In 1960, she was a Training-Fellow at the Royal Park Hospital in Melbourne, Australia and Ballarat Mental Hospital Department. She also served as a Training Fellow at Ararat Mental Hospital in 1961. In 1962, she returned to the Philippines and established the Mental Health Department at Davao General Hospital in Davao City. For fifteen years, starting in 1972, she has also been involved as a volunteer doctor at San Martin de Porres Charity Hospital in San Juan.[2]
Public role
A psychiatrist by profession, Loi was dubbed First Lady ng Masa (First Lady of the Masses) [citation needed] and Doktora ng Masa (Doctor of the Masses) because of her medical and outreach missions during her term.[citation needed]
After her husband was deposed in the Second EDSA Revolution in January 2001 and replaced by Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, she ran as a candidate of the Puwersa ng Masa opposition coalition for a seat in Senate. In the days after Estrada and her son Jinggoy were arrested on April 25 for plunder, she was among the politicians who spoke out against the arrest at pro-Estrada rallies that preceded the May 1 riots near Malacañang Palace.[3] She won her senate seat after placing 11th overall in the Senate election in May 2001 and served in the 12th and the 13th Congress, making her the first First Lady to win a seat in the Senate. With the election of her son Jinggoy in 2004, they became the first ever mother-and-son as incumbent senators in Philippine Senate history.[4]
During her tenure (2001–2007), she authored 121 bills and 13 resolutions, some of which have already been enacted into law:
R.A. No. 9241, The National Health Insurance Program;
In June 2014, she was named as the personal physician of her son Jinggoy, who was one of the senators implicated and detained for their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.[8]
On June 2, 2022, coinciding with her 91st birthday, she released her memoir entitled “Love, Mommyla: My Memories of 9 Decades,” a 104-pager published by her daughter Jackie.[4] Percentage of the sales of the memoir would go to their medical missions.[9]
1 Married after their spouse's presidency 2 Died prior to their spouse's presidency 3 Marriage annulled prior to spouse's presidency. 4 Unmarried domestic partner* Benigno Aquino III was unmarried See also: First ladies and gentlemen of the Philippines