My Background: Born to a Filipina and a Briton, I moved from Manila to Morden in 1977, living with my grandparents on the Hatfeild Mead Estate in the St Helier ward until my parents and I were housed in a council flat in Colliers Wood.

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After some time away, I returned to the St Helier ward in 2013.

I was a state secondary school English teacher for thirteen years, and then a carer for my father and a media arts university tutor during the completion of my Ph.D. Following five years as a caseworker at a local Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation, which involved providing information, advice and advocacy to people needing help with welfare benefits, social care, housing, and concessionary travel, I currently hold the post of Policy and Campaigns Manager.

Outside of work, I love to walk, watch birds, learn about wildlife, eat out, and listen to music.

My Journey as a Campaigner:

Angered by pernicious ‘austerity measures’ imposed by the coalition government of 2010, I joined The People’s Assembly Against Austerity in 2013. Determined to fight cuts to essential local services, particularly in adult social care and at St Helier Hospital, I threw myself into campaigning.

In 2015, my neighbours and I found ourselves having to fight our housing association, Clarion, to lower a bill for major works. The ward Councillors proved ineffective. Thus, we took matters into our own hands and managed to negotiate about 60% off the original figure. In the same year, I joined the National Health Action Party because I felt compelled to counter unjust cuts to local healthcare and the burgeoning backdoor privatisation of our NHS. A move to the Green Party came shortly after and, in 2017, I was a candidate in a by-election in the St Helier ward. Since then, I have stood not only in subsequent council elections, but also as the Mitcham and Morden candidate for the General Election in 2019, as well as the London Assembly candidate for Merton and Wandsworth in 2021 and 2024.

Within the St Helier ward, I have tried to play my part in looking after and improving the neighbourhood. A series of Labour Councillors have been missing in action and, therefore, it has been up to residents to lead the way. From reporting fly-tip after fly-tip, to organising and attended community litter picks, getting the Council to make the entrances to Morden Recreation Ground more accessible for wheelchair users and mobility scooter users, and making BT remove disused and vandalised phone boxes, I do what I can outside of work. I have attended community meetings with the local police and the Baitul Futuh Mosque. I belong to Friends of Morden Recreation Ground. And, after a few years of joining up with neighbours to protect Morden Park from inappropriate commercial use, I now sit on the committee for Friends of Morden Park.

More widely, after encountering, in late 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming, I created and led a successful petition to Merton Council to declare a climate emergency and review its current carbon reduction plans for the borough to help to limit global warming to 1.5°C – going on to work with the Council, as part of a voluntary Climate Emergency Working Group, to create a Climate Strategy and Action Plan. Since then, I have had markedly mixed feelings about the Council’s execution of the Plan, but am proud that I played my part in setting the agenda.

Recently, I have: worked with a grassroots group whose central aim is to lobby for and shape improvements in infrastructure for walking, wheeling and cycling in Merton; helped a coalition of residents’ associations and individuals opposing the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s excessive proposal to expand its site; supported residents in Mitcham to reject an inappropriate plan for the old gasworks site; and attended peace vigils and marches calling for a bilateral ceasefire and the release of all hostages in Israel and Gaza.