Cosmo Convos with Ida: Women's Month Special with Sen. Risa Hontiveros

Cosmopolitan Philippines

For this special Women’s Month ep of #CosmoConvosWithIda, we’re v honored to be joined by the amazing Senator #risahontiveros    Cosmo’s Associate Editor @idaaldana asks about her fave Gen Z slang (sobrang latina!!!) and her advice for Gen Z and millennial voters in the upcoming elections. Plus, Sen. Risa spills her secret to staying patient with difficult people at work and her dream book to write!

Transcript

00:00Sobrang Latina!

00:02Diyos ko po!

00:04Okay na to.

00:11Hi, Cosmo! We're here today for another episode of Cosmo Convos with Ida.

00:15Today, we're honored to have Senator Risa Contiveros as our guest for today.

00:20Hi, Senator!

00:21Hi, Ida! Hi, Cosmo!

00:23Thank you for making the time to be with us today.

00:26Okay, so we just have a few quick questions for Sen. Risa.

00:30So, the first.

00:31Let's be real.

00:32Everyone knows what it's like to be the only one asking value-adding and well-researched questions at work.

00:39How do you keep your patience and composure when the people you're debating with or working with are seriously testing your patience?

00:48First, salamat dun sa pagsabi na well-researched questions.

00:52Kudos to my fantastic staff, especially the legis unit.

00:57Humihinga ako. I breathe deeply. Long inhale, long exhale.

01:04Magamagamit mo ito minsan, yung isang meditation d'yan.

01:08Breathe in light, breathe out love.

01:12It works also at work, kahit ba sa legislative work.

01:15At hindi ako nag-iisa, ha?

01:17Meron akong minority leader, si Sen. Coco Pimentel.

01:20And, you know, you really practice that while you're doing your line of questioning?

01:25Literally. Like, nung nakaupo sa harap ko and really trying the patience of the Senate was a certain former president.

01:34Oh, okay. Spicy.

01:37Okay, so a lot of young millennial and Gen Z Filipinas are voting in the upcoming elections.

01:45What's one thing they should keep in mind before they cast their vote?

01:49I hope that our young kabaro, including the first-time voters, will really make it count.

01:58Vote as young people. Vote as young women.

02:03Vote to form the Senate and the House of Representatives at yung LGUs ninyo.

02:10That will bring our country forward, including to the next general elections in 2028.

02:17We're really counting on yung sa dami ninyo and sa quality ng choices of leaders

02:23that we are really hoping for from you.

02:26Yeah, and as you mentioned earlier, yung well-researched nga.

02:29Yes, yung track record ng mga kandidato at partido.

02:35Yung agenda na sinasabi nilang gusto nilang dalihin, either sa Kongreso or sa LGU.

02:42Okay, so since Cosmos' audience is mostly Gen Z and young millennial Filipinas,

02:47we have to ask, what's your favorite TikTok trend or Gen Z slang?

02:52Okay, well, one of my recent favorite Gen Z slangs is,

02:58Sobrang Latina!

03:01Alright, tapos TikTok trends.

03:05Isa na doon yung…

03:07Diyos ko po!

03:08Hindi ko alam yun!

03:10Plus 10 for me, I know something you don't.

03:12Okay, plus, oh my gosh, Gen Z si Sen Risa.

03:15Well, Gen Z, ano?

03:16Mas Gen Z siya than me. Hindi ko alam yung context.

03:19I'll have to look up.

03:20Check it out.

03:21And then another would be, with credits to the original,

03:27Okay na to!

03:30Okay, baka naman may mga mag-comment ng Sobrang Latina ni Sen Risa.

03:35Ayan, narinig ko yan. Ang sweet, sweet.

03:38Nagagamit ko rin to compliment other people.

03:41Wow, okay.

03:42Recently, sa ilo-ilo.

03:44Yung mga guwapa-kagwapo sa ilo-ilo.

03:48Ayan, nagsasabi pala si Sen Risa ng Sobrang Latina.

03:54Okay, so again, Cosmos' audience are mostly young, outspoken Filipinas

03:59who know what they want and work hard for it.

04:03What do you think that the Gen Z is doing right that older generations can learn from?

04:07Yeah, you mentioned two of them already.

04:10Knowing what you want and working hard for it.

04:13Yung self-awareness, sobrang importante yun to becoming fully human.

04:21And naalala ko tulad nung pinaglalabon pa namin yung mental health law,

04:25it was a generational shift.

