"Meet Gregoria, Melchora, Lorena, Haydee, Leni, Gina and Leila."
"Meet Gregoria, Melchora, Lorena, Haydee, Leni, Gina and Leila."
At the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution of 1898, countless Filipino patriots took up arms to fight for independence against the Spanish colonizers. As a patriot, she suffered privations in performing dangerous tasks only women could do undetected by the police. She was admired for her extraordinary courage and daring and for her alertness which saved her from capture. She was married to Andres Bonifacio, supremo of the Katipunan. Later, after her husband was unjustly and brutally killed, she remarried and lived a long life raising her children with Julio Nakpil, also a revolution and composer of our first national anthem. She is Gregoria de Jesus, Aling Oriang to the Katipunan. Revolutionaries are resilient. They are never defeated!
Despite her advanced age, she nursed the sick and wounded, fed and gave medical attention to the revolutionaries. For her contributions to the Philippine revolution, she is called the “Grand Woman of the Revolution” and the “Mother of Balintawak.” Melchora Aquino or Tandang Sora died at the ripe old age of 107. May we like Tandang Sora be blessed with many years and opportunities to serve our country, fellow human beings, and God.
The declaration of martial law prompted countless radicals to take up arms against the government to fight against oppression and injustice. One of them is this woman who championed the rights of women. She was a social activist and a top political prisoner during the tumultuous years of martial law. She founded the Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (Free Movement of New Women) or MAKIBAKA, a militant women’s organization. She joined the guerrilla movement and was killed during a military ambush at the young age of 28 years old. She is seen as a symbol of the women’s movement. Her name is Lorena Barros. She lives in so many young and older women that continue to fight for the liberation of this country, especially its women, from injustice and inequality. Yes, Lorena lives!
After the People Power Revolution, she served as a national election commissioner, organizing elections in contested, far-flung areas of the country and lending her considerable reputation to the hopeful project of restoring integrity to the country’s electoral process. Then in 2001, she was appointed chair of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, or PCGG. During her watch, PCGG recovered for the national treasury U.S.$683 million from Marcos’s Swiss bank accounts. An outstanding public servant, she was recognized by the trustees of the Ramon Magsayasay Award for “her building confidence in government through service of exceptional integrity and rigor and her unwavering pursuit of the rule of law in the Philippines.” She is Haydee Yorac, an exemplary public servant. There are many Haydees today in and out of government. Thank you Professor Haydee for your example!
She is the wife of a popular city mayor who after the untimely death of her husband was elected to the second highest office of the land. A lawyer by profession, she engaged early on in social activism, lending her legal knowledge to the benefit of the oppressed and the poor. As the second highest public officer of the land, she had the misfortune of being second fiddle to a president whose personality and leadership style are diametrically opposed to hers. As a result, this president tries to give her no substantial role in government, other than to perform her role as a constitutional successor, or as president-in-waiting which is not really much based on our political history. Not satisfied with her role as a do-nothing public servant and despite limited resources, her office has implemented anti-poverty programs to address the needs of poor families on education, food security, rural development, women empowerment, universal healthcare, and housing. As a leader of the opposition, she minces no words in calling out the president whenever she perceives that the policies of the government are anti-poor and anti-Filipino. We all know her as Vice President Leni Robredo. Do not be deceived by her simple looks because underneath is a strong-willed and principled character. Let us all support her!
A scion of a powerful family who distinguished itself in business, she used her family’s wealth and connections to become a dedicated environmentalist and philanthropist. Her environmental advocacies made deep impact in various communities. Some of her programs include Bantay Bata 163, the country’s first media-based hotline, Bantay Kalikasan, spearheaded the rehabilitation of the Pasig River and nearby urban streams through the Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig project and Save Palawan Movement for a petition for protection of key biodiversity areas and against mining. When Gina Lopez was appointed environment secretary, I supported that, writing: “While I personally believe that responsible mining is doable, its principal enabling condition is strong environmental governance. She will assure us that the government will always be on the side of planet and people; she will require the highest standards of performance from her own colleagues in government and from the private sector. If such standards were followed, then indeed only mining consistent with sustainable development will be operating in the Philippines.” Earlier this week, she succumbed to brain cancer, leaving our world and country with the certainty that she gave us more than what she took—the ultimate compliment for a life well-lived. Her name is Gina Lopez. We mourn her but we promise to continue her work for people and planet. Ma’am Gina, fly and be forever free!
Finally, we have a feisty and intelligent woman senator. She is now in detention after being accused of masterminding the traffic of drugs inside the national penitentiary although there is no evidence to substantiate the charges. Because she tried to investigate then Mayor Duterte for his involvement in the extrajudicial killings in Davao City, she earned the ire of the President who vowed to pursue her until she is destroyed. Even in jail, she remains an implacable critic of the Duterte administration. Her unrelenting quest for the truth and justice has caused her to suffer so much humiliation, indignity and persecution. They do not release her even when there is no basis for detaining her but they are eager to free a convicted rapist and murderer and many drug lords distorting a law that was meant to benefit people who have truly changed.
As I have written before, the United Nations has chronicled how her rights, as a detainee and accused, were and are being violated. According to the UN Working Group, the evidence and charges against this senator were manufactured and fabricated upon the orders from the highest official of the land. Worse, according to the UN Working Group opinion following the President’s orders, the Secretary of Justice pronounced her guilt in public even before any formal government investigation had been conducted against her. But despite strong evidence that her right to a fair trial has been violated, and the calls by local and international organizations for her release, the Duterte administration refuses to budge and release her from detention.
She is Leila de Lima, a senator of the Republic, the most prominent political detainee of the Duterte regime, heroine of our times. Together, loudly, let us shout until even those in the heavens hear us: Free Leila! Free Leila now!
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