UP Forum March-April 2012

the University of the Philippines

FORUM Volume 13 Number 2

March - April 2012

GENDER

AND THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Rainbow Connections Making UP safe for LGBTs

By Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta

O

n March 1, 2012, UP made the news again when MS Applied Math major Heart Diño was elected as the first-ever transgender student council chairperson of UP Diliman. Her election prompted headliners to speculate about whether or not the Philippines, of which UP is said to be a microcosm, was itself ready for an openly lesbian-gay-bisexualtransgender/transsexual (LGBT) president or national leader.1 On the flipside, it was only over a year ago that another UP Diliman transgender student, Hender Gercio, filed a complaint against a faculty member for allegedly acting with religious prejudice against her identity by refusing to address her as female.2

The UP Babaylan, the leading LGBT student support group in UP, and the University Student Council (USC) took Hender’s case all the way to the Office of the UP President, but in the end, the lack of a clear university policy or ruling regarding transgender students proved a stumbling block to finding a satisfactory resolution.3 Two different scenarios in one campus. As the premier secular institution of higher learning in the country, UP takes pride in being a haven of liberalism, open-mindedness and independent thinking to a degree yet to be matched by the rest of the country.

Heart Diño’s election as USC chairperson is only the latest case in point.4 But as Hender Gercio’s

case shows, the university is hardly free from the discrimination, ostracism, harassment and violence inflicted upon LGBTs outside the UP campuses.

Nevertheless, where else but in UP can we begin to create a safe place where LGBT rights and identities are not only recognized and tolerated but actively affirmed, included and promoted as well?

Three contexts for LGBTs “In the LGBT literature, we make a distinction among three kinds of contexts,” says UP Diliman Department of Psychology Prof. Eric Manalastas. “[On one hand, we have] contexts that are hostile to LGBTs, such as in places where you have policies RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, p. 2

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RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, from p. 2 against cross-dressing or same-sex relationships, or where [there is a certain amount of] jeopardy in being ‘outed’ as an LGBT in the institution.” Work places where revealing one’s self as LGBT means losing one’s job, or schools that disallow LGBT students to enroll, or those that expel or punish LGBT students for having same-sex relationships or for not behaving according to approved “male” and “female” norms, are considered hostile contexts.

“On the other end of the spectrum, you have the LGBT-affirmative context,” Manalastas continues.

An example of this would be an institution “that has an explicit inclusion policy, a policy that says we do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, among others.” Quezon City, for one, has passed a city ordinance banning LGBT discrimination in employment in 2004. 5 Albay Province has also passed a similar anti-discrimination ordinance,6 while Cebu City is currently pushing for its own anti-discrimination ordinance.7 Closer to home, the All-UP Workers Union signed a collective negotiation agreement with the past UP administration wherein one of the provisions is a guarantee against non-discrimination of academic rank-and-file based on sexual orientation.8 However, the provision only covers UP faculty and staff and does not extend to UP students. “Apparently, we do not have an explicit [UP anti-discrimination] policy yet,” says Manalastas, a state of affairs that continues to pose problems for LGBT UP constituents, as was seen in Gercio’s case.

Somewhere between the two extreme environments is a kind of middle ground marked more by a mild or negligent tolerance of LGBTs— LGBTs are not exactly marginalized, but on the other hand are not fully integrated into the mainstream either. “It’s like, ‘yes, we know about [the issues of the LGBT community], but we are not going to engage in it,’” Manalastas says. LGBT rights and issues are regarded as esoteric, frivolous or even as the latest in-thing, and discussions of these never go beyond the superficial.

Hence, Manalastas regards the issue in terms of bringing the LGBTs into the center “of creating those spaces that are LGBT-specific, and then the spaces that integrate LGBT issues into the mainstream”—of transforming the environments for LGBTS, including UP, from hostile or neutral to affirmative.

The numbers scene One way to do this is by addressing the lack of concrete data on the environment and issues, including actual number of cases of sexual harassment and discrimination, of LGBT students, faculty and staff within the various UP campuses.

LGBT discrimination and harassment can take several forms, according to Manalastas, from the non-recognition of one’s gender identity to the “classical” forms of stigmatization based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including exclusion from or ostracism by a group or organization, ridiculing and name-calling, bullying, violence and sexual assault.

Formal complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination of LGBT students, faculty and staff in the UP campuses are rare; officially resolved cases are even rarer. In UP Diliman, the UPD Gender Office has had eight complaints of same-sex sexual harassment among students since the early to mid-2000s, according to Guidance Service Specialist Prescilla Tulipat. All eight complaints were about peer harassment (harassment of students by fellow students). Around half of this Left: Prof. Jennifer Josef of the UP Baguio Kasarian Gender Studies Center. Right: Dr. Maria Cynthia Leynes, director of the UP Manila Center for Gender and Women’s Studies

number was eventually filed as formal cases with the UPD Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment (OASH), and in one resolved case of same-sex sexual harassment, the respondent was penalized, according to the rules of the UP Policy on Sexual Harassment which, unlike the national law against sexual harassment, covers same-sex sexual harassment. However, according to UPD-OASH former coordinator and University Extension Specialist Remedios Mondiguing, some official same-sex sexual harassment complaints were withdrawn by the complainants themselves before their complaints could be formally investigated.

In UP Los Baños, UPLB Gender Center Director Dr. Maria Helen Dayo relates one case of peer sexual harassment currently being handled by the Gender Center and the OASH. In UP Manila, Center for Gender and Women’s Studies Director Dr. Maria Cynthia Leynes has come across two complaints involving LGBT constituents since her appointment last November—one a case of an LGBT UP employee being ridiculed by his supervisor, and the other a case of peer harassment. The former complaint has been withdrawn, while the latter case is currently being investigated.

In UP Visayas, UPV Gender and Development Program Director Dr. Diane Aure relayed a report

by Prof. Cristabel Parcon, coordinator of the UPVOASH, that “to date, there have been three sexual harassment cases which could be considered LGBT harassment. These cases involved male victims with male harassers.” The UPV Office of Student Affairs staff, on the other hand, recalled no recent cases of LGBT discrimination or harassment reported to them, nor are there, adds Aure, instances of discrimination against LGBT students in the classroom setting according to some professors.

Similarly in UP Baguio, former Kasarian Gender Studies Center convenor Prof. Jennifer Josef reports that there have been few to no cases actually filed.

And in UP Mindanao, after inquiring from the UP Mindanao Office of Student Affairs and the Human Resources Office, Gender Committee Chairperson Dr. Genevieve Quintero said that there have been no cases of recorded LGBT sexual discrimination, and “as far as they know, there were no LGBT harassment cases in UP Mindanao recorded in the past seven years.”

Sharing stories The lack of actual cases filed with the OASH paints a near-idyllic picture. Still, stories arise, even if none of these stories will ever find its way into official OASH archives. The respective gender and antisexual harassment offices of the various UP campuses are cognizant of these stories, many of which have been reported or shared by the LGBT victims of sexual harassment and

discrimination or by friends and witnesses, with the intention to vent, to seek counsel, to protect the victim or to inform. Very few of these stories were shared with the intention of actually filing a case.

One common situation among the UP campuses is that of peer harassment between two LGBT students, with one forcing his or her unwanted attentions on another. Tulipat and Mondiguing describe students stalking or harassing younger orgmates or org-applicants, dorm-mates or boarding housemates, and even former classmates. The stories more often than not involve male students.

Mondiguing notes that she has not yet heard of a lesbian being harassed by a fellow lesbian, although there have been cases of violence in same-sex relationships, including lesbian relationships, as Josef has encountered in one situation in UP Baguio.

Harassment between faculty and student is also not unheard of. Neither is, according to Dayo, harassment between undergraduate and graduate student, or between junior and senior faculty, or between staff and faculty, or between employee and supervisor, as Josef and Leynes both shared.

The stories of LGBT discrimination—from ridiculing, stigmatizing and bullying LGBTs to failing to recognize or respect their gender identities—are also a common thread among the campuses. In both Diliman and Los Baños, LGBT students have been ridiculed and called names by groups of males— members of a student org in the former and by some construction workers outside campus in the latter—as the students were walking by. Josef and Dayo both related stories of LGBT students being made fun of or openly derided by faculty members (e.g., a lesbian student being told “magpakababae ka” by her teacher in class) and by employees (e.g., an administrative staff telling a transgendered student to cut her long locks short and dress like a guy before she can apply for readmission).

Recently, a transgendered student complained that the male and female comfort rooms on campus have become the crux of discriminatory treatment—her using the female comfort rooms incited grumbling from the other female users, while her using the male comfort room not only forced her to deny her own identity; it also put her at risk RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, p. 3

FORUM March-April 2012 3 Rep. Teodoro Casiño filed HB 1483 or “An Act Defining Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Providing Penalties Therefor”, but as with the Reproductive Health Bill, the national anti-discrimination bill is facing an uphill battle against the same opposing camps.

Coming out of the closet one semester at a time

Prof. Eric Manalastas of the UP Diliman Department of Psychology

RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, from p. 2 of violent assault, not to mention discomfiting the male users. Manalastas himself recalls how one UP campus required its graduating students to “dress in highly-gendered ways” in order for them to attend their own graduating ceremony, including requiring transgendered students to dress according to their biological/legal sex regardless of their gender identity.

The stories can be harrowing. Josef recalls a young gay student applying for membership in a student org who was allegedly sexually abused by members of this org during an “orientation” held one weekend outside the campus. “There are much fewer cases of gays and lesbians discriminating or committing acts against heterosexuals compared to cases of heterosexual students inflicting violence or insulting LGBTs,” she said.

The bonds of silence For Dayo, the lack of LGBT cases filed with the OASH may be due to under-reporting. “Only an insignificant percentage gets reported, if you look at it in terms of the population [on campus],” she said. In one of the stories that emerged in UPLB, the LGBT student who was harassed by his teacher did not report the case because he said he was already graduating that semester anyway. From UP Visayas: “In some informal interviews, on the possible reason cited why some cases go unreported, some students think that it might affect their grades if they will report an incident where the perpetrator is a faculty member,” said Aure.

Others in a similar bind simply choose to grin and bear it, perhaps out of a sense of shame and humiliation, or for fear of retaliation or of making the situation even worse. For instance, in the case of the UP employee being ridiculed by his boss, Leynes notes that it was a witness who’d made the initial report and that the victim himself refused to file a case for fear of the effects it would have on his job situation.

Tulipat observed that in one case of peer harassment, the victim resorted to simply avoiding his harasser instead of confronting him or filing a case against him. “From my experience, in a male-to-male sexual harassment case, the male victim’s instinct is to fight back” instead of reporting the case, Mondiguing observed. In other cases, such as senior students or org-members harassing or subjecting freshmen or

org-applicants to inappropriate/unwanted touches or talk, sometimes the victims are unsure whether their experience counts as harassment. However, for the transgendered student subjected to catcalls from members of a student org on her way to class, it was hard enough identifying who among the members of the org inflicted the abuse, let alone filing cases against all of them.

Some LGBT students who experienced harassment, discrimination, violence, bullying or abuse from heterosexual students—or, in another case, a heterosexual student being bullied by an older, male gay student—opted to transfer to another university, as has been the experience in UP Baguio. “Their parents just pull them out of UP Baguio. Instead of addressing the violence, they just leave quietly,” says Josef. “It’s a kind of doublevictimization. [The students] become victims of violence, and because they don’t want to complain and don’t see any support or progress in their case, then they just leave UP and go to other schools, so they are deprived of a UP education.”

The lack of institutional support may also be a factor in the under-reporting of LGBT cases. For instance, in UP Baguio, “we don’t really know the extent of the problem because we have no mechanisms to encourage reporting,” Josef said. “For one thing, we are the only UP unit that does not have our own Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment.” Instead, when a case arises an ad-hoc committee is constituted to handle it, with the assistance and support of the Kasarian Gender Studies Center and the UPB Office of Guidance Counseling. But Josef notes that, more than simply addressing sexual harassment and discrimination cases, “the OASH can actually be implementing programs and projects that would prevent sexual harassment—educational campaigns, consciousness raising and such. [With an OASH, we could institute] programs to address violence and sexual harassment, both for LGBT and heterosexual students. [Students would be] more encouraged to report cases and address the issue.”

Looking back on Gercio’s case, Mondiguing hopes UP can come up with a pro-LGBT policy.

This lack of an explicit anti-LGBT discrimination policy can be considered a reflection of the state of the nation, where there are as yet no national laws offering any form of protection for LGBTs against discrimination, not even in RA 7877 or the “AntiSexual Harassment Act of 1995.” BAYAN MUNA

Nevertheless, despite these stories and the lack of documented data about their prevalence, UP remains a sanctuary of openness, acceptance and liberalism for members of the LGBT community.

This leads to another common story for LGBT students in UP: their dual life as openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered while in UP, and as “proper” boys and girls who conform to traditional hetero-normative rules when back home with their parents and families, who more often than not are unaware of their children’s sexual orientation and gender identity.

As a case in point, of the eight LGBT harassment and discrimination cases reported to the UPD Gender Office, half had parents who did not know they were gay. “They never told [their parents]. At home, they become ‘proper’ boys. But outside the home, they are free to come ‘out,’” Tulipat says. “This is a real problem. How do you reach out to these families and encourage them to accept their children? The family’s acceptance is very, very crucial.”