04:27Kasi sabi ng mga, lalo na yung youth for mental health, Y for MH,

04:32mga parents nila.

04:33So age ko, age namin, grandparents, taboo ang usaping mental health.

04:38People were in the dark, people were alone, in silence.

04:43But a big part of mental health is knowing oneself.

04:47So napaka-importante that you younger people put importance on knowing oneself

04:54and you really try to practice it.

04:56Tapos, working hard.

04:57Yan, yung generation ko at generation lalo ng mga magulang ko

05:01who survived World War II and grew after that, sobrang nire-respeto ko.

05:06Nire-respeto namin yun na as you young people learn more and more,

05:11even how to have a hard time, pero magpupursige pa rin kayo.

05:16And then yung mga achievements nyo through that,

05:19I think become all the more, not just respectable sa mga others tulad namin,

05:24pero mas precious sa inyo rin.

05:27Yeah, kasi the younger generation parang they're more on like hustles,

05:31like side hustles na...

05:32Super sipag ang kailangan mo para gawin yun at disiplina.

05:36Yes, okay.

05:37So let's flip it naman, what's something that from your own experience

05:41that you think could be valuable for the younger generation?

05:44Oo, a lot din.

05:47Tulad yung experiences ng mga magulang ko, generation nila

05:53after I got over the 10 years of resisting them.

05:57Nakita ko ang daming mahalaga rin pala.

05:59So from my generation naman, dun sa generation ng mga anak ko,

06:03generation nyo, siguro learning more about that work-life balance

06:08kasi parang generation ko who really also struggled and started to figure it out

06:14in our own personal and family and work lives.

06:21Sa generation din namin, and those a little older,

06:26napansin ko na marami who had, maybe dahil nung naging aktivista din sila

06:31at sobrang bumabad sa paging aktivista,

06:33some of them at one time or another questioned their faith.

06:36Pero nung tumatanda na sila, and I witnessed this

06:40as a younger friend and colleague of theirs,

06:43nag-rediscovery sila ulit.

06:46Anong kanilang, kung hindi man reliyon, their faith in a very spiritual, essential way.

06:53Nakakatawa kasi nag-reconnect sila in some way with God,

06:57ano man ang pangalan nila sa kanya, or the universe.

07:00Happy yun, I think it brought them, it's bringing them a lot of peace in their older years.

07:06And then the last question,

07:08if you had all the budget in the world to write a book,

07:13what would it be about?

07:15Oh wow, ganda naman nun!

07:18If I had all the budget in the world to write a book,

07:21probably it would still be about the story of women in the Philippines.

07:30At dahil kung ganun, hindi tungkol sa isang babae lang.

07:34As many women as possible.

07:36In a genre I really enjoy,

07:38for example itong kay, oh may gulay, Evangeline Evaristo.

07:43She's an African-British writer na ang ganda ng style niya.

07:51Her book is supposed to be a novel,

07:53but sinulat niya parang in poetry form,

07:58if you can imagine, if you can get your hands on it, check it out.

08:01Tapos she weaves the story of siguro a dozen women from different generations

08:07na throughout the book malalaman mo,

08:09related pala sa isa't-isa or magkakakilala, magkakaibigan.

08:13So she tells their stories at a certain time in the history of the UK

08:19through those many different voices and generations,

08:24as if in a prose poem.

08:26Something like that for Filipinas.

08:29It's not original, it's been done in various ways before,

08:33pero I would love to also add another piece of that big story.

08:37So it's more like a history of Filipinas through the generations.

08:42Is it going to be a novel or a children's book?

08:45Well, probably a novel.

08:47Pero alam mo naman, ang mga novelist they tell us

08:50that they draw a lot from their own personal lives

08:52o kaya yung nalalaman nila sa history,

08:55and I also am very passionate about history.

08:58So baka maweave in din yun.

09:01Tingnan natin. Ngayon ko lang naisip kasing ikaw palang nagtanong sakin yan eh.

09:06Okay, I think we're gonna see, sana, joke.

09:09I hope we see someday a book by a novel or a book from Senator Risa on our shelves.

09:17Happy Women's Month to Sen. Risa who's always been fighting for our rights

09:22as Filipinas and just ask that you thank Sen. Risa personally.

09:30Happy Women's Month. Let's keep fighting and keep being happy.

09:35That's it for today's episode of Cosmo Congos with Ida

09:38and we had Sen. Risa with us today.

09:41So stay tuned for the next episode.

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