Yes, the best men here are the women!
August 15, 2004 | 12:00am
The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women is going through great lengths to protect women’s rights and prepare for the centennial celebration of women next year. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has declared 2005 as the Centennial Year of the Feminist Movement to honor women’s achievements in the fields of agriculture, health, labor, business, social work, politics, environment.
The first formal women’s organization was founded in 1905 by Concepcion Felix and was called Asociacion de Feminista Filipina. To understand the feminist movement it is best to refer to the poet, editor and author Tarrosa Subido in her 1955 A Golden Book on the feminist movement in the Philippines.
Being with women is always a learning experience. This time Ana Leah Sarabia, granddaughter of Justice Natividad Almeda Lopez, first introduced me to her grandmother’s legacy circa 1907 as a member of the Feminista Filipina and a social worker engaged in La Gota de Leche – meaning "just a drop of milk," a feeding program for the children.
Let’s go back to 1905 when women organized themselves into civic groups and focused their energies on economic, social and eventually political thoughts. Forming that organization were Concepcion Felix Rodriguez, Maria de Villamor, Paz Natividad Zulueta, Bonifacia Barreto, Clemencia Lopez, Sofia Reyes, Trinidad Rizal (sister of Jose Rizal), Agueda and Jacoba Paterno (sisters of Don Pedro A. Paterno), Librada Avelino and Carmen Luna, Maria Arevalo and Maria Francisco.
As Mrs. Subido pointed out, the Asociacion Feminista Filipina had several objectives. Firstly, prison reforms on behalf of women and minors. Second, visits to shops and factories employing women and minors to oversee labor laws, which surely Commissioner Myrna Lao would have advocated as she acquaints women in livelihood programs through the Local Council of Women. Educational reforms were included such as conferences for women. Wow, Amelou Benitez Reyes, foremost woman leader for gender development, would have loved to live during that era for just one reason – education. Everyone knows she is of the Benitez clan of Philippine Women’s University engaged in community education and improving teachers’ training programs.
Moral campaigns were pursued in schools and factories as projects for the anti-vice drive against prostitution, gambling and drinking. Not of the least priority was the appointment of women to municipal and provincial boards of education, and municipal and provincial electoral precincts with the need to create committees to inspect municipalities.
Eventually their focus was the feeding program, through milk stations, which provided infants with pasteurized milk, education for the mothers on maternal and infant care that reduced the high infant mortality rate. That project gained tremendous ground that in February 1907 La Proteccion de la Infancia was incorporated to carry out chiefly the La Gota de Leche project of the feministas. Its members were the same active ladies as the Asociacion but with male directors. The women of La Proteccion de la Infancia worked at their headquarters, appealed to prospective patrons and issued press propaganda. Things just haven’t changed. We solicit for funds and know the value of propaganda in the dailies. The pursuit to give continued service because of tradition made La Gota de Leche such an outstanding program that today the program is capable of feeding 500 children a month in the hopes of hitting a Department of Health target weight for kids by age five. There are so many more kids to feed but it is only one child per family that Gota can satisfy with their budget.
Filipino women in 1910 found new channels of social service in the Anti-Tuberculosis Society and La Liga Nacional Filipina para la Proteccion de la Primera Infancia. Their aim was to combat tuberculosis through education and dispensary work and by 1912, the Society for the Advancement of Women came into being for additional social services. Within the same year, the society changed its name to Women’s Club of Manila. Right from the beginning, the Women’s Club of Manila adopted an earnest program of securing teachers for the insane women in San Lazaro Hospital. They also worked for the segregation of women prisoners from the old men’s Bilibid compound to the Correctional Institution for Women and a livelihood program for women prisoners after their release. They also convinced the government to appoint police matrons for women-detainees at the police station to protect women’s rights. Other programs for women included the establishment of day nurseries for working mothers, which we have now at the Department of Interior and Local Government. Also indigent women who worked for the National Food Production campaign were provided legal aid, given assistance to secure garbage incinerators for the City of Manila, and campaigned for Christmas gifts for the poor. Ninety-two years later, the same projects are still being advocated with women like Narda Camacho, the initiator for the centennial of the feminist movement in the Philippines and the campaign for a clean environment.
Eventually, the Women’s Club of Manila federated all existing women’s clubs and became what is now known as the National Federation of Women’s Club of 1921 that Leonarda Camacho now heads.