In UPLB, Dayo has also counseled LGBT students who share with her the difficulties of having to pretend to be something they are not for fear of parental disapproval and even threat of violence.

“The society we live in has not quite understood that there are people whose preferences differ from the stereotypes, so sometimes [these LGBT students] are oppressed in their own homes.” She admits though that it would not be easy for a young LGBT person to disclose the truth about him or herself, especially among families with a strong conservative and religious background.

In UP Visayas, “it is observed that LGBT students are empowered and liberated enough to express their thoughts and feelings in relation to their gender and sexual preference,” Aure says. “Most students speak freely to their peers and professors regarding this.

There are some however who have not ‘come out of the closet,' fearing that their families may not accept them for what they choose to be.”

The same situation is seen in UP Mindanao.

“I have been a faculty of UP Mindanao for almost 10 years, and based on my personal observation, the atmosphere of acceptance and tolerance for the LGBT community is strong in the campus,” says Quintero. “A person’s sexual identity or orientation has never been an issue among the constituents. The LGBTs in the campus have never been exposed to discrimination or ridicule. This observation does not however mean that there are no closet LGBTs in the campus. It takes time to ‘come out in the open.’

This is a decision only the concerned individual can make.”

“I think this is a very common [situation] because UP is a very liberal and open environment,” says Josef, “so I think it is a positive thing that students feel that they can come out and express their sexuality once they are on campus.”

The liberal spirit and the willingness to bring things “out in the open” can also be credited to the nature of the University itself, such as in the case of UP Manila. “I think we are more open to discussing sexual matters since we are in the health and medical fields,” says Leynes. The context and greater environment plays a part as well in encouraging students to come out and express their true selves.

UP Baguio, for instance, is located in the heart of an urban center that draws students from all parts of the Cordilleras, allowing hundreds of young people to move away from rigid, parental control and into a liberal, multicultural atmosphere that grants them RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, p. 10

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THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE

on

Adelaida V. Mayo, PhD Professor and Dean College of Home Economics UP Diliman

Gender

Elizabeth L. Enriquez, PhD Professor Department of Broadcast Communication College of Mass Communication UP Diliman

Odine de Guzman, PhD Associate Professor Department of English and Comparative Literature College of Arts and Letters UP Diliman

Examples of such spaces are public restrooms, particularly Men’s Rooms and Ladies’ Rooms. One of my undergraduate thesis advisees is doing a study on the gender sensitivity of restrooms in selected colleges in UP Diliman, and it brings to mind the need of gays and lesbians, particularly transgenders in UP, for restrooms where they are welcome without people raising their eyebrows or feeling like they are trespassing. Perhaps, the interior designers among our faculty can propose design solutions for this which may be considered by the administration for implementation.

Another example is the need of lactating mothers among our faculty and staff for a space where they can breastfeed their babies or where they can pump their breast milk for storage.

A private nook in the office may be provided for this purpose.

and chemistry, require working on a drafting table or checking specimens through a microscope. It is normal for male professors and students to get distracted by female students’ display of cleavage, backs or legs.

Furthermore, it also provokes sexual harassment. Similarly, male students wearing loose shorts may distract their professors when they sit in class with legs apart. With cases of rape and sexual harassment starting to happen in UP, I find it already necessary to regulate school and office attire among our students, faculty and staff.

Q What can we do to promote and uphold Mayo: I come from the UP College of Home Economics (CHE) where the student population consists mostly of women (169 out of 204 graduating students this Second Semester AY 2011-2012 are women while only 35 are men). The CHE offers degree programs that are highly associated with women, namely Home Economics Education, Family Life and Child Development, Interior Design, Clothing Technology, Community Nutrition, Food Technology, and Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management. This is why I welcome the question “What can we do to promote and uphold gender sensitivity in UP?” Gender sensitivity has been defined as “the ability to recognize issues and problems in the way societies look at gender.” For me, it refers to being responsive, perceptive and receptive to the needs, issues and concerns of both men and women. To be responsive, one has to learn how to proactively find solutions to gender issues presented by individuals. To be perceptive, one has to learn how to process a gender situation before reacting to it or making a decision.

To be receptive, one has to develop the openness and willingness to reflect on new ideas that may be the key to solve

problems dealing with gender issues.

Gender sensitivity supports gender equality. According to Republic Act No. 9710 (An Act Providing for the Magna Carta of Women), “Gender Equality refers to the principle asserting the equality of men and women and their right to enjoy equal conditions realizing their full human potentials to contribute to and benefit from the results of development, and with the State recognizing that all human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights.”

As a faculty member of UP CHE for more than 25 years, I believe that it is high time that a clear set of guidelines for the promotion of gender sensitivity in UP be implemented.

This may be patterned after a Code of Ethics which may be taken up in all introductory courses in all degree programs in UP. Likewise, all faculty and staff members are to be given an orientation on this. The guidelines may include the following items where gender sensitivity becomes an issue: (1) Public Spaces; (2) Dress Code; and (3) Classroom and Office Decorum. Allow me to elaborate on each one.

Public Spaces There are public spaces which may be labelled as gendered spaces.

Dress Code I strongly believe that there is a need to implement a dress code in UP. I have noticed that many women students are coming to class in very skimpy outfits, showing more skin and body parts. Laboratory courses such as those in interior design, architecture, biology

Classroom and Office Decorum Although ethics and values are part of the curriculum of most, if not all, degree programs offered in UP, these must be reinforced and must likewise cover gender sensitivity. Classroom and office decorum cultivates gender sensitivity.

In sum, I reiterate that a set of clear guidelines for students, faculty and staff pertaining to gender sensitivity is one way to promote and uphold gender sensitivity in UP. This will remind everyone about the law against gender discrimination and it will cultivate an academic environment that is gender sensitive.

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Sensitivity in UP

Rhodora Masilang-Bucoy, PhD Associate Professor, Social Sciences Cluster Member, GAD Committee UP Cebu

Maria Helen F. Dayo, PhD Director, Gender Center University Researcher, College of Agriculture UP Los Baños

Genevieve Jorolan-Quintero, PhD Assistant Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Chair, Gender Committee UP Mindanao

Wilen Grace M. Mina Instructor, Department of Biology College of Science UP Baguio

gender sensitivity in UP? Enriquez: The university has been promoting gender sensitivity and equality for decades not only on campus but also in the larger society by raising consciousness and advocating changes that would put in place more gender-fair policies and practices.

At least four approaches to this end have been apparent through teaching, including institution of new programs and courses; through research and publication undertaken in the context of the various academic disciplines; through the establishment of structures like the System-level University Center for Women’s Studies and the constituent university-level Gender Office and Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment which help implement gender policies, including the law against sexual harassment; and through extension activities and extracurricular programs.

This is not to say that everyone on campus is now gender-sensitive.

Far from it, unfortunately. Deeply ingrained cultures and structures of inequality—with their taken-for-granted truths such as patriarchy—are resistant to change. But they change in the face of relentless challenge. To sustain the march to change and in addition to what it is already doing, the university should

support recent initiatives and consider the institution of new programs.

One of these initiatives which started in 2006 is the regular gendersensitivity training (GST) of more than 200 staff of the UP Diliman Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA). The training not only raises gender consciousness among the staff but also equips them with gender-sensitive tools as front-liners in the delivery of various services to students. This initiative has already taken root and has grown to include student organizations and dormitory residents.

Moreover, a budget supporting the GSTs has been integrated into the regular OVCSA budget, ensuring the program's sustainability.

What should be done is to expand the program to cover other offices in the university, including the teaching staff.

As educators, we have a tendency to concentrate on students when teaching.

This is to be expected, but we should not forget that employees and all who are present in the learning environment need to be educated as well. They bear values that shape the way they deliver services to our students. Those values, in many cases unfortunately, are shaped by patriarchal assumptions.

Republic Act No. 9710 (Magna Carta of Women) took effect in 2010. This is a comprehensive women’s human rights law passed by Philippine Congress that seeks to eliminate discrimination against women by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling and promoting the rights of Filipino women, especially those in the marginalized sectors. Integral to the law is the gender and development budget which prescribes that five percent of the budget of all government agencies (including UP) must fund programs that will ensure gender equality.

The university must learn how to operationalize the gender budget.

Having served as a faculty administrator, I learned that teaching about gender outside the classroom is equally important. Sharpening our vision for a gender-fair society and translating that vision into concrete programs and practices is as fulfilling as discoursing about feminism and gender in a purely academic setting. A non-academic area where there is an opportunity for raising gender consciousness is civil welfare training service (CWTS), particularly CWTS1. The university must seize this opportunity for engaging students in gender issues, as well as issues that deeply concern us today as a university

and society, like honor and integrity, tolerance and respect for diversity, and other moral and ethical questions that beg serious reflection.

Finally, having more women in the classroom or in the workplace and in positions of authority and responsibility does not necessarily translate into a gender-fair environment. Many women bear and enforce patriarchal values because of the way we have been socialized, assuming the naturalness of the gender relations into which we were born. On the other hand, while in general men continue to assume and presume male privilege, I have had the pleasure of meeting quite a few men who bear gender-just values, who desire and work for an equitable world where everyone can flourish. Men like them seem to be absent in our formations that work for gender equality. We need to address this gap.

De Guzman: Gender sensitivity is a relatively young concept even though it may seem we’ve heard it often enough.

Its conception can be traced to the 1990s, and its articulation is often associated with the United Nations’ world conferences on women. Because ROUNDTABLE, p. 6

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ROUNDTABLE, from p. 5 of its youth and origins, there are many misapprehensions and misgivings about it; among them: that it’s about women wanting supremacy in the sense of “it’s our turn now” or; that it’s about pitting women against men, or; that it’s just a trend, etc.

I started by talking about the relative “young-ness” of the concept because the practice of it in our everyday lives could ask us to go against some wellestablished beliefs about our identities, roles and capacities as men and women and our relationship to one another, a.k.a., gender or gender relations. This is not always easy. Some of these ideas may have even been thought of as natural such as “women are care-givers and the nurturers of children” or “men are more superior to women who are meek and docile” or “there are only two genders.” And naturally, these have become seemingly indisputable, even though these are socially constructed ideas. These are not just discursive: they do affect how people actually end up treating one another, affecting as well the development of our potentials, opportunities, rights and liberties.

This is one reason “talk” about gender and gender sensitivity is important. The history and the levels of development in many countries across the globe show how received ideas about gender have put many women at a disadvantage.

One example that many of us now take for granted is education. This has not always been open to women. Recall, if you will, the cause of the women of Malolos whom Rizal had extolled. Not so different, women in the U.S. also had to struggle for higher education. It took them 200 years to have the same level of opportunity as the men: women were allowed college education only in 1833 in Oberlin College, even though men had been attending Harvard, the first chartered college in the country, since 1636. Furthermore, the U.S. National Women’s History Project reports that among the criticisms against women’s entry into secondary education during the pioneering years were claims of “experts” and physicians “that females were incapable of intellectual development equal to men or that they would be harmed by striving for it”; it was also said: “women’s supposed intellectual and moral weakness was used to argue against coeducation, which would surely be an assault on purity and femininity” (www. nwhp.org, 2012).

And today, almost 200 years after the U.S. experience, in certain parts of the world the same idea of an “essential” feminine character or role still holds some women back: Japan, one of the world’s wealthiest nations, has relatively low tertiary education gender parity even though, today, national wealth often affords more women more opportunities for higher education. Global statistics show that about 39 million girls are out of school; only one-third of countries have achieved gender parity at the secondary level, and; women represent two-thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate adults (UNESCO, World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education, 2012).

It is when these—potentials, opportunities and liberties—are restricted and always skewed to favor one group over others, on the basis of sex or gender, causing inequalities and discrimination, that we need a sharper, a more heightened, if you will, sense of seeing and understanding the real terms of our relations to one another.

This is where gender sensitivity, meaning, “the ability to perceive existing gender differences, issues and inequalities and to incorporate these into strategies and actions” (Intra Health International, Better Practices in Gender Sensitivity), comes in. Gender sensitivity, as a strategy for fighting off gender discrimination, “has been developed as a way to reduce barriers to personal and economic development created by sexism” (ibid).

This brings us to two interrelated ideas found at the heart of the concept of gender sensitivity: “rights” and “respect”.

When we uphold gender sensitivity we recognize the rights of every individual, by virtue of being human, regardless of sex or gender, to have the same level of opportunities, access, and protection from discrimination and harm as everyone else. We also respect the personhood of each one as well as one’s individuality, including one’s sex, gender comportment or sexual preference.

As an academic institution, our most important contribution toward the promotion of gender sensitivity is to ensure that the concept and its intentions are properly understood by the academic community, and as a result, by our clientele, the community of learners.

We uphold gender sensitivity through practice: in the way we conduct our classes, research, and administrative work.

We u p h o l d gender

sensitivity by being able to influence our students to behave more respectfully and fairly toward one another. We uphold gender sensitivity by adapting programs and policies that make it clearly known that gender discrimination is not tolerated in the university.

