Sonia Malasarte Roco (born 20 July 1944) is the widow of Filipino senator and

presidential candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...

Raul Roco Raul Sagarbarria Roco (October 26, 1941 – August 5, 2005) was a Filipino politician. He was the founder and presidential nominee of '' Aksyon Demokratiko'', which he founded in 1997 as a vehicle for his presidential bid in 1998 and his second ...

. She ran for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in the 2007 Philippine Midterm Elections under her late husband's party,

Aksyon Demokratiko Aksyon Demokratiko (, ), or simply Aksyon, is a political party in the Philippines founded by Raul Roco. It was recognized as a national political party in 1998 by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and is considered to be one of the major p ...

, which is allied with the broad opposition coalition called

Genuine Opposition The Genuine Opposition (GO) was an electoral alliance in the Philippines that contested the 2007 Philippine general election. The alliance's members were in opposition to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It was originally called the United ...

. She joined the coalition after

JV Ejercito Joseph Victor Gomez Ejercito (; born December 26, 1969), also known as JV Ejercito Estrada or simply JV Ejercito, is a Filipino politician and businessman serving as a Senate of the Philippines, Senator since 2022 and previously from 2013 to 20 ...

, son of deposed President

Joseph Estrada Joseph Ejercito Estrada (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor, who served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 until his resignation in 2001. ...

, pulled out as an opposition candidate at his father's behest.

Early life

Sonia Roco was born to then-

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

Pablo Malasarte of Bilar and homemaker Petra Cubillo of Calape, Bohol. A consistent honor student from elementary to college, she was awarded the "Most Outstanding Student of the Philippines" in 1964, placing first (future husband

Raul Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...

placed second) among all college students ranked on the basis of academic excellence, leadership ability, and special achievement. Sonia was also a recipient of the Cardinal Santos Leadership Award, having served as president of the Student Catholic Action (SCA) and the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), a national student organization founded by future Philippine Chief Justice

Artemio Panganiban Artemio Villaseñor Panganiban Jr. (born December 7, 1937) is a Filipino jurist. He served as the 21st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2005 to 2007. Early life and education Panganiban was born on December 7, 1937, ...

. Roco holds a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Education degree (

Magna Cum Laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

) from Saint Joseph's College, Quezon City, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' (acronym: CA) is the largest international trade journal of visual communication. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustra ...

and a

Social Psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...

from Ateneo de Manila University. She has also taken courses at the Child Development Center of the

University of the Philippines Diliman The University of the Philippines Diliman (also called UPD; ), also referred to as UP Diliman, is a State university and college (Philippines), public, coeducational, Research university, research university located in Diliman, Quezon City, Ph ...

Career

As an educator, Sonia co-founded "Our School," a center for early childhood education at the Ateneo Psychology Department. She also established "Live and Learn Pre-school," a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

school in Katipunan,

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

. As a theater artist, Sonia trained in

Speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

and

Drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Upon returning to the Philippines, she taught, acted in, directed, and produced musicals and stage plays. Sonia ran in the

2007 Philippine general election Legislative and local elections were held in the Philippines on May 14, 2007. Positions contested included half the seats in the Senate, which are elected for six-year terms, and all the seats in the House of Representatives, who were elected f ...

, coming in 17th place (

), with 8,457,710 votes. She ran again in the senatorial lineup of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in the 2010 elections. She took 18th place on the electoral result with 6,290,925 votes.

Personal life

As a devoted wife to

, Sonia actively supported her husband in all his roles as lawyer,

congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

, senator,

Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, and international parliamentarian. The couple has six children and nine grandchildren. They were bestowed the Golden Parents Award for 1995. In both 1998 and 2004 Philippine presidential campaign, Sonia actively campaigned for her husband and was described by local media as very well-prepared to be a

First Lady of the Philippines The first lady or first gentleman of the Philippines () is the courtesy title given to the host or hostess of Malacañang Palace, the residence of the head of state and head of government of the Philippines. The title is traditionally held by t ...

. On August 5, 2005,

died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

Community involvement

Sonia is active in educational, social, cultural, and environmental causes. As past president and founding member of the 20-year-old Women in Nation Building (WIN), she is a sought-after resource person on

women's issues Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern societies are patriarchal—th ...

. In

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

, she is a frequent guest speaker owing to her first-hand experience as primary

caregiver A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, who may have specific professional training, are o ...

to then ailing husband

. Sonia co-founded Saint Michael's Hospice in 1996 to help the poor and terminally ill. She maintains active relations with the Student Catholic Action Leadership Foundation, an organization which strives to revive the SCA among the contemporary Filipino youth. She is the executive director of Student Catholic Action of the Philippines. Dr. Patricia Licuanan and Sonia set up the Metro Manila Community Orchestra. With Corazon Alma de Leon and Tony Arevalo, her radio program, “Kapitan del Baryo,” aimed to strengthen

grassroots democracy Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes that shift as much decision-making authority as practical to the organization's lowest geographic or social level of organization. Grassroots A grassroots movement i ...

. Since Sonia studied Dramatics in the UK, she later enrolled in the writing class of Barbara Gonzalez, composing series of

poems Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

. showbizandstyle.inquirer.net, What’s Sonia Roco up to?

References

External links

Saint Joseph's College of Quezon City

Ateneo de Manila University

Bohol Province, Philippines

Archives Inquirer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roco, Sonia 1944 births Living people Filipino psychologists Filipino women psychologists Filipino Roman Catholics Filipino educators Filipino women educators People from Bohol People from Tondo, Manila Ateneo de Manila University alumni Aksyon Demokratiko politicians United Opposition (Philippines) politicians 20th-century Filipino medical doctors 21st-century Filipino medical doctors 20th-century Filipino women medical doctors 21st-century Filipino women medical doctors 21st-century Filipino women politicians 21st-century Filipino politicians