The National Federation of Women’s Clubs influenced adult education, women and child labor reforms, curriculum revision, teachers’ pension, rural credit associations, nutrition education, home extension services, public playgrounds. Other projects adopted in time by the government can all be traced back to the initiative of the National Federation of Women’s Club and its member-clubs.
A valued invitation brought me to Sampaloc in an elegant, antiseptic clean white structure dating back to 1915 designed by architect Arcadio Arellano. This is where Ana Leah Sarabia holds office. I was welcomed by women’s voices either deciding, disagreeing or agreeing amid laughter. Former Senator Leticia Shahani, outstanding advocator for women’s role and rights in the Philippine society, chairs the steering committee that had concluded with the theme "Celebrating the Past, Inspiring the Future" for the centennial. President Manuel Roxas once said, "I shall give women all the opportunities to improve themselves and to assume positions in our government." This is exactly what President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants to accomplish. While in a tour of duty in the Philippines, General Leonard Wood had only good words for the Filipina saying, "The best men here are the women. When I want a job done efficiently and honestly I call on a woman."
I want to thank my children Jojo and Pin Guingona for the computerized pictures. Thank goodness I have Jonathan Best’s photos in his book entitled A Philippine Album dedicated to the younger brother of my father Geronimo Berenguer de los Reyes Jr.
The first formal women’s organization was founded in 1905 by Concepcion Felix and was called Asociacion de Feminista Filipina. To understand the feminist movement it is best to refer to the poet, editor and author Tarrosa Subido in her 1955 A Golden Book on the feminist movement in the Philippines.
Being with women is always a learning experience. This time Ana Leah Sarabia, granddaughter of Justice Natividad Almeda Lopez, first introduced me to her grandmother’s legacy circa 1907 as a member of the Feminista Filipina and a social worker engaged in La Gota de Leche – meaning "just a drop of milk," a feeding program for the children.
As Mrs. Subido pointed out, the Asociacion Feminista Filipina had several objectives. Firstly, prison reforms on behalf of women and minors. Second, visits to shops and factories employing women and minors to oversee labor laws, which surely Commissioner Myrna Lao would have advocated as she acquaints women in livelihood programs through the Local Council of Women. Educational reforms were included such as conferences for women. Wow, Amelou Benitez Reyes, foremost woman leader for gender development, would have loved to live during that era for just one reason – education. Everyone knows she is of the Benitez clan of Philippine Women’s University engaged in community education and improving teachers’ training programs.
Moral campaigns were pursued in schools and factories as projects for the anti-vice drive against prostitution, gambling and drinking. Not of the least priority was the appointment of women to municipal and provincial boards of education, and municipal and provincial electoral precincts with the need to create committees to inspect municipalities.
Filipino women in 1910 found new channels of social service in the Anti-Tuberculosis Society and La Liga Nacional Filipina para la Proteccion de la Primera Infancia. Their aim was to combat tuberculosis through education and dispensary work and by 1912, the Society for the Advancement of Women came into being for additional social services. Within the same year, the society changed its name to Women’s Club of Manila. Right from the beginning, the Women’s Club of Manila adopted an earnest program of securing teachers for the insane women in San Lazaro Hospital. They also worked for the segregation of women prisoners from the old men’s Bilibid compound to the Correctional Institution for Women and a livelihood program for women prisoners after their release. They also convinced the government to appoint police matrons for women-detainees at the police station to protect women’s rights. Other programs for women included the establishment of day nurseries for working mothers, which we have now at the Department of Interior and Local Government. Also indigent women who worked for the National Food Production campaign were provided legal aid, given assistance to secure garbage incinerators for the City of Manila, and campaigned for Christmas gifts for the poor. Ninety-two years later, the same projects are still being advocated with women like Narda Camacho, the initiator for the centennial of the feminist movement in the Philippines and the campaign for a clean environment.
Eventually, the Women’s Club of Manila federated all existing women’s clubs and became what is now known as the National Federation of Women’s Club of 1921 that Leonarda Camacho now heads.
The National Federation of Women’s Clubs influenced adult education, women and child labor reforms, curriculum revision, teachers’ pension, rural credit associations, nutrition education, home extension services, public playgrounds. Other projects adopted in time by the government can all be traced back to the initiative of the National Federation of Women’s Club and its member-clubs.
BrandSpace Articles
<
>