The Nacionalista Party (NP) further beefed up its senatorial lineup on Friday with the inclusion of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) advocate Susan Ople, youngest daughter of the late Senator and Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople and a former Labor Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment.

NP standard-bearer Senator Manny Villar commended the work of Susan Ople in fighting for the rights and welfare of distressed OFWs.

"Matagal ko nang naririnig at hinahangaan ang ginagawang pagtulong ni Susan Ople sa mga OFWs. Alam naman ng lahat na nag-umpisa ang overseas employment sa panahon ng kanyang dakilang ama na si Ka Blas. Tutulungan ng NP ang bunsong anak ni Ka Blas para maging tinig ng mga OFWs at mga manggagawa sa Senado," said Villar, a known OFW rights advocate.

Witnessing the oath-taking of Ople at the Laurel House in Mandaluyong City were leaders of various trade unions and federations of OFW families who belong to the Maka Manggagawa Movement.

Former OFW-turned-businessman Jun Aguilar, who heads the movement, said they were happy that Ople has found a party that would support the group's labor agenda. Ople previously worked in the Philippine Senate for 16 years. Her first job was as a researcher at the Office of Sen. Ernesto Herrera. After leaving government service in January 2006, Susan took charge of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, which extends assistance to victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment.

Ople holds a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where she received the Josephine Vernon Award for Excellence in Communications. She is also a graduate of Communication Arts at the University of Santo Tomas.

Like her father, Susan is also a columnist and writer as well as a former presidential speechwriter. Ople’s daughter also previously worked with the International Labor Organization as a national coordinator of a project on women workers’ education.

Part of Ople's initiatives as an NGO leader is a shoe donation program that provides free school shoes to indigent children as well as a free computer literacy program known as "Tulay" in partnership with OWWA and Microsoft, which teaches OFWs and their dependents on the use of the computer and Internet to learn and earn as well as communicate with their families.

"My father started his public life with the Nacionalista Party. Yesterday, the NP agreed to incorporate our group's labor agenda into its party platform. That made it easier for me to join the NP's senatorial line up," she said.

Ople added her decision to run was prompted by her aspiration that at the end of six years, the government can cut the number of women leaving the country to work as household workers in the Middle East by half. She said she dreams of a “vision that our countrymen need not go abroad to seek greener pastures in the next few years because there would be enough sustainable and decent jobs to keep them at home.”