.ph. Retrieved 2018-07-04. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ "DILG Celebrates Urban Poor Solidarity Week - News - DILG". www.dilg.gov.ph. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  3. ^ Burgonio, TJ. "Another Akbayan member appointed to Palace position". Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  4. ^ Journal, Akbayan (2016-01-05). "Tom Villarin: Know Tom Villarin, Akbayan Party's first nominee". Tom Villarin. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  5. ^ Alicias, Maria Dolores (December 6, 2011). "Decentralization and Local Participatory Development: Experiences from Cambodia and the Philippines". Lingnan University-Hongkong. Archived from the original on December 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2018. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help)
  6. ^ "SIMCARRD". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  7. ^ "Reform ARMM Now". reform-armm-now.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  8. ^ "Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  9. ^ Nonato, Marlon Ramos, Vince F. "SC rebuffs House 'Magnificent 7'". Retrieved 2018-07-04.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "House of Representatives". www.congress.gov.ph. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  11. ^ "HB 5159 | Strengthen Anti-Hospital Deposits Law – DWDD". dwdd.com.ph. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  12. ^ "House passes 45 bills on final reading after summer break". Rappler. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  13. ^ Roxas, Pathricia Ann V. "Passage of mental health law praised as 'whiff of good air'". Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  14. ^ "Esquire Philippines: Lifestyle, Culture, Politics, Women". www.esquiremag.ph. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  15. ^ "House of Representatives". congress.gov.ph. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  16. ^ Uy, DJ Yap, Jocelyn R. "Solon sees return of 'reign of terror' in antidrug war". Retrieved 2018-07-04.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "Opinion | Duterte Wants the Death Penalty Back". Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  18. ^ Mayol, Ador Vincent. "Cebu groups say no to death penalty, lower age of criminal liability". Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  19. ^ Cayabyab, Marc Jayson. "'Whimsical': Solon hits Duterte's martial law extension till end-2017". Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  20. ^ "Akbayan's Villarin hit for saying Sereno hearing a 'monumental fuck-up'". Rappler. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  21. ^ "Board of Trustees". Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development. 2017-01-30. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  22. ^ "Board Members". ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  23. ^ "Publications". ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  24. ^ "Publications". ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
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