Bucoy: UP has been in the forefront of promoting gender sensitivity among its constituents. Through the efforts of gender and development (GAD) champions in the university, we have endeavored to establish a gendersensitive university. Gender sensitivity implies awareness and recognition of gender and women’s issues as important elements in the university’s thrusts and programs. The establishment of the University Center for Women Studies (UCWS) in the late 1980s is part of a more institutionalized effort to achieve the millennium development goal of promoting gender equality and women empowerment in all UP campuses.

To concretize the university’s commitment to gender mainstreaming, GAD centers or offices have been established. Their mandate is to provide gender sensitivity training to the university’s clientele, undertake feminist researches and play a leading role in GAD policy formulation and implementation.

The creation of gender offices and the provision of a GAD budget are enabling mechanisms that push the mainstreaming of gender in the curriculum, research, extension work and public service.

Through the sustained efforts of GAD advocates in the university, thousands of students, faculty and staff have undergone gender-sensitivity seminars either through the formal curriculum or short-term training.

Recent assessment of the progress in mainstreaming gender indicates significant gains. Students are observed to be conscious of the women’s situation, as well as the need to combat various forms of violence against women.

Gender sensitivity is expressed by those who have taken formal courses on gender. They are now aware of issues like gender biases,

stereotypes and women’s oppression. The popularization of women’s issues through various fora sponsored by the GAD offices and advocates have raised gender awareness among UP constituents. This sensitivity is reflected in the active engagements of students and faculty in public debates on issues on reproductive health and women’s

rights.

But despite the significant gains in the integration of women and gender issues in the university’s programs and projects, there is still a need to move forward especially in terms of curricular reform and institutionalizing gendersensitive practices and gender advocacy.

At the organizational level, we have to review policies on hiring, promotion and appointment to ensure that our practices uphold the principles of equity and nondiscrimination. Proactive measures must be in place to prevent sexual harassment and promote a violence-free campus.

Woman-friendly services such as childminding centers should be established in all campuses. These child centers will be a venue for non-sexist socialization.

Anti-sexual harassment advocacy must be regularly integrated in the student’s activities and in the National Service Training Program (NSTP).

As regards the curriculum, academics must continuously engage in critiquing existing patriarchal biases in mainstream knowledge. Production of gender-based and woman-centered knowledge in all disciplines is a continuing challenge. It is recognized that UP has contributed a lot to women’s studies. More research is needed to create new knowledge in areas like gendered impact of globalization, climate change and emerging issues on sexuality and gendered identities.

New knowledge will go beyond including women’s experiences and interrogate malestream thinking that justifies unequal relations and legitimate women’s subordinate position in society.

The university has been a venue for dissemination of feminist thought. GAD activists must persevere to make real the feminist vision of a free and equal world, where human rights and dignity is respected. Feminist academics are thus reminded to be always guided by genuine concern for women liberation and empowerment and passionately practice a feminist pedagogy that is nonhierarchical and liberating.

To further show our commitment to gender equality, the university has to closely observe the mandate of allocating five percent of its budget to gender programs and projects.

In small colleges like UP Cebu, the GAD Office should be provided with more funding so it could effectively meet the increasing demand for training, capabilitybuilding and technical assistance from government, schools and civil society. Gender programs such as a master’s degree in gender and development could be offered in regional campuses where there is a need for expertise on gender and development. More systematic gender sensitivity training are recommended in guidance counseling work and in the NSTP. The UP high schools could be models of gender-fair basic education where teaching exemplars are developed and tested for sharing to other schools.

Student councils and organizations can be tapped in gender advocacy and in instilling awareness on gender issues. Popularization of the Magna Carta of Women is likewise needed as we strive to promote, protect and fulfill women’s rights as human rights.

Curricular reforms can be further pushed to contribute to a paradigm change and ROUNDTABLE, p. 14

FORUM March-April 2012 7 Image on left from http://explow.com/melchora_aquino, image on right from the UP Newsletter, June 2011 issue

Nag-rally sina Concepcion Empeño and Linda Cadapan, kasama ang kanilang mga abogado, sa labas ng gusali ng Kagawaran ng Katarungan noong 2011.

Pamana at Pagkalinga ng mga Inang Makabayan Ni Arbeen Acuña

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a “Pagluluwal ng Buhay, Panulat, Pighati, Laban: Isang Panayam Kay Lualhati Bautista” ni Luna Sicat Cleto, sinabi ni Bautista na si Amanda Bartolome, isang karakter mula sa Dekada '70, ay “tulad rin ng maraming ina na nakatali na ang buhay sa pag-iintindi ng buhay ng kanilang mga anak.” Sa kaso (at panahon) ni Melchora Aquino o mas kilala bilang Tandang Sora (na nagdiriwang ng ika-200 taong kaarawan ngayong 2012), mas naging masaklaw ang pagiging ina nito, kaya marahil mas naging masaklaw rin ang pag-intindi nito sa mga itinuring niyang anak, bagamat hindi kadugo—ang mga rebolusyonaryo.

Ayon sa “Ang Bayan at mga Anak ng Bayan Bilang Pamilya: Ang Patuloy na Katuturan ni Tandang Sora sa Kasalukuyang Panahon” na binasa ni Prop. Judy Taguiwalo sa Tandang Sora Academic Conference ngayong taon, ang anak ni Tandang Sorang si Juan Ramos ay kasapi ng Katipunan. Maaring ito ang paraan kung paano namulat si Tandang Sora sa nakapanlulumong kondisyon ng kanyang kapanahunan; maaring may iba pang kalagayang nagtulak sa kanyang lumahok sa rebolusyon. Hindi tiyak ang primaryang dahilan ng pagkamulat niya, ngunit ang tiyak: hindi nagtapos ang pagiging ina ni Tandang Sora sa kanyang anak dahil tinagurian (at tunay na nagsilbi rin) siyang Ina ng Himagsikan.

Pinalawig din ni Taguiwalo sa nasabing artikulo ang tatlong “katuturan” para sa ating panahon ng buhay at pakikibaka ni Tandang Sora: (1) Kalayaan mula sa Dayuhang Mananakop at Lupa para sa Nagbubungkal sa Lupa; (2) Kababaihang Nagmamahal sa Bayan; at (3) Walang Retirement sa Pakikibaka. Sa kasalukuyan, patuloy pa ring isinasabuhay ang mga nabanggit sa iba’t ibang katauhan, sa iba’t ibang “Nanay” na makikita natin hindi lang sa bahay kundi maging sa lansangan.

Mga Nanay: Mga Tandang Sora Ngayon Binanggit ni Pat Brewer sa kanyang introduksyon sa The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the

State ni Frederick Engels na sa mga pagkakataong tinatamaan ng kapitalistang sistema ang batayang serbisyo, kailangan ng tradisyunal na yunit upang tumanggap ng epekto ng krisis—at ang yunit na ito ang pamilya, kung saan nagbibigay ng batayang serbisyo ang kababaihan nang walang sahod.

“Wala nang mura ngayon kundi p----- i--.” Isa ito sa mga di makakalimutang katagang mabilis na kumalat sa social media noong nakaraang taon.

Sa kabila ng makikitang talinghaga, laro sa salita at pakahulugang marubdob, hindi nagmula sa akademya, ngunit hitik sa mga kaalaman at mga aral ng buhay ang sumambit nito—si Carmen Deunida ng Katipunan ng Damayang Maralita (KADAMAY) o mas kilala bilang si Nanay Mameng matapos mamalengke gamit ang minimum wage. Sa The Second Sex ni Simone de Beauvoir, sinabing hindi eksklusibong nagmumula sa sekswalidad ang kamalayan ng babae sa kanyang sarili—sinasalamin nito ang sitwasyong nakadepende sa ekonomikong organisasyon ng lipunan, na siyang indikasyon din ng yugtong teknikal na narating ng ebolusyon ng sangkatauhan.

Marahil, ang mga salita ni Nanay Mameng ay nagkaroon ng pakahulugang mas tumatak at tumarak sa isip at diwa dahil nagmula ang mga kataga sa isang inang anak-pawis na tumungtong na sa ika-84 na taon niya nitong nakaraang Pebrero 8. Maaalalang ganito ang edad ni Tandang Sora nang magpasya siyang kupkupin ang mga tinaguriang subersibo noong kapanahunan niya. Ngunit hindi sa ika-84 niyang taon nagsimulang makisangkot si Nanay Mameng, isang “payat at maliit na babae” pero “kilalang mahusay na tagapagsalita sa mga mobilisasyon sa Mendiola man o sa Ayala,” ayon kay Taguiwalo.

Dagdag pa ni Taguiwalo, ang unang sinalihan ni Nanay Mameng ay ang KADENA, isang organisasyon ng kabataan sa komunidad noong panahon ng batas militar. Sa panahon naman ni Gloria Arroyo, kabilang sa mga kabataang mulat sa krisis-panlipunan at lumalahok sa pagbabago nito sina Karen at Sherlyn, mga iskolar ng bayang biktima ng enforced disappearance (o pandurukot); at anak ni Concepcion Empeño (Nanay Connie) at Linda

Cadapan (Nanay Linda). Sa kakabit na artikulong binubuo ng mga sipi sa dokumento ni Taguiwalo, mababasa ang mga salaysay nina Nanay Connie, Nanay Mameng at Inocencia Wenceslao o mas kilalang Nanay Bising, isang lider ng organisasyon ng mga kababaihang maralita sa lungsod.

Nang kapanayamin ng UP Forum si Nanay Linda nitong huling linggo ng Marso, ilan sa mga susing usapin sa isinampa nilang kaso ay ang pananatili nina Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado at M/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio (ang dalawang sumukong sundalong kaalyado ng retiradong heneral na si Jovito Palparan, Jr. na pangunahing suspek sa pagdukot sa dalawang estudyante) sa kustodiya ng militar sa Fort Bonifacio; at ang pagsasabi ng abogado ni Palparan na buhay pa sina Karen at She. “Ang gusto nila, kapag sinurface nila (ang mga anak namin), wala nang kaso si Palparan pero ang sabi ko, it is for the court to decide.

Kung i-surface, mas mainam para makapagpatunay ang mga biktima.”

Ibinahagi rin ni Nanay Linda ang mga naranasan niyang harasment. Nang sadyain siya ng UP Forum sa kanyang tahanan para sa panayam at sinabing siya ang nagpadala ng text message noong nakaraang araw, sinabi na lang niyang maaring “natrapik” daw ang ipinadalang mensahe. Ilan sa masasamang elementong napapadpad sa kanyang tinitirhan ang mga nakamotor na sundalong may nakasukbit na mahabang baril na minsa’y umaaligid at kada oras na nagpapabalik-balik; at mga nagkukunwaring siraulo na natutulog sa di kalayuan, kung hindi man sa mismong tarangkahan nila. “Maya-maya makikita na lang naming may tinitingnang mapa (ang taong grasa) na parang kinukumpirma kung tama ang tinigilang lugar.”

May mga pagkakataong naipakita rin ni Nanay Linda na nasasanay na siya sa mga panghaharas. Isang hapon, nag-inom sa tindahan niya ang isang napagalaman niyang intelligence unit (o intel).Ganito ang naging salaysay ni Nanay Linda: “Mayroon ding (intel na) taga UP Vanguard, sabi niya, ‘Tama ang ginagawa mo Nanay.’ Sabi ko, ‘Oo nga, kaya sana tulungan mo ako.’”Ang mismong engineering PAMANA AT PAGKALINGA, p. 8

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FORUM March-April 2012 Photo by Arbeen Acuña

text. ‘Umuwi ka rito,’ yan ang sinasagot ko sa kanya.” Sinaad ni Nanay Linda ang isang pagkakataong may kasama si Sherlyn pag-uwi: Tinanong niya raw ito, “Ineng, nagaaral ka pa ba?” Sinabi raw ng dalagang hindi na ito makapasok sa pamantasan.

“Ako ang mag-eenrol sa yo. Ano’ng sabi ng nanay mo, okey lang ba ang ganyan?”

Nang tumango ang dalaga, sinagot daw ito ni Nanay Linda, “E tarantado pala ang nanay mo.” Ilang ulit ding pinigilan ni Nanay Linda ang anak sa patuloy na pakikisangkot. “Ang sabi ko pa sa kanya noon, ‘Magtrabaho ka na lang at yung sweldo mo, ibigay mo sa kanila (sa masa o batayang sektor). Pupuntahan mo sila, wala nga silang pagkain, makikisalo ka pa? Mag-sponsor ka na lang ng edukasyon ng anak nila kapag kumikita ka na.’” Noon, para kay Nanay Linda, hindi kasama ang pakikipamuhay sa tulong na dapat ibinibigay sa kapwa lalo at naghihirap din sila.

Nang mangyari na ang di inaasahan, nagbago ang pananaw ni Nanay Linda.

