Couple empowering others

I first met Atty. Alfredo F. Tadiar and Dr. Florence Macagba Tadiar at a press lunch where they advocated the use of oral contraceptives in the early ’80s. I was struck by the complementary roles the couple played. Florence, a medical doctor, talked about the social and medical dimensions of family planning, and Fred, a lawyer, about women’s rights (particularly the right to choose family planning methods) being human rights.

Since then I have joined the couple in their advocacy, although the issue had expanded from family planning to women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Always, the couple are main speakers at national and international conferences here and abroad. Two of the non-government organizations they helped organize and continue to lead are the Women’s Health Care Foundation (WHCF) which promotes women’s health and rights through clinical, counseling, information and training activities, and the Institute for Social Studies and Action (ISSA), the research and advocacy arm of WHCF.

Florence was one of the "Filipina Firsts in the Community" awarded by the Philippine American Foundation in 1998, in its Centennial Salute to Filipino Women. She was cited as "a physician-educator recognized as an outstanding leader in the international public health field whose work has built bridges between women’s health advocates and public health professionals . . . (thereby) contributing to the improvement of the status of women and girls." She is listed in the 1998 "Who’s Who in the World" (15th edition), in "Women Managers in Southeast Asia," published by the Women for Women Foundation, and in the Honor Roll of Women Activists around the world which was presented in June 2000 at the UN Beijing+5 conference in New York. She has been praised for her collaboration in a Control of HIV/AIDS/STD partnership project in the Asia region.

Because of her work for women’s health and rights, her hometown, San Fernando, La Union, gave her in 2001 the "Pagwadan Award," the highest award given by the city. Kalakasan, an NGO working on violence against women, also gave her its "Gabay" award. In October 2004, she was a national awardee for Gender Equality and Reproductive Health and Rights during the 10th anniversary celebration of the International Conference on Population and Development in Manila. Sigma Delta Phi, the Philippines’ oldest sorority of which she became a member in 1952 at the University of the Philippines, named her a Sister Achiever in April 2005.

Fred is chair of ISSA and director of WHCF. He is a recognized leader in his other involvements. He is chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Department at the Philippine Judicial Academy (PJA). He pioneered the Pilot Testing Court-Diversion of pending cases for mediation in 1991 and initiated an empirical research on the efficacy of ADR, a study funded by the Asia Foundation. For his accomplishments, he was cited by Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr., as the "Father of ADR in the Philippines."

In 1996, Prof. Alfredo F. Tadiar was appointed chair of the National Amnesty Commission (NAC), and prior to that, he headed a government panel constituted by then President Fidel V. Ramos to negotiate a peace agreement with the military rebels that sought to topple the Aquino Government in various coup attempts in 1993.

Fred is legal counsel of the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC), and director of the Philippine Institute of Construction Arbitrators.

He has been involved in construction arbitration since 1991, and has rendered the most number of decisions/awards (over 115 cases) among those accredited for said profession, including those with the largest sums in dispute and the most complex. He has set the record for speed of resolution and has not been reversed by an appellate court. His wide experience in construction arbitration includes projects related to high-rise construction, infrastructure, power generation, architectural and interior design mass housing, and many others.

Although retired as a UP law professor, Fred, considered a reformer and an unorthodox lawyer, continues to be active in law practice, arbitration and mediation. He has presented many papers on various aspects of construction arbitration and has trained several groups of arbitrators.

Fred and Florence are children of close friends, who were leaders of the Protestant church in San Fernando, and considered pioneers, reformists, and non-conformists. Fred’s parents were among the first teachers educated by Americans; his father was the first principal of the town, and was a freemason against the wishes of his father.

Florence’s parents, on the other hand, were among the first doctors of La Union. Her father returned from the United States after he finished his medical degree which he acquired while working as a houseboy and cook. He married the first woman doctor of Ilocos against her father’s wishes.

Fred and Florence attended the same church in San Fernando, but had different groups of friends. They met again in Silliman University in Dumaguete when he was studying law, and she was in high school. Florence recalls that they were "worlds apart, although I often ate at his boarding house because my brother stayed there."

They saw each other again in Manila during her brother’s wedding when he was already a lawyer and was the best man and she (a medical student at the UP) was a bridesmaid. He had insisted that they pair off. They would see each other on various occasions, and at one time, she teased him, "You’re so old na, why don’t you get married?" His answer: "Tayo na lang." (He’s five years older than Florence.)

The joking turned serious. After her graduation, she was preparing to leave for the US, and Fred suddenly popped the question. Flo instantly dropped her travel plans; she was following in the footsteps of her mother, a medical doctor, who had decided not to leave for the US to marry Flo’s father. They tied the knot in 1961.

She practiced medicine in San Fernando, her focus women and children. He was the municipal judge, and he sent couples who wanted to get married in his court to Florence’s clinic for marriage counseling and medical advice.

The couple received scholarship grants to study, she at the Harvard School of Health, and at Boston University and Harvard Law School. Florence would later train at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, then in London, and the UP College of Public Health for two masters degrees, one in public health and another in hospital administration. He joined the UP College of Law upon the invitation of Dean Irene Cortez, who was impressed by his article in a law journal based on her Masteral thesis at Harvard.

Florence, who will turn 70 this year, looks at her life with Fred as a relationship of giving and sharing. "We exchange, share ideas and knowledge of our respective professions and fields of expertise. Fred speaks on medical issues (e.g., on legal and ethical aspects of human cloning in Geneva as a World Health Organization short-term consultant), and I get invited to talk about family law, sexual and reproductive rights to various groups."

Florence says, "We’re happily married. We both agree that divorce should be legal in the Philippines so that only those who stay in love and are happy should continue to be legally bound to each other. We may argue and have difference of opinion, but in the end, we do not allow our independent thinking to affect our love for each other, which has grown deeper and stronger through 45 years. We respect and value each other’s ideas and suggestions, and we’re quick to apologize and forgive whenever one gets hurt by the other."

The Tadiars have six children – Gino, Thea, Neferti, Luna, Aisha, and Carlo – all successful professionals, some of them living and working abroad.

Florence is in Bangkok for a consultation, and Fred is at home. But I can hear Florence say, "We’re together on this day of days, even if we’re miles away from each other."

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