The victory of five women in the Senate does not mean victory for women’s human rights – Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe, Pia Cayetano, Imee Marcos, and Nancy Binay. They do not represent women’s voices especially those from the marginalized sectors, particularly the poor from rural and indigenous communities. They are from wealthy, landed families, and are perpetuating the political dynasties that their fathers, husbands, and brothers have established. They have used their position to further their own class interest; or have remained silent on issues that matter most to the poor Filipino women. They are also known supporters of President Duterte’s programs and policies which have caused death and harm to the rural poor women and their families, and have made them more vulnerable to different forms of violence.
Their track record would speak for itself – CynthiaVillar was the author and sponsor of the Rice Tariffication Law passed last year, which liberalizes the importation of rice. The local farmers protest against this, saying that this will kill their own rice production. The family of Villar is embroiled in several land issues against farmers.
Villar, Grace Poe and Nancy Binay signed the TRAIN law, the tax reform which increased the already heavy burden on mothers and their families as price of basic commodities surged. Grace Poe earlier said that she supported TRAIN law “because the President said the government needed funds.”
Poe and Binay also voted for the extension of Martial Law in Mindanao. The Indigenous women feel more intimidated, and tension is heightened with the increased presence of military in their communities. There were several incidents of evacuation among our community partners for fear that they would be caught in the cross-fire of military operations. Red-tagging, or branding indigenous leaders as rebels has intensified. The killings by the military of Datu Victor Danyan, a T’boli Manobo in Lake Sebu, and 7 other men from his tribe, were justified by the 27th Infantry Batallion as a legitimate military operation against rebels. The truth was, Datu Victor and his community had been asserting their rights over their ancestral domains against the coffee plantation of Consunji.
Poe also supported the hero’s burial of Marcos, which is a big cause of feeling of betrayal among the indigenous communities who suffered under the Marcos regime. It was Marcos who allowed his cronies to plunder the natural resources within the ancestral domains, and as they fought for their rights, indigenous leaders were among those who were killed, tortured and made to disappear.
Pia Cayetano, who was a staunch women’s rights advocate during her previous term as a Senator, had a different voice when Duterte became a president. She defended Duterte’s sexism and misogyny, saying that “I love him to death because of all he’s fought for, for women. And so I will always defend him because I know he doesn’t intend any harm on women, although it does come across that way sometimes.”
But Duterte’s words are not just jokes, nor harmless sarcastic remarks. His words are direct orders, which men in uniform, and armed, take to heart. Last year, Duterte said that in military operations, for female rebels, “shoot them in the vagina.” Last April 15, it was reported that Cindy Tirado, 28 years old, an alleged woman combatant of the New People’s Army (NPA) was killed during a reported military encounter. The mother of Tirado claimed that Cindy was tortured, and that a bullet shattered her vagina.
During the election campaign, LILAK was part of the movement calling for an “independent Senate”. But with zero opposition winning a seat in the Senate, this will be improbable. We expect that the Duterte legislative agenda of violence, impunity, and further impoverishment of the poor, will be railroaded. Cayetano has expressed her support for the reinstatement of death penalty. They are also known to be advocates of charter change. The proposed changes in our Constitution will remove social justice provisions which will weaken the protection of our citizens who assert their rights and make the government more accountable; there will be provisions which will open up our natural resources to 100% ownership and control by foreigners, which will make our communities poorer and hungrier.
Then there’s Imee Marcos – who consistently denies the atrocities of her father during his dictatorship, who shrugs off the killings of thousands of Filipinos, the disappearances of countless activists, and the stealing of billions of pesos from the country, as simply lies against her family. Imee, who lies through her teeth on anything she says.
The women of LILAK have always advocated for women’s participation in decision-making processes, as well as in public platforms of leadership, especially so for indigenous women. However, we aim for more than numbers. We advocate for meaningful participation and genuine representation of women and their issues – poverty, discrimination, sexual violence and various other forms of violence against women, especially the poor and the marginalized. We advocate for women to be in leadership to support the struggle of women in the rural and indigenous communities to be free from violence and poverty, and to live a life with dignity.
These five women senators do not carry the voice of the marginalized women, their families and their communities.
Meanwhile, the struggle continues, outside the halls of the Senate, on the streets, in the communities where the rural and indigenous women are getting stronger, with their own voices, arms linked with other women, in solidarity, against land grabbing, against corporate control of their resources, against misogyny, against dictatorship.
When the Duterte legislative agenda of charter change, federalism, TRAIN 3 bill, death penalty, lowering of Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility,reach the Senate, it will be the time of reckoning – whether they will listen and heed the voices of rural and indigenous women, or continue to stand by a violent, misogynist, corrupt, and authoritarian President.