Sa unang Cadapan-Empeño hearing noong ika-2 ng Enero sa Malolos City Regional Trial Court, nanawagan si Nanay Connie at “Ganito ba talaga ang ating gobyerno? ang iba pang mga kaibigan ni Karen at Sherlyn sa pagpapakulong kay Palparan at sa paglilipat sa mga kaalyado nitong sundalo May nangyayari palang ganito. Kasi, mula sa kustodiya ng mga militar patungo sa regular na piitan. unaware naman ako sa political issues e. Kaya sarili ni Nanay Linda kung iba ba ang konstitusyon simula noon, nakikita ko na—na yung grupo ng PAMANA AT PAGKALINGA, from p. 7 mga militante, basta may napupuna sila, sinasabi brigade daw ng Camp Eldridge ay kumontak sa ng military sa mamamayan. “Nagse-search kami nila sa publiko. Walang masama sa ganoon dahil kanya upang magpatulong sa mushroom culture. noon, kabagyuhan. Makikita mo, may mga lumalabas kailangan naman talagang punahin yung mga Tumugon siya at tumuloy sa kampuhan at nakuha na sundalo, magkakasa ng baril. Eto sila, papasok pasaway na opisyal natin.” Dapat daw magpasalamat pang magbiro sa mga sundalong bibigyan niya ng sa tutuluyan namin, magtatanong.” Bumibigat din pa ang gobyerno sa mga pumupuna. Ibinahagi rin ni leksyon tungkol sa pag-aalaga ng mga kabute, “Kilala daw ang loob niya kapag sinasabi ni Nanay Connie Nanay Linda ang ilang mga pagkakataon kung saan niyo naman na siguro ako, ano? Kung naririto ang na kahit buto na lang, ibalik ang mga anak nila. nakisangkot siya kahit walang direktang kinalaman “Kinuha nila sa akin nang buhay, ibalik nila sa akin anak ko, ituro n'yo naman sa akin.” sa pagkawala ng anak niya. “Ginagawa ko ang nang buhay.”

Bukod sa mga nabanggit na uri ng intimidasyon, “Hindi ako natatakot kasi, bakit ako matatakot makakaya para sa mga hinaharas isang beses na mga natuto na ring sumakay sa mga tila psychological sa kanila? Sila itong may kasalanan sa akin?” Ganito taga-Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) dahil sa warfare (o psywar) si Nanay Linda, dahil may ilan ang sagot ni Nanay Linda nang tanungin kung anong paghahanap ko sa anak ko, marami ring tumulong sa na ring nagsabi sa kanyang kabilang sa New People’s nadarama niya sa mga pinagdaanan niya at sa ilan akin kahit hindi pa naman nila ako kilala noon.”

Army (NPA) ang kanyang anak. May nakausap na “Dahil walang gaanong istorikal na dokumento, pang intimidasyon ng mga sundalo. “Sa atin sa rin daw siyang rebel returnee na tila may alam sa ang proseso ng pulitikal na transpormasyon kay demokrasya, meron dapat check and balance. So kinahinatnan ng anak niyang, ayon sa rebel returnee, yung mga malakas ang loob na mamuna, dapat nga Tandang Sora ay hindi detalyadong makukumpirma ay “matigas ang ulo at ayaw makipagtulungan iappreciate pa yun ng gobyerno. Ang nangyayari, they at malalaman. Pero itong mga ina (nina Karen, sa gobyerno.” Nitong nakaraan, hindi na raw ito (government officials) defend themselves assuming She at Jonas Burgos), makikita natin sa aktwal na nagparamdam at mahirap din daw matukoy ang panig they are always right. Kaya yung mga taong may prosesong nagsimula silang makilahok sa kalsada, nito dahil tahasan itong ginagamit ng mga militar. lakas-loob na pumuna sa gobyerno, ginagawa na magsalita sa rally, sa TV—na nakapangibabaw “E ano kung NPA nga? E di ilitaw at dalhin sa korte. nilang enemy of the state—ginagawang biktima sila sa takot nila hanggang tuluyang tanggaping Kung anumanang kasalanan, basta idaan nila sa ng extrajudicial killing, harassment at enforced mapanganib ang piniling buhay ng kanilang mga tamang proseso. Parusahan kung mapapatunayang anak,” ani Taguiwalo. Hindi malayong ganito rin ang disappearance.” may kasalanan. May batas tayo at ang batas natin ay Tuwing ikatlong Sabado ng buwan, nagkikita- nakita ni Tandang Sora, hindi lang sa sariling anak, wala sa kamay ni Palparan,” ani Nanay Linda. “Dahil kita raw silang mga ina ng mga biktima. “Nagiging kundi maging sa mga anak ng bayang pumupuna sa yung illegal detention at kidnapping hindi raw dapat matatag ako kasi kung malulugmok lang ako, walang maling pamamalakad at gawi ng mga kolonyalistang kasama sa mga kasong isinampa sa DOJ. Siguro mangyayari. Karamihan sa amin, halos umiiyak pero espanyol. At ang naging kapalit nito ay ang tangkang gusto nyang kaso abduction, hindi kidnapping para sinasabi ko sa kanila, kung iiyak lang tayo, sino’ng pagpapatahimik sa kanya ng mga nagpapanatili kasama buong institusyong militar,” pabirong dagdag lalaban para sa atin?” Dagdag pa ni Nanay Linda, ng estado poder, tulad ng patuloy na ginagawang ni Nanay Linda. “Ang kidnapping nga, parang polite hindi naman pwedeng hindi ka kumilos. “Yung iba pananakot sa mga tinalakay na Nanay. way na (para ilarawan ang ginawa ni Palparan). Pero Sa artikulo ni Taguiwalo, sinabi niyang walang ang sinasabi, ibigay na lang sa panginoon. Paano kung during that time (ng pagkawala nina Karen at She), pag-iimbot na ibinahagi ni Tandang Sora ang palay nagdadasal ka nga hindi ka naman kumikilos? Dapat on duty siya, kaya hindi masasabing personal na at pagkain para sa mga anak ng bayan at ginamot magkasabay (ang pananalig sa Diyos) at pagkilos.” desisyon ang ginawa niya. Sa tingin ko talaga, policy ang mga sugatang katipunero. At, bagamat mapait na Kababaihan: Sa Pamilya at sa Pakikibaka ito (ang pandurukot) ng government.” karanasan ang ibinunga nito dahil “hinuli at piniit si Bagamat may dating na magaan ang daloy ng Ayon sa A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Tandang Sora sa Bilibid at pagkatapos ay dinistiero sa paglalahad ni Nanay Linda, madarama pa rin sa ni Mary Wollstonecraft, hanggang nananatiling Guam,” kahit pa 91 taong gulang na siya bumalik sa pagsasalaysay niya ang pagmamahal ng ina sa isang naiiba ang kalagayan ng lipunan, ipipilit ng mga Pilipinas noong 1903, “tinanggihan niya ang inalok anak at pag-asang makikita pa niya itong muli. “Sabi magulang na sila ang masunod—at tila mula sa mga na pension ng kolonyal na pamahalaang Amerikano.” ng attorney (ni Palparan), pre-judged na, kaya ayaw bathala ang karapatang ito ng mga magulang na, sa Dagdag pa niya, “Ayon sa mga ulat, ipinaliwanag humarap. Ewan ko lang kung may kahinatnan (ang anumang katwiran, ay hindi maaaring ipagkait sa niya na ang kanyang paglahok sa rebolusyon ay hindi paghahanap kay Palparan) knowing na hindi lang mga magulang. para sa sariling pakinabang.” Para kay Taguiwalo, nagtatago—walang seryosong naghahanap. Nung Kaya hindi na rin nakapagtataka nang ibahagi ni ang mga kababaihang aktibista, o sa kaso ni Tandang ni-raid yung bahay nya, wala namang media o Nanay Linda na magkaaway raw sila ni Sherlyn nung Sora—rebolusyonaryo, ay nakaalpas sa panananaw militanteng kasama.” Nakuha pa muling magbiro ni nagsisimula pa lamang itong maging aktibista—at na ibinaon sa kanila ng mga institusyon “na ang papel Nanay Linda, “Dapat nga i-shoot to kill na e. Kung nanatiling ganito sa apat na taong pakikisangkot ni ng babae, ay simbahan-bahay, na ang mga isyung kunwari ako ang makakita at bumaril kay Palparan, Sherlyn. “Mas kay Tatay Asher siya nagbubukas pampulitka ay labas sa kanilang teritoryo—lalo na malamang sa hindi, mahuli agad nila ako.” Kwento at mas sila ang nagkakasundo, kaya noong search ang pag-aalsa.” Dagdag pa niya, “Hanggang ngayon pa ni Nanay Linda, nang mag-rally sila isang beses, sa kanila, hindi akalain ng mga taong maghahanap ganito, bagamat ang mga babaeng nasa public tinanong niya raw ang mga sundalong humarang ako nang ganoon. Kung yung mga kaibigan nga sphere o nasa propesyon, kahit papaano, pwede na at sa kanila: “Bakit naririto kayo? Bakit babantayan nya naghahanap, ako pa.” Pabagsak niya raw na pinapayagan. Pero ang pagiging aktibista (ng isang ninyo ako? E kung hinahanap na lang ninyo si binababaan ang anak niya ng telepono kapag ayaw babae) ay iba pa ring usapin.” Bagamat may ilang Palparan?” Noong fact-finding mission kung kailan nitong idetalye ang kinaroroonan at ginagawa. batas nang kahit papaano’y nagsulong ng katayuan sariwa pa ang mga hinanakit, tinatanong raw sa “Hindi ako nadadala n’yang ‘miss you miss you’ sa PAMANA AT PAGKALINGA, p. 9

FORUM March-April 2012 9 PAMANA AT PAGKALINGA, from p. 8 ng babae sa lipunan, hindi pa rin ito sapat. Tanong ni De Beauvoir, sapat na nga kayang baguhin ang mga batas, institusyon, gawi, pampublikong opinyon at ang buong kontekstong sosyal upang masabing tunay na pantay ang babae at lalaki? Ganito ang kanyang sagot at konklusyon: “‘Ang mga babae ay mananatiling mga babae,’ sabi ng mga iskeptiko. Hinahayag naman ng ibang propeta na sa paghuhubad ng mga babae ng kanilang kababaihan, hindi sila magtatagumpay na maging lalaki at magiging mga halimaw sila.

Ito ay pagtanggap na ang babae ng kasalukuyan ay likha ng kalikasan; dapat muling ulitin na sa lipunan ng tao, walang natural at ang babae, tulad ng maraming bagay, ay produkto ng sibilisasyon. (…)

Ang pagpapalaya sa kababaihan ay ang pag-iwas sa pagkukulong sa kanya sa relasyong mayroon siya sa lalaki, hindi ang pagkakait nito sa kanya.”

Sa pakikilahok sa pagpapalaya sa mga uri, nailulugar ng babae ang kanyang sarili sa lipunan.

Bukod sa karakter ni Bautista, ilan pang binanggit ni Taguiwalo na kababaihang mulat na nakipagtunggali ay sina: (1) Prinsesa Urduja na “bagama’t sinabing tauhang kathang-isip lamang katutubong ninuno sa mga mananakop”; (2) Gabriela Silang “na humawak ng armas laban sa mga Kastila;” (3) Mga kababaihan ng Katipunan; (4) Mga “babaeng bayani na tumindig laban sa pananakop ng mga Amerikano at mga Hapones, naging bahagi ng Hukbo ng Bayan laban sa Hapon, Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan, New People’s Army, ng paglaban sa diktadurang Marcos at hanggang sa kasalukuyan ay nagpapalaot sa iba’t ibang uri ng pakikibaka para sa lupa, kasarinlan, katarungang panlipunan at sa kalayaan;” (5) Sina Josefina at Trinidad, mga kapatid ni Rizal; (6) Teresa Magbanua na “tinawag na Heneral Isay ng Panay dahil pinamuan niya ang pagtambang sa mga Kastila,” may dalawang kapatid na lalaki at tiyuhin na kasapi ng Katipunan; (7) Narcisa Paguibitang, “lider-manggagawa ng

panahon ng mga Amerikano” na “isa sa mga namuno sa pangkalahatang welga sa Maynila noong 1934 na tumagal ng dalawang buwan.”

Marahil, mas maiintindihan pa ang pagkamulat ng mga nabanggit na babae sa panayam ni Gerassi kay De Beauvoir, 25 taon matapos mailimbag ang The Second Sex, kung saan tinanong ng una sa huli kung limitado ba sa mga kababaihang nasa Kaliwa ang kamalayan na kailangang baguhin ang lipunan.

Oo ang tugon ni De Beauvoir dahil konserbatibo ang ibang nais magpanatili ng umiiral na kaayusan.

“Ayaw ng mga babae sa Kanan ng rebolusyon. Mga ina at asawa silang tapat sa kanilang mga lalaki. Kung sakaling ahitador din sila, ang nais lang nila ay mas malaking bahagi ng tubo. Gusto nilang magkamal ng mas malaking kita, bumoto ng mas maraming babae sa mga parlyamento at maranasang magkaroon ng babaeng pangulo.” Ayon kay De Beauvoir mga reporma lamang ang mga ganoon—ang pagbabago ng buong sistema, ang pagwasak ng konsepto ng pagiging ina, yun daw ang rebolusyonaryo. Sa panayam kay Taguiwalo, nabanggit niya ang parangal ng lungsod ng Quezon kay Tandang Sora kung saan may mga tarpaulin na nagpapakita ng mga katangian niya. Nakakalungkot nga lang daw na hindi naisama ang ‘makabayan’ sa mga ito. Para kay Taguiwalo, ang wellspring o bukal na pinagmulan ng mga palabra de honor na nakasulat sa mga tarpaulin ni Tandang Sora (tulad halimbawa ng ‘mapagkalinga’) na siyang dahilan kung bakit siya kinikilala sa ika-200 taon niya, ay hindi ang kanyang pagiging babae kundi ang kanyang pagiging rebolusyonaryo.

