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= Samira Gutoc-Tomawis = Samira Ali Gutoc-Tomawis is a Filipino civic leader, journalist, environment and women's rights advocate, and legislator. She has served as a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission which was tasked to draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Gutoc-Tomawis set up the Ranao Rescue Team, a group of volunteers who aim to address the humanitarian crisis brought forth by the Battle of Marawi. They seek to offer legal and relief missions to civilians who have been dislocated from their homes.

A Maranao who lives in Marawi City, Gutoc-Tomawis is best known for her civil and women's rights advocacy in response to the 2017 Marawi siege and its aftermath. She received particularly strong media attention as a result of her July 2017 speech before the Philippine House of Representatives in which she issued a very emotional appeal for congress to address the abuses suffered by the Bangsamoro people resulting from Martial Law in Mindanao.

Early life and education
She received her Bachelor's Degree from the College of Mass Communication at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where she became first woman president of the UP Muslim Students Association and the Metro Manila-wide Muslim Youth and Students Alliance. She then earned a Master's Degree from the University of the Philippines Center for International Studies (also at UP Diliman) before getting a law degree from Arellano University School of Law.

Awards and Recognitions
She also received a fellowship from the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies. She was awarded by the United Nations Development Programme the 2018 N-Peace Award for her advocacies and efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.

Candidacy for Senator
On October 11, 2018, Gutoc-Tomawis filed her certificate of candidacy for senator in the May election in the Philippines. Gutoc-Tomawis is a member of the Liberal Party. She was the first among the opposition candidates to file her submit her certificate of candidacy to the Commission on Elections main office in Manila. Gutoc-Tomawis is a member of the political multi-party Otso Diretso, which is the opposition coalition against the President.

During various national debates, Gutoc-Tomawis has said that she will push for peace education, divorce, Muslim rights, women's rights, and children's rights. She is against martial law and the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

She began her campaign in Caloocan City wherein she, together with approximately 50 Muslims, prayed for the President Duterte's "health and humor" in a vacant town plaza across the old Caloocan City Hall.