FOLLOWING the call of the student leaders at Assumption College San Lorenzo in Makati City, the image of Sen. Loren Legarda on the school’s Wall of Empowered Women has been removed.
Legarda graduated from Assumption as valedictorian in grade school and studied there from primary to high school.
The schools’ student councils had condemned Legarda’s recent actions in the Senate.
On Friday, the Assumption Alumnae Association (AAA) called on its members who hold public office to “return to the women they were formed to be.”
“Many among our alumnae community serve in public office, in Congress, in the Senate, and in positions of trust throughout government. We are proud of them. It is precisely because we believe in them, and in what Assumption formed them to be, that we write today,” the association said.
“St. Marie Eugenie did not teach us to remain silent when conscience calls. She taught us that love, when it matters most, asks something of us: the quiet, steady courage to do what is right, even when it is difficult,” it said.
The alumnae said women in public office, especially among them, should “speak truth with honesty and humility” and let conscience guide them more than “convenience or political safety.”
The association issued the statement hours before a statement from the student councils that called for the removal of Legarda’s portrait from the Wall of Empowered Women.
In a statement, the councils for school years 2025–2026 and 2026–2027 said Legarda’s “recent political actions no longer reflect the values that Assumption upholds.”
“The Wall of Empowered Women represents leaders whose actions continue to embody the principles of truth, justice, and public accountability. As a community formed by these values, we believe it is our responsibility to speak when those principles are at stake,” it said.
Legarda was among the senators who voted for Cayetano as Senate president earlier this week, two days before the transmission of the articles of impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte to the Senate.
Her son, Batangas Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste, had voted no to the articles of impeachment against Duterte.
“No public office grants immunity from the standards of ethical conduct. Any act that enables impunity and obstruction of justice, however subtle or procedural, diminishes public trust, and compromises the dignity of institutions that serve the Filipino people,” the councils said.
“Assumption College San Lorenzo forms leaders who are expected to act with integrity, exercise social responsibility, and uphold courage of conviction. These are standards instilled from Basic Education through Higher Education, and define the conduct expected of every Assumptionista who enters public service ... In view of this, the Council encourages the entire Assumption College community to support this petition,” they said.
The group said they hoped Legarda “will confront this moment with integrity and a clear sense of duty. It remains within her capacity to rebuild the trust of a community that once regarded her as an alumna of distinction. Now is the time to prove that such trust was not misplaced.”
Earlier this week, the University of the Philippines (UP) Broadcasting Association also expressed concern over Legarda’s political decisions.
“More than a senator, Loren Legarda is a UP Broadcasting Association alumna who once stood within the ranks of student leadership. Her political choices now stand in contradiction with the principles of accountability, public service, and democratic responsibility that UP students are taught to uphold. At a time when institutions are being reorganized to shield the powerful from scrutiny and consequence, neutrality disguised as pragmatism only deepens public distrust,” the association said in a statement on Tuesday.
The senator graduated cum laude from UP Diliman with a degree in broadcast communications, and even served as the Broadcasting Association’s president.
“As journalists, media workers, and students of communication, we recognize that accountability cannot exist without transparency. We therefore call for full and unrestricted media access to Senate proceedings and all deliberations related to the impeachment process.” Leviste declined to comment on the removal of his mother’s portrait from Assumption College’s Wall of Empowered Women.
Lawyer and defeated Partido Demokratiko Pilipino senatorial candidate Jimmy Bondoc defended Legarda, saying her decision to side with the Cayetano-led majority was based on conscience, not politics.
“Was it for impeachment? I don’t know. Maybe partially. But was it all about impeachment? Impossible,” Bondoc said.
Bondoc said Legarda has “passionate views against corruption” and simply wants to “finally end this madness.”
“Perhaps — and this is just my take — she trusts that investigations will progress better under the new majority, and that the Senate will be more effective under the guidance of the new SP [Senate President],” Bondoc said.
While Bondoc recognized the possibility that Legarda would change sides, he said he has “good reason to believe that she would not betray the majority, not after all that has transpired during this hellish week.”
“I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t know what will happen. But in what I see as a battle of good versus evil and the battle of truth vs. false narratives, I have faith in the journalist in [Legarda], and that fundamental tendency in her to choose the unpopular truth over fleeting politics,” Bondoc said.