Mula sa panahon ng mga katipunerong anak ng bayan hanggang sa kasalukuyan kung saan ipinagpapatuloy ito ng mga kabataang makabayan, mahalaga ang ambag ng mga mapagkalingang Tandang Sora na maaasahan sa panahong nangangailangan ng kanlungan ang mga nagnanais ng pagbabagong panlipunan. Sa nobela ni Jun Cruz Reyes na Tutubi, Tutubi, ‘Wag kang Papahuli sa

Mamang Salbahe kung saan ipinakita niya ang mga eksena ng unang araw ng batas-militar ni Marcos, kinupkop ni Mamay sa kanyang barung-barong ang pangunahing tauhang si Jojo sa panahong nahilo ito sa gutom sa paghahanap sa kanyang mga kasamahang kapwa rin nagtatago at hindi pa tiyak ang mga susunod na hakbangin. Kahit walang gaanong ibinahagi si Jojo sa kanyang pagkatao, mararamdamang alam ni Mamay kung sino at ano si Jojo. “Si Gregoria De Jesus na nagsilbing taga-dala ng dokumento, halimbawa, hindi maituturing na less ang contribution niya sa reboluyson kumpara sa asawa niyang si Bonifacio,” ani Taguiwalo. Sa panayam, sinipi niya mula sa “Serve the People” ni Mao Zedong ang paalalang ang sinumang nag-ambag sa panlipunang pagbabago, kusinero man o sundalo, ay dapat parangalan at pagpugayan.

Kung susumahin, marahil may katotohanan sa sinasabi ni De Beauvoir na kinakatawan ng tunggalian ng kasarian (sex struggle) ang tunggalian ng uri (class struggle), pero hindi kinakatawan ng huli ang nauna, at ang mga peminista, samakatwid, ay tunay na nasa Kaliwa. Sa A Very Short Introduction to Existentialism, sinabi ni Thomas Flynn na ang punto ni De Beauvoir ay ganito: kung sa pamamagitan ng lipunan naitatag ang konsepto ng pang-aabuso sa babae, sa pamamagitan ng lipunan din ito malalansag. Sinipi ni Taguiwalo ang “Mga Aral ng Katipunan ng A.N.B” sa paglalarawan ng pamana at ambag ni Tandang Sora sa pakikibaka ng sambayanang Pilipino—na “Si Tandang Sora at ang kababaihang nagmamahal sa bayan, lumalaban para sa bayan at handang magpakasakit para sa bayan ay tapat sa mga aral ng Katipunan lalu na sa ang kabuhayang hindi ginugugol sa isang malaki at banal na kadahilanan ay kahoy na walang lilim, kundi man damong makamandag.”

-------------------Magpadala ng email sa may-akda sa forum@up.edu.ph.

Mula sa “Ang Bayan at Mga Anak ng Bayan Bilang Pamilya: Ang Patuloy na Katuturan ni Tandang Sora sa Kasalukuyang Panahon” NI JUDY TAGUIWALO

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kanilang pinagyayaman. Nanatili ang control ng mga dayuhan sa ating bayan. Malalawak na lupain sa kanayunan at kabundukan ay okupado ng mga dayuhang kompanya sa pagmimina, pagtotroso at sa agribusiness. Nakabaon din tayo Photo from http://explow.com/melchora_aquino

uong-pusong niyakap ni Tandang Sora ang adhikain ng Katipunan at naging tapat siya sa pinanumpaan ng mga kasapi ng Katipunan na “gugulin ang lahat ng maigugugol at lahat ng minamahal ko sa buhay" “kung pagbabatayan ang kanyang pagbukas ng kanyang tahanan, ang kanyang sakahan at ang kanyang ari-arian sa mga anak ng bayan.

Aking ipinahahayag na sa kadahilanan ng pagkapasuk ko sa K.K.K. NG MGA A.N.B. ay naghandog ako ng isang mahalagang panunumpa sa ngalan ng Bayang tinubuan, at sa harap ng isang kagalanggalang na kapulungan nitong katipunan, na gugugulin ang lahat ng maigugugol at lahat ng minamahal ko sa buhay, sa pagtatangol ng kaniyang banal na Kadahilanan, hanggang sa abuting magdiwang, sukdang ikalagot ng hininga. Sa bagay na ito, isinumpa ko ring lubos na tutupad at susunod sa kaniyang Patnugutan at mga kautusan.

Sa katunayan nito, aking itinala ang aking pangalan ng tunay na dugong tumatakbo sa aking mga ugat sa pahayag na ito.1 Sa ngayon, hindi maipagkakaila na ang panawagan at adhikain ng Katipunan para sa kalayaan at ang pagtitiyak na ang lupain ng Pilipinas ay para sa mamamayan ay may patuloy na katuturan. Lalaging nasa balita ang kaliwa’t kanan na demolisyon sa maralitang taga-lungsod.

Karamihan sa nagsasaka sa ating lupaing agrikultural ay hindi nagmamay-ari ng lupang

sa utang sa mga dayuhang creditors—mahigit na P2 trilyong utang panlabas noong Nobyembre 2011.2 Bagama’t naibalik na ang Clark Air Base at

ang Subic Naval Base sa Pilipinas, nanatili ang mga tropang dayuhan, partikular mga tropang Amerikano sa ating bansa bunga ng RP-US Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) at Visiting Forces Agreement. Sa ngayon, may balak ang US na magdagdag pa ng mga tropa sa Pilipinas.3 ***** Sina Concepcion Empeño at Linda Cadapan, mga ina nina Karen Empeño at Sherlyn Cadapan, ang mga estudyante ng UP na dinukot noong Hunyo 26, 2006 sa Bulacan at hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa nakikita, ay namulat bunga ng pagkawala ng kanilang mga anak. Natatransporma ang panimulang pagkilos para mahanap ang mga nawalang anak sa pagyakap na rin sa simulain at ipinaglalaban ng dalawang estudyante. Ayon kay Concepcion Empeño: Namamayani sa ating bansa ang mga di-makataong polisiya ng pamahalaan.

Dinukot ng mga militar, sila na dapat mga mabuting ehemplo ng mga kabataan, ang aking anak na si Karen Empeno.

Kahayupan ang nangyari sa aking anak na babae mula nang siya ay dukutin , tortyurin at itago ni Gen. Jovito Palparan hanggang sa ngayon. Makatao ba ang isang gobyernong hinahayaang mamayani ang kawalang-pananagutan ng mga kriminal?

Paanong naging makabayan ang mga dumukot sa aking anak kung MULA SA "ANG BAYAN...", p. 11

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FORUM March-April 2012

RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, from p. 3 some measure of anonymity and freedom. “In UP Baguio, I think [more LGBTs are feeling free to coming out]. They have become more open in expressing themselves and for those in relationships, to be openly affectionate,” says Josef.

However, UP’s openness must by definition extend not only to LGBTs but to everyone, including certain conservative or fundamentalist factions.

“We still have conservative faculty, and we still need to address the issues of violence, bullying and discrimination. It is not a completely ideal situation.”

“You also have to put this [situation] in the context of the literature of ‘coming out’,” Manalastas adds. “There is a lot of literature in the coming-out research that shows that usually LGBT youth, if they do come out and share or disclose that they are LGBT, it is usually to friends, not close kin.”

What UP can do To the seemingly unanswerable question of what UP can do to help its LGBT students deal with their families’ acceptance or lack thereof, “definitely [we can do something],” says Manalastas. “Our students are part of our community, and I don’t think we can make an artificial divide between the moment they step inside the campus and outside the campus. We should be concerned about our students, that is why we equip them with the tools they can use outside the campus—critical thinking and resourcefulness, for example, and all those analytical tools that we give them. These they can use the moment they step out.”

Students themselves can choose to do something—by organizing themselves and finding strength in numbers, just as the UP Babaylan (which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year) has done. In UPLB, Dayo is proud of the efforts of the UPLB Babaylan, including actively working with the UPLB Gender Center, organizing seminars on LGBT issues, and initiating their own research into what the word “bakla” means both from an insider’s and outsider’s view. “We are starting to create a safe space where they are free to express themselves—maybe not a physical space but a social space,” she says. In this safe space, LGBT people who have not yet “come out”, or are afraid to “come out” to their parents and families, can find support and even a degree of protection.

LGBT students in UP Baguio have also organized themselves into a group called the UP Baguio Legacy or Lesbian and Gay Community,

adding a special twist in their membership. “The org’s composition is lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgendered and supporters,” says Josef. “[This is likely] their strategy so that even non-LGBT people or LGBT people who are not yet ‘out’ can join the organization and claim, ‘I am a supporter, an advocate.’”

On the part of the constituent units (CUs), the various gender, anti-sexual harassment offices and guidance counseling offices have instituted programs and projects to promote awareness of LGBT rights and issues among UP constituents, such as regular gender-sensitivity trainings and education campaigns for student organizations and incoming freshmen. Gender-sensitivity training and gender awareness campaigns are also a must for faculty and staff. “Definitely, the faculty themselves have not had enough [gender-sensitivity] orientation,” says Leynes. “Hopefully we can have the faculty undergo sensitivity-training, and the employees as well, including our contractual employees. They can be victimized, too.”

There is also a critical need to bring all these issues to light. “One of the things we need is to do a study of the LGBT climates in our constituent campuses,” says Manalastas. For now, informal sharing, group discussions and symposia that shed light on LGBT issues go a long way. “Small group discussions, like ‘Usapang Kabataan,’ were conducted by the UPV Gender and Development Program in coordination with the Office of Student Affairs and the Gender Advocates for the Youth to gain insights and know the concerns of the students,” says Aure. “However, with regard to the UPV GDP programs/related to promoting LGBT rights, there is still a need to have an organized group that will spearhead the conduct of more activities, like ‘Usapang Gay’ or roundtable discussions, or more continuing programs that will address the concerns and issues faced by the LGBT group in the campus and encourage organization of gays and lesbians.”

The UP Mindanao Gender Committee organized an LGBT forum last March 14, and the forum “indeed brought the issue into the open, and allowed the participants to express their interest and queries about it,” says Quintero. “Because of the positive reception of the forum, the Gender Committee intends to make the LGBT forum a regular activity. The Committee can continue collaborating with the Office of Student Affairs and the Human Resource Office to monitor the UP Mindanao gender awareness environment, and

eventually to provide the LGBT constituents with a support mechanism.”

“I think we can do a lot in terms of student services,” says Manalastas. “This is a challenge to the offices that do direct student services, such as the guidance counseling offices.”

Creating a safe space for LGBTs in UP Manalastas, who is also deputy director for Research, Publication and Resource Collection of the UP Center for Women’s Studies (UPCWS), speaks of some initiatives recently launched by the UPCWS which Manalastas simply calls “LGBT Initiatives at the Center.” “The reason I called it that is, (1) it’s at the Center [for Women’s Studies], and (2) we would like to bring LBGT issues from the margins to the center.” For now, the promotion of LGBT rights on-campus has been subsumed under the gender offices and women’s studies, and many of the stalwarts of the women’s movement have fought not only for women’s rights, but for the rights of the LGBT community as well. Manalastas notes one point of pride for the CWS: a gender-neutral comfort room in their new building that can be used by any gender—an inclusive space for heterosexual people and LGBTs alike. “Maybe many years down the line, we will have our own LGBT center, office or institute, but right now [LGBT awareness] is being incubated by the Center,” Manalastas adds.

“If you think about it, the Center is the logical place to start, since sexual orientation and gender identity issues are closely linked with the overall matrix of gender.”

Manalastas also recommends the integration of LGBT themes and issues in UP’s curricular offerings in order to add to the pool of gender knowledge and awareness. While this has already been pioneered by the courses in gay literature and gay cinema, Manalastas thinks this can be expanded even more across the social sciences and humanities and into the natural sciences and engineering courses. He himself is teaching a new undergraduate course called Psychology 195 or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Psychology, the first of its kind in UP and the country. Engendering the critical issues of today, such as climate change, disaster risk reduction and health and medicine, from an LGBT perspective can also serve an important function.

“We are a knowledge institution. We deal with the creation of knowledge, hence we must open up more spaces that integrate LGBTs. Let’s make this discourse come alive.”

RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, p. 11 Photo from http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/07/lgbt_pride_parades.html

Members of the LGBT community march around UP Diliman in June 2011.

FORUM March-April 2012 11

MULA SA "ANG BAYAN...", from p. 9 pinaparusahan nila ang mamamayang walang kasalanan? Nasaan ang takot nila sa Diyos kung puro kasalanan sa kapwa ang kanilang ginagawa?

Ngunit patuloy akong magiging makatao, makakababaihan,makabayan at maka-Diyos. Patuloy ko itong ituturo sa mga susunod na henerasyon. Ang pagsasampa ng kasong kriminal kay Gen. Palparan at sa kanyang mga tauhan sa pagdukot at pagtotyur sa aking anak at kay Sherlyn ay isang patunay sa aking tuluy-tuloy na paglaban para sa lipunang makatao at makabayan.

Ito ang aming ambag sa pagtataguyod ng katarungan sa ating bansa at para hindi na ito maulit pa.4 Sa ganitong sitwasyon, natatransporma ang pyudal na relasyon sa loob ng pamilya, ang pagiging sunud-sunuran ng kababaihan sa mga lalaki at sa matatanda, ng pagpigil ng mga magulang sa pagkilos ng kanilang mga anak tungo sa mas malawak na pananaw na ang pamilya ay kabahagi ng bayan at kung gayon ay hindi na limitado ang pag-aaruga at pagkakalinga sa mga kadugo na kaanak kundi kadugo sa simulain at pakikibaka. Ang ganitong transpormasyon ng relasyon ng mag-ina sa pakikibaka ay isinalarawan ni Ma. Lorena Barros sa kanyang tulang “Ina”: Ina Ano ang isang ina?

Mayamang hapag ng gutom na sanggol Kumot sa gabing maginaw Matamis na uyayi Tubig sa naghahapding sugat.

Nguni’t ano ang isang komunistang ina?

Maapoy na tanglaw Tungo sa liwayway.

Sandigang bato.

Lupang bukal ng lakas sa digma.

Katabi sa laban’t Alalay sa tagumpay Ang ina ko.

--from a letter to her mother July 23, 19735

Photo from http://thestaidlass.tumblr.com/post/6973092530/the-day-oble-got-wings-part-2

RAINBOW CONNECTIONS, from p. 10 Moreover, the present lack of a national law against discrimination and harassment of LGBTs should prove no hindrance for UP. “Before the national government came up with a law against sexual harassment, UP already had [a policy] in place,” Manalastas says. “We don’t need to wait [for a national law]. And we already have little foundational documents that we can start with,” such as the All-UP Workers Union’s CNA and the Quezon City anti-discrimination ordinance.

For Manalastas, and for all gender-awareness advocates, LGBT issues are at heart about creating a safe, open space for people of all sexual orientations and genders, a space or “bubble” shielded against homophobia, transphobia, sexism and sexual harassment. This is something all teachers have the ability to do in their classrooms. “The challenge now is what we can all do to extend this shield outside the four corners of the classroom, to create a safe space [for LGBTs] at home or in the church or organization,” even outside the university.

Especially outside the university, if UP is to live up to its role as national university.

-------------------Email the author at forum@up.edu.ph. ***** Namamalas ang determinasyong kawangis sa naging buhay ni Tandang Sora sa kasalukuyang m g a l i d e r- k a b a b a i h a n n g a n a k - p a w i s n a kumikilos para sa tunay na pambasang kalayaan at demokrasya.

Si Inocencia Wenceslao, mas kilala bilang Nanay Bising, ay lider ng balangay ng Samahan ng Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA) sa Sitio Veterans, Bgy. Bagong Silangan, Quezon City. Ang SAMAKANA ay organisasyon ng kababaihang maralitang taga-lungsod na kasapi ng GABRIELA. Ipinanganak noong Enero 22, 1939 sa St. Bernard, Leyte sa isang pamilyang maralitang magsasakang lumipat ng Mindanao para sa hanapbuhay. Namulat si Nanay Bising sa pakikipaglaban sa lupang kinatitirikan ng kanilang bahay sa Davao City. Napilitang lumikas ng Maynila sa gitna ng matinding militarisasyon sa Davao noong panahon ng Alsa Masa nang ang pangulo ay si Corazon Aquino.

Sa Maynila, patuloy ang kanyang pag-oorganisa sa kapwa maralita. (Para sa kwentong buhay ni Nanay Bising, tingnan ang tesis ni Lisa Marie Clemente. 6) Sa ginawa kong panayam kay Nanay Bising nitong Enero 2012, malinaw ang pag-ugnay niya ng kanyang buhay sa naging buhay ni Tandang Sora. Sa tanong na ano ang katuturan ni Tandang Sora sa kanya, ito ang kanyang naging sagot: “Sa kanya ako humugot ng lakas. Ang aking minimithing paglaya ay hindi lang para sa kababaihan kundi paglaya sa pagsasamantala.”

Namamalas ang kanyang katatagan sa kanyang mga pahayag na “kumilos ka hanggang may lakas pa” at samantalahin ang lakas habang malusog pa ang pag-iisip.” Dugtong pa niya, “kung wala akong namumulat sa loob ng isang linggo, kinukwestyon ko ang aking sarili.”

Kung may panghihinayang si Nanay Bising iyon ay ang pagkamulat niya noong 40 taong gulang siya. Para sa kanya sa edad na 73 taong gulang, “ang pagkilos ang nagbigay ng bitamina na nagpapalakas sa akin.”

Biktima ng kahirapan, biktima pa ng pambubugbog ng asawa, si Nanay Mameng ay palaban na bago pa man sumali sa organisasyon.

Ang unang sinalihang organisasyon ay o rg a n i s a s y o n n g k a b a t a a n s a k o m u n i d a d noong batas militar, ang KADENA. Ganito ang pagsalaysay ni Nanay Mameng sa kanyang pagkamulat: Noong 1978, doon sa aming komunidad sa

NOTES:

1 Shielo Mendoza. (2012, March 6). Is PH ready for transgender leaders?. Yahoo! Philippines News.

Retrieved Mar. 7, 2012, from http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ is-ph-ready-for-transgender-leaders-.html 2 Paterna Esmaquel II. (2011, Feb. 28). Transsexual coed tells UP prof: I am not a ‘he’. GMA News. Retrieved Mar. 8, 2012, from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/ story/214104/news/nation/transsexual-coed-tells-upprof-i-am-not-a-he 3 Sass Rogando Saso. (n.d.). In support of Miss Hender Gercio: The right to be your gender identity all the time [web log post]. Transpinay Rising. Retrieved Apr. 20, 2012, from http://transpinayrising.blogspot.com/2011/02/ in-support-of-miss-hender-gercio-right.html 4 Venir Turla Cuyco. (2012, March 3.) Heart Diño and Pinoy LGBTs in electoral politics. ABS-CBN News.com.

Retrieved Mar. 5, 2012, from http://www.abs-cbnnews. com/-depth/03/03/12/heart-di%C3%B1o-and-pinoylgbts-electoral-politics 5 The Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network (LAGABLAB). (n.d.). Paint your town pink [web log post]. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2012, from http://lagablab. wordpress.com/resources/ 6 Oliver M. Pulumbarit. (2009, November 21). Gay Filipinos and Rainbow. Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Retrieved Apr. 23, 2012, from http://lifestyle.inquirer. net/super/super/view/20091121-237468/Gay-Filipinosand-Rainbow 7 Cebu Anti-Discrimination Ordinance pushed. (2012, April 23). Cebu Daily News. Retrieved Apr. 25, 2012, from http://www.cdn.ph/news_details.php?id=13242 8 See Article I, Section 8 of the All-UP Workers Union's Collective Negotiation Agreement, signed December 12, 2008, at http://images.upau.multiply.multiplycontent. com/attachment/0/ShzTFQoKCCEAADlNsQM1/ CNA%20Agreement.pdf?key=upau:journal:12&nmid= 247360231.

Malate....natagpuan ko ang sarili ko kasama ng isang grupo ng kabataan. Doon sila nagpupulong sa bahay namin. Nakikinig ako habang nag-uusap sila. Sa isip ko noon, baka dito ko matagpuan ang kasagutan. Tinanong ko sila kung pwede akong sumali sa organisasyon nila. Sabi nila, “Nanay organisasyon ito ng kabataan. Tsaka Nanay sasama ka rin sa rally? Sinabi ko na gusto ko talagang sumali at matuto kaya pumayag na rin sila. Sumama ako sa mga rallies,eds, conference. Gusto ko sa unahan ako ng mga rally pero ayaw ng mga kabataan kasi raw baka mapukpok ako kaya ilinalagay ako sa unahan. Pero maya- maya kunwari mag-CR ako pupuslit na naman ako sa unahan. Napapailing na lang ang mga kabana (?) sa akin, “Naku nanay ang tigas ng ulo.”

Sabi ko naman, “Ayaw ko sa likod kasi di ko marinig ang sinasabi dito sa unahan.”

Ano ang sagot ni Nanay Mameng sa tanong na kailan ka titigil?

“Titigil lang ako kapag nasa loob na ako ng isang kahon. Doon lang. Pero hangga’t ako ay may lakas...hangga’t naigagalaw ko ang aking mga paa, hangga’t nagagawa kong kumilos, kikilos at kikilos ako. Hindi ako susuko dahil kung tayo ay susuko, lalong walang mangyayari sa atin, Hindi uunlad ang ating buhay at lalo tayong mananatiling api-apihan.

Mananatili ang pagyurak ng ating karapatan pati na ang ating karangalan.”

NOTES: 1

2

3

4

5

6

Oath Source: Photograph of original document in Adrian E. Cristobal, The Tragedy of the Revolution (Makati City: Studio 5 Publishing Inc., 1997) p.48.

Retrieved January 28, 2012, from http://kasaysayankkk.info/docs.memb.oath.htm National Statistical Coordination Board. (2012, February 14, last updated). Economic and Financial Data of the Philippines. Retrieved Feb. 24, 2012, from http://www.nscb.gov.ph/sdds/nsdp.asp Nato Reyes. (2012, February 18). Will the US and PH extend and expand military logistics agreement? [web log post]. Retrieved Feb. 24, 2012, from http:// natoreyes.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/will-theus-and-ph-extend-and-expand-military-logisticsagreement/ Panata ng Dalawang Ina [web log post]. (2011, May 3). Desaparecidos: Families of the Disappeared for Justice. Retrieved Feb. 24, 2012, from http:// desaparesidos.wordpress.com/tag/linda-cadapan/ Ang tula ay mula sa koleksyon ni Prop. Grace Concepcion ng Departamento ng Ingles ng UP Diliman bilang bahagi ng kanyang tesis para sa kanyang masterado.

Lisa Marie Clemente. (2012, April 6). Pagbalikwas: Kwentong Buhay ng Anim na Kababaihang AnakPawis (Master's thesis in Araling Kababaihan at Kaunlaran, College of Social Work and Community Development).

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

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FORUM March-April 2012 Image on left by Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo, image on right from http://newshopper.sulekha.com/philippines-japancomfort-women_photo_1595035.htm

The Bahay ng mga Lola features a wall of photos honoring the Lolas.

Seven-decade struggle

By Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

V

olunteers were preparing materials—posters and flyers—at Bahay ng mga Lola (Grandmothers’ House) for the Labor Day rally. Despite the flurry of activity, someone could be heard doing laundry at the back, seemingly oblivious to the sweltering heat of the midday summer sun. That person, whom I met later, was Lola Lita. She was a comfort woman.

She had such an easy smile that no one would have guessed Lola Lita was ever a victim of rape and sexual slavery. “I feel weak when I am not working,” she said as she wiped her hands. “I may be 82, but I am still strong. I can still do the laundry by hand.”

She said she lives in Malabon, but for the time being, decided to stay at Bahay ng mga Lola, a temporary shelter for and resource center on comfort women of Liga ng mga Lolang Pilipina (League of Filipino Grandmothers) or LILA-PILIPINA. She talked about her childhood in Talisay, Negros Occidental—that they lived in the hacienda of Emiliano Lizares, where her father was a farmer; that she and her mother worked near the landing field at Tangub. She did not talk about her ordeal right away, preferring to complete the backdrop first.

“At the town center, in front of the plaza, there was a church with a well, where I would often see the gardener get water for the plants. This was between 1943 and 1944. The Japanese, they were not so bad when they first arrived, but when the American forces continued to grow stronger, I saw how evil the Japanese soldiers could become.” She sighed and explained, “They would grab anyone and accuse him of being a guerilla. That well in the church I talked about earlier, the Japanese soldiers would bring their prisoners there and cut off their heads and throw the heads in the well.”

She closed her eyes for a few minutes and it seemed that she was lost in her memories. “I will tell you what happened to me. I was 14 when I was abducted by Japanese soldiers and kept in their garrison. There were around ten of us there. My first night, a soldier grabbed me and I fought back. I struggled against him, which made him very angry.

He pushed me then bashed my head against the wall.

Everything just went dark after that.” Lola Lita then recalled how, when she regained consciousness, a fellow captive named Linda advised her to “stop fighting them. Just let them do what they want and they might keep you alive.”

Lolas continue to seek justice “I was 14. What do you know at 14? There were other women with me but I felt alone. I was scared, but I decided to follow Linda’s advice. I was in that garrison for two weeks. I was raped over and over again. It seemed like such a long time, but it was only two weeks. I could hear the fighting outside. I knew the Japanese were losing, but I did not dare go out.

You know how I knew it was safe? I heard people shouting, ‘Victory, Joe!’”

Personal struggle, private hell Lola Lita went back to her family, who were happy because they had assumed that she was killed.

She did not tell anyone that she was held against her will, and sexually abused for days. “I was too ashamed to even tell my family,” she tearfully admitted. She tried hard to act as if everything was alright, that things were back to normal. “I went back to school. In three years, I finished grade six. I was already 17 then. I could not stand being there. The shame was eating me up. The repeated rape kept haunting me. It would not leave me alone. The memories kept playing in my mind and would not let me forget. I needed to leave.

I needed to go far away from there.”

Lola Lita and other survivors of sexual abuse and slavery during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, some as young as 11 when they were raped, kept their experiences to themselves or within their families for fear of being ridiculed and misjudged. For fifty years, their internal struggles gnawed at their being, their demons known only to themselves.

In her book, Disconnect: The Filipino Comfort Women, clinical psychologist Cristina Rosello says that “victims were blamed for the abuse they experienced… and were rejected even by their own families.” She adds that “without any source of security, the women left their villages and sought anonymity in cities…. Immeasurable pain was endured alone.”

Going public, exposing the truth Maria Rosa Luna Henson or Lola Rosa was the first Filipina who went public with her story.

September 12, 1992 was the day she called the newlyestablished Task Force for Filipina Victims of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan also known as the Task Force on Filipino Comfort Women (TFFCW)\ In War Crimes on Asian Women: Military Sexual

Slavery by Japan during World War II published by the TFFCW, Lola Rosa narrates how, a few months earlier, she heard Lidy Alejandro of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) on the radio encouraging comfort women to fight for their rights. But it was not until September 3, when she heard Nelia Sancho of the TFFCW on the radio, saying that the task force was looking for Filipino comfort women and that two Korean comfort women were in the Philippines, that Lola Rosa decided to come forward. The existence of comfort women was first exposed by Koreans a year earlier during the Asian Women Human Rights Council (AWHRC) Regional Meeting and Conference on Traffic in Women in Seoul.

Since then, many others have surfaced to tell their stories. Documented cases are in the hundreds but the real number is believed to be around a thousand.

Those who have exposed their truths and realities were inspired and relieved that there was finally a collective and organized effort and they no longer needed to face their battles alone. With support from the TFFCW and other organizations, the survivors of WWII military sexual slavery and abuse were empowered to take on the public struggle for justice.

The long and arduous journey For five decades, their individual struggles hid behind silence and secrecy. Who knew the public struggle would take decades as well?

Since the TFFCW was convened on July 13, 1992 by the AWHRC-Philippine Section with the BAYAN Women’s Desk; GABRIELA Commission on International Relations, Commission on Violence Against Women and Commission on Women’s Human Rights; Kanlungan Center Foundation; Batis Center for Women; Women’s Legal Bureau and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines Women’s Desk, justice remains elusive.

There were 18 comfort women at the time the case was filed in the Tokyo District Court on April 2, 1993. They were Henson, Anastacia Cortez, Tomasa Salinog, Estelita Morandante, Rosario Nopueto, Francisca Austari, Julia Porras, Sabina Villegas, Rosita Nacino, Juanita Jamot, Maria Fe Santillan, Simplicia Marilag, Cristita Alcober, Justinia Villanueva-Pilo, Victoria Canlas Lopez, Purificacion Mercado, Rufina Fernandez and Felisa Decandulo. These women were the plaintiffs in the class suit against Japan, asking its SEVEN-DECADE STRUGGLE, p.13

FORUM March-April 2012 13 Gutierrez and Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo— committed grave abuse of discretion by declining the Malaya Lolas’ request for assistance and requiring the respondents to take up their claims for reparation from Japan. This petition was filed due to the dismissal of previous claims for reparation by Japanese courts because these were not supported by the Philippine government.

On April 28, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the petition “lacks merit” and “hereby dismissed.” The last paragraph of the decision ordered by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo states, “Needless to say, our government should take the lead in protecting its citizens against violation of their fundamental human rights. Regrettably, it is not within our power to order the Executive Department to take up the petitioners’ cause. Ours is only the power to urge and exhort the Executive Department to take up petitioners’ cause.”

A motion for reconsideration was filed on May 31 and on July 19, a supplemental motion for reconsideration alleging plagiarism in the April 28 decision was filed as well. “I believe that the decision really twisted pro-comfort women arguments and made them anti-comfort women to suit their judgment.

Those texts were not even cited properly,” LILAPILIPINA Executive Director Rechilda Extremadura said in an interview.

The UP College of Law also released a position paper on July 27, 2010 signed by then Dean Marvic Leonen and almost forty faculty members, condemning the plagiarism in the decision. The signatories were answered by the Supreme Court with a show cause order on October 18, asking them to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court for releasing their statement. Even authors of some of the lifted text, Prof. Evan Fox-Decent and Prof. Evan Criddle came forward to show support for the UP College of Law. In a press statement released on October 25, 2010 by Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (KAISA KA), the group that has been assisting the Malaya Lolas since 2002, the group “laments what appears to many as the Supreme Court’s retaliatory move against the faculty of the UP College of Law

and calls on the high court to take internal corrective measures instead so that it could move on to resolve the long-drawn case of the victims of the gruesome war crimes in Candaba, Pampanga.”

As of this writing, no decision has been issued pertaining to the motions for reconsideration.

Support and setback Filipino comfort women have received local and global support in their fight for justice. There are comfort women advocate groups such as LILA-PILIPINA, established in 1994; Malaya Lolas, established in 1996; and Lolas Kampanyera, established in 2000. Apart from these, various organizations here and abroad have also shown solidarity with their cause.

Resolutions by legislative bodies around the world have also expressed support. The US House of Representatives, for example, passed House Resolution (HR) 121 on July 30, 2007, which states, “It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government of Japan (1) should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces’ coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as ‘comfort women’, during its colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War II; (2) would help to resolve recurring questions about the sincerity and status of prior statements if the Prime Minister of Japan were to make such an apology as a public statement in his official capacity; (3) should clearly and publicly refute any claims that the sexual enslavement and trafficking of the `comfort women' for the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces never occurred; and (4) should educate current and future generations about this horrible crime while following the recommendations of the international community with respect to the ‘comfort women.’”

Similar resolutions were passed by the Canada House of Commons, European Parliament and Dutch Parliament in the same year. In 2008, City Councils SEVEN-DECADE STRUGGLE, p. 15 Photo by Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

SEVEN-DECADE STRUGGLE, from p. 12 government to admit and apologize for their crimes, compensate their victims and include in its history books the military sexual slavery it committed.

There were 16 members in their Japanese panel of lawyers.

Five years later, on October 9, the lawsuit was dismissed. Presiding Judge Yoriaki Ichikawa rejected the plaintiffs’ argument citing the 1907 Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, saying that the convention defined state-tostate compensation obligations and not individual compensation. Moreover, the right to make claims had already lapsed under Japanese law as it was filed more than two decades after WWII, therefore exceeding the statute of limitations. He added that Japan and the Philippines no longer had claims against each other because Japan had already given war reparation under the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.

After two weeks, a Koso appeal or the initial appeal to a higher court was made. On December 6, 2000, the High Court dismissed the appeal. Two weeks later, a Jokoku appeal or the final appeal to a higher court was filed in the Supreme Court. On Christmas day three years later, the Supreme Court also rejected the appeal.

While the case was being heard, the world’s eyes were on Japan as it was also under fire from other countries that experienced military sexual slavery during Japanese occupation. In 1995, it established the Asian Women’s Fund (AWF), “making use of the money donated by the Japanese people as its resource” to “offer atonement from Japanese people,” according to the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

To fulfill its “moral responsibility,” the Japanese government decided to “provide necessary assistance” to the AWF. In the Philippines, the program was implemented from 1996 to 2001.

While there were Lolas who applied for the AWF due to financial needs, most had rejected it.

LILA-PILIPINA, then chaired by Sancho, released a statement opposing the planned AWF, saying that “the Japanese government should confront its own guilt, and not transfer this to ordinary citizens and make the latter responsible for a war crime against women which the government had committed.”

In her MA Anthropology thesis, “Narratives of Suffering, Healing and Caring: An Anthropological Study of Women Victim-Survivors of Mass Rape during World War II in the Philippines,” researcher Gina Rose Chan of the UP Center for Women’s Studies, says that the Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers), an organization of survivors of mass rape in Mapanique, Pampanga, completely rejected the AWF because what they are asking for is legal compensation from the Japanese government.

Two days after the High Court dismissed the Filipino comfort women’s first appeal in 2000, the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery also known as the Women’s Tribunal was held in Tokyo from December 8 to 12. Sixty-four survivors from nine countries, with each country having a prosecution team; two chief prosecutors; scholars in the fields of history, psychology and international law; and Japanese veterans participated in the tribunal.

A year later, the final judgment was issued in The Hague, The Netherlands. It found all ten defendants—including Emperor Hirohito—guilty as either superiors or individuals in the charges of rape and sexual slavery as crimes against humanity. It must be noted, however, that the preamble of the Charter of The Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery states, “While the Tribunal, as a people's and women's initiative, has no real power to enforce its judgments, it nonetheless carries the moral authority demanding their wide acceptance and enforcement by the international community and national governments.”

In the Philippines, the Malaya Lolas filed a petition on March 8, 2004 asking the Supreme Court to declare that the respondents—Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Delia Domingo-Albert, Secretary of Justice Merceditas

Lola Lita (left) and Lola Rechie

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ROUNDTABLE, from p. 6 develop new knowledge that embodies the experiences of women from all walks of life.

The university is not the sole place where the task of gender mainstreaming and upholding of equality is carried out. Change too must come outside the university. This is the challenge to UP GAD advocates: to bridge the theory and praxis of the women’s movement as we forge a woman-centered, gendersensitive university.

Dayo: Republic Act No. 9710 (the Magna Carta of Women) was signed into law in August 2008, and its implementing rules and regulations, in 2010. The Magna Carta of Women provides the legal mandate which envisions a society that promotes substantive gender equality. What can we do to promote and uphold gender sensitivity (or equality) in UP? Although still in the process of review, the draft UP Guidelines on the Role of Women is generally based on a strategy that looks at how best we can achieve gender equity in UP, defining mechanisms in all aspects of the university’s functions.

A r e w o m e n underrepresented in UPLB? Our data show that our women students outnumber men students at 62 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

Similar observation can be found among academic personnel with 58 percent women and 42 percent men. This information, although very revealing, does not tell if indeed our university is gender responsive.

The UPLB Gender Center aims to promote UPLB as a center of gender responsive teaching, research, extension and services in the field of agriculture, forestry, natural resources, biotechnology and energy. To realize this mission, we recommend continuing gender-sensitive education for our students, faculty, staff and administration officials for better understanding of the differential issues and concerns of the constituents. Since women and men of UPLB confront science and technology, we need to respond to the needs of the greater public, specifically in addressing food security and hunger through science and technology of agriculture, forestry and engineering. I suggest that gender wareness be integrated in the curriculum as well as in technology development.

Our specific goals to achieve gender sensitivity in UPLB for the promotion of gender- based and rights-based education of higher learning are the following: 1. Mandatory training on gender sensitivity, health education that is gender-responsive, rights-based and culture-sensitive. An example of a culture-sensitive policy is the provision of adequate child care facility in campus. Child care, after all, is a major concern of

parents.

2. Develop innovative approaches in key areas of university policy, in human resources capacity building going beyond retirement, enabling mechanisms and programs for preventive measures against gender-based violence.

3. Strengthen instruction, research, extension and advocacy programs on gender and development, including anti-sexual harassment and reproductive health; to provide a space for discussion and action of LGBT issues and concerns in the university. We need to reexamine the teaching and research outputs of all faculty and REPS as promotion criteria. Perhaps it is unrealistic to expect faculty and REPS to be effective teachers and researchers in light of the changes in the family structure.

4. Integrate gender perspectives in the academic curricula through inter- and trans-disciplinary programs.

5. Develop gender

databases, information and monitoring systems and participatory action-oriented research, methodologies and policy analyses.

Moreover, it is necessary for UPLB to allocate a budget for basic and applied research to develop and promote women-friendly technologies to address certain provisions in the Magna Carta of Women.

Quintero: The UP Mindanao Gender Committee, with the assistance of two student-researchers from the BA Anthropology program, recently conducted a preliminary survey among selected UP Mindanao administrative staff, REPS and students. This survey had the following objectives: (1) to determine whether the respondents are aware of the concept of gender sensitivity, (2) to find

out whether the respondents practice gender-stereotypes in their tasks, and (3) to test the extent of their knowledge of gender-fair principles, most specifically gender-fair language The full report of this survey was submitted to the UP Center for Women’s Studies). The highlights of the survey include the following: 1. UP Mindanao respondents who took part in this preliminary survey are relatively knowledgeable about the concept of gender sensitivity. They exhibit positive attitude and perceptions on gender sensitivity. They also assert that there is a need to attend gender-sensitivity seminars and training to enhance and promote understanding of it among the university constituents.

2. The respondents are not genderbiased/stereotyped in the performance of their tasks (office and academic).

They do not label their tasks as female-specific or male–specific.

3. Although majority of the respondents passed the quiz on the use of gender-fair language, their level of knowledge is low.

This is evidenced by the way they consulted one another for answers to the quiz items, the length of time to finish the quiz and the number of unanswered items.

There are courses in UP Mindanao that aim to promote knowledge and appreciation of gender issues: Literature and Gender, a required course for the Bachelor of Arts in English program; Sex and Society in the BA Anthropology program; and the GE courses, Comm 1 and Comm 2, which include gender themes in the reading requirements.

However, among the administrative personnel and the REPS, attendance to gender-related forums is rare. With the routine office tasks and the daily demands of their jobs, the office personnel

practically do not have the opportunity of mulling over issues related to gender equality and equity.

It is fair to conclude that UP Mindanao constituents are generally gender-sensitive. Despite this, there is still a need to sustain this positive atmosphere. A more gender-related curricula should be developed and the faculty should be encouraged to integrate gender issues in the courses they teach.

Students, REPS and administrative personnel need to attend seminars and training on the use of gender-fair language (GFL). A clear understanding of GFL will promote its proper usage in the writing of academic papers and in inter-office correspondence.

For the past two years, the UP Mindanao Gender Committee has been active in organizing forums that tackle gender issues (e.g., LGBTI, HIV Awareness, Anti-Sexual Harassment, Reproductive Health Bill, Magna Carta for Women, Gender Sensitivity Seminars). These activities were well-attended not only by UP Mindanao constituents but also by women organizations from the nearby barangays. These forums and seminars should be continued.

All these efforts will be nothing without the support of the administration. Perhaps the most important factor required to successfully promote and uphold gender sensitivity in the campus is an administrator who i s g e n d e r- s e n s i t i v e and concerned about the welfare of the constituents; sincere and passionate in promoting g e n d e r e q u a l i t y, equity and fairness; inspires constituents and leads them to the achievement of common institutional goals.

Only then can UP and its constituent universities (CUs) have a clear mechanism and paradigm that will promote and uphold gender sensitivity.

The worst thing that can happen to any CU is to have an administrator who fails to see the significance of gender and development in the wholistic development of its students and the professional development of its personnel.

Mina: A gender-sensitive person is someone who recognizes issues like gender inequality in the workplace; discrimination because of one's gender or sexual preference; and sexual violence whenever and wherever these exist. Unfortunately, these gender issues are continuing in our society. As the country’s national university, UP has the capacity to help raise the people's awareness on gender issues. Only through gender education using various strategies can we truly promote and uphold gender sensitivity in UP and in the country. We need sustained efforts in raising awareness ROUNDTABLE, p. 15

FORUM March-April 2012 15 INDIGENOUS WOMEN, from p. 16 Johnson also said that indigenous women must be involved in the fight against poverty and the decisionmaking process on the programs and policies to eradicate the obstacles to development.

Aside from their engagement in economic activity and policy-formulation, indigenous women have also been viewed by disaster reduction and mitigation professionals as collaborators in the campaign for preparedness against potential disasters.

With knowledge on their environment and its characteristics handed down from earlier generations, indigenous women are capable of managing the consumption of crops, live-stock and other essentials in their community. With their intensive knowledge of managing their households, indigenous women can ably ensure the preservation of their heritage and work for the protection of the biodiversity around their communities. The preservation of their culture not only ensures the survival of their identity but also the life of various species which are sheltered in the land of their forebears.

According to the Indigenous People’s International Centre for Policy Research and Education or Tebtebba, “Indigenous women possess skills and knowledge to mitigate and adapt to climate change, but they remain vulnerable to its impact given the discrimination they face as women and as indigenous peoples. Indigenous women play significant roles in sustaining and managing forests because they are the traditional-knowledge holders which they transmit to future generations.”3 While in some areas, the participation of indigenous women has been enlisted by some government agencies and non-government groups, there are still places which restrict their involvement in these activities. Tebtebba attributed this limitation to the lack of broad recognition and support for the capability of indigenous women in taking an active role in climate change discussions and campaigns.

There is also the lack of integration of communitybased and nurtured education with formal education

ROUNDTABLE, from p. 14 and educating people not only to make us more gender-sensitive but, more importantly, to evolve a society that respects gender differences and where no person is violated and victimized because of her or his gender.

What are some of these strategies?

The Guidance and Counselling Office in all UP campuses can help promote awareness on gender issues among the students. When I was a student in UP Baguio, the Guidance and Counselling Office came up with different programs for firstyear students like me to facilitate their integration and transition in college life. One of these was the Gender Sensitivity Program. This was established to change preconceived notions of young people with diverse backgrounds and knowledge about sex and gender. This has effectively transformed my mindset and helped inculcate in me gender awareness and orientation, something that I held on to even after graduation. I believe that through this program which was implemented with the help of older student-mentors, first-year students learn to be more confident in expressing their individuality, resulting in a fuller experience of college life that continues well into their adult lives.

Other university programs that help advance and promote gender equality and sensitivity should be

systems.

In Mainstreaming Indigenous Education, UP Baguio Chancellor Raymundo Rovillos said that indigenous communities nurture and hand down knowledge through non-formal education. The difficulty though lies in how this can be integrated to the formal education system promoted by the government and made relevant to both the indigenous and low-land communities. He added that overcoming that obstacle would ensure the “indigenous peoples’ hope to become functionally literate while retaining their indigenous identity.”4 But indigenous women must overcome obstacles not once, but twice, in advocating for greater participation in their communities and in Philippine society. The first challenge to their involvement can be easily found in their community where centuries-old concepts of gender roles remain a factor in decisionmaking processes. The second test could come from Philippine society in general which has yet to fully appreciate the role of the indigenous people in the country’s social, political and cultural landscape.

The recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in general and indigenous women in particular is a campaign in which government agencies, nongovernment organizations and academic institutions such as the University of the Philippines, have been very much involved in recent years. This involvement, which manifests itself through policies, programs and other activities, serve not only to empower the indigenous peoples but also promote social justice.

The recognition of the rights of the indigenous peoples, which is a step toward the recognition of the role of indigenous women, is considered as a manifestation of the Philippine society’s desire to promote social justice. According to former UP College of Law Dean Marvic Leonen, “Indigenous people's rights are constitutional rights. They are to be recognized because it is a fundamental element of democratic participation and social justice.”5 The campaign for education, recognition and capability-support of indigenous women is essential

supported. In UP Baguio, we have our gender program called Kasarian which regularly holds discussions on these issues through different gender orientation seminars, symposia and fora. Kasarian is also proposing the holding of orientation on gender sensitivity in various UP Baguio offices and for the incoming first-year students.

Another strategy Kasarian has adopted is to establish partnerships with student organizations to sponsor activities related to shedding light on sexual harassment, domestic violence, violation of human rights, violence against women and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) issues, among other topics. This is an effective way of inspiring younger generations to delve deeper into gender-related issues, encourage them to initiate similar activities and to have gender advocacies even when they leave the university.

There are also other creative ways of promoting gender sensitivity within the university. We can tap different organizations in theater and the arts to mount stage plays and exhibits to attract UP constituents, both young and old.

Gender cuts across all aspects of our work in the university. It is therefore necessary that we do not simply pay lip service to genderrelated issues. We want everyone to discuss gender issues and for every

in the liberation of the minds of both indigenous and non-indigenous men from their pre-conceived notions of the role of indigenous women in society.

But educating indigenous women, the other members of their community and even Philippine society at large would take time. While government agencies, NGOs and academic institutions promote the rights of indigenous women, the recognition which must come from Philippine society in general does not come overnight. Until then, it is important to always bear in mind what prominent American women’s rights advocate Susan B. Anthony said: “The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.”6 -------------------Email the author at forum@up.edu.ph.

NOTES:

1 ILO: Indigenous women can help PHL grow. (2012, March 23).

GMA News Online. Retrieved Mar. 27, 2012, from http://www. gmanetwork.com/news/story/250861/news/ilo-indigenouswomen-can-help-phl-grow 2 Ibid.

3 Tebtebba: Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education. (n.d.). Securing Rights and Enhancing Capacities of Indigenous Women on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. Retrieved Mar. 23, 2012, from http://tebtebba. org/index.php/content/162-securing-rights-and-enhancingcapacities-of-indigenous-women-on-climate-change-adaptationand-mitigation 4 Raymundo D. Rovillos. (2002, December). Mainstreaming Indigenous Education, Indigenous Perspectives. Retrieved Mar. 27, 2012, from https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t& rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDEQFjAD& url=http%3A%2F%2Ftebtebba.org%2Findex.php%2Fallresources%2Fcategory%2F5-indigenous-perspectives%3 Fdownload%3D34%3Aindigenous-perspectives-vol-5-no2&ei=a0OGT6_zGYftrQfWraXNBg&usg=AFQjCNGr0aJQupf4NzcS1KYU6ZhoSnYCQ 5 Marvic MVF Leonen. (2009, October). Law at Its Margins: Questions of Identity, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Ancestral Domains and Diffusion of Law. Retrieved April 12, 2012, from the UP College of Law Philippine Law Journal archives, http:// law.upd.edu.ph/plj/images/files/PLJ%20volume%2083/PLJ%20 volume%2083%20number%204%20-04-%20Marvic%20 M.V.F.%20Leonen%20-%20Law%20at%20its%20Margins.pdf, 6 Inspiring Quotes by Women. Retrieved April 12, 2012, from http:// www.feminist.com/resources/quotes/

UP constituent to respect the diversity of our choices, including single parenting and same-sex partnerships. We need the active involvement of the entire UP community. The more perspectives there are on how to create greater understanding, sensitivity and respect within UP, the better.

SEVEN-DECADE STRUGGLE, from p. 16 in Japan followed suit: Taraduko in Hyogo Prefecture, Kiyose in Tokyo Prefecture, Saporo in Hokkaido Prefecture, Fukuoka in Fukuoka Prefecture and Mino-o in Osaka-Hu Prefecture. In 2009, the Mitaka City Council did the same and asked the Japanese government to take sincere action on the demands of the comfort women.

Despite the global support, the Lolas do not have such resolutions to speak of from their own country. Since the existence of Filipino comfort women came to be known, resolutions have been filed in the House of Representatives and the Senate but none has been passed to this day. “How difficult do you think it is for the Lolas to fight for justice knowing their own government has not even declared support for them? It really is a sad state of affairs,” Extremadura lamented.

And the fight goes on It was on March 10, 1992 that the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that 19 of the thousands of Asian comfort women were from the province of Iloilo. Three days after that, BAYAN called on the Philippine government to investigate the matter. The next day, then President Corazon Aquino told BAYAN to present evidence that there were Filipino comfort women.

Fast forward to 2012. July marks the 20th anniversary of the Lolas’ struggle for justice from Japan, when the TFFCW was organized by concerned women’s groups to delve into the issue of Filipino comfort women. Since President Benigno Aquino III assumed the top post in the country, the Lolas have consistently asked his administration for assistance and support.

Many of the Lolas have passed away. They did not see justice in their lifetime. What the remaining Lolas wish for is a different ending. “I do not feel old. Well, sometimes, I do, but I would like justice to be served when I can still appreciate it,” Lola Lita said wistfully.

-------------------Email the author at forum@up.edu.ph.

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FORUM March-April 2012

Indigenous Women W

omen’s rights have been a concern in the Philippines since the days of Jose Rizal.

The national hero himself wrote a letter to the women of Malolos, Bulacan which called upon them to seek education and use it as a tool to liberate themselves. The women of Malolos had wanted to establish a school where they would be able to learn Spanish in the hope that learning the language would allow them access to and participation in society.

Over the years, Filipino women, particularly those in lowland areas, have been slowly freed from the bondage that required them to be subservient to the wishes of their fathers, brothers, uncles and men in general. During the US occupation of the Philippines, Filipino women were granted access by their American teachers to formal and, in some instances, liberal education. This also allowed them entry to the prestigious universities in Manila and even those in the United States.

It is not the same case though for indigenous women. Much of their experience has remained the same, undisturbed by the presence and influence of colonial administrators from Spain, Japan and the United States.

But while there are indigenous women who desire education, they are also held back by the need to preserve the way of life in their communities—a way of life which in most cases has given them minimal participation in decisionmaking processes in their communities. This is where the struggle for women’s rights while preserving indigenous heritage has become a very slow process of the liberation of the mind.

Despite the wide and vigorous promotion of women’s rights in the highlyurbanized areas of the Philippines, many other areas in the country have preserved the traditional gender roles which have been passed on from generation to

generation. Much still needs to be done before women in the indigenous communities acquire the same access to education, capital and community involvement their lowland sisters have.

Several of the indigenous communities in the country are founded and preserved around the leadership of male members. It was this male leadership which is generally considered as the backbone in preserving the community, amidst the centuries of struggle against foreign powers, outside influences and even modernity. This culture of male dominance is also the reason for the marginal involvement of indigenous women in the decision-making processes of their communities and communal activities.

In recent years, the participation of indigenous women have been viewed by academics, economists and policy-makers as essential to the formulation of better policies and programs for both the indigenous and their lowland brothers. Indigenous women are also viewed as potential partners in the strengthening of local economic activity and interaction which guarantees the flow of money in the struggling economy.

Last March 23, the United Nation’s International Labor Organization (ILO) Country Director for the Philippines Lawrence Jeff Johnson said, “Indigenous women play an important role in the development of their communities and the country, and given the opportunity to do so, [they] can help the country grow even more so.”1 Speaking at a launch of a photo exhibit on indigenous women sponsored by the UN, he added, “Indigenous women continue to face limited opportunities, particularly in leadership and decision-making authority.”2 Emphasizing the need to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, INDIGENOUS WOMEN, p. 15 Photo from http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/tboliwoman4.jpg

By KIM Quilinguing

Preserving the roots, liberating the mind

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

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