Election...Women Vote...My perspective Plus TV

I was just informed that I am included Saturday, May 11 and the panel interview will be done on May 13^th, 4pm to 6pm, supposedly the panel will include Prof. Ramon Casiple, political analyst and Jonathan Ong, communication expert and myself. On the day it self, Mr. Casiple, myself and Ms. Arizza Dizon, Social Media Analyst sat with CNN anchor Ruth Cabal and Menchu Macapagal.

 

The discussion revolves around WOMEN VOTES since according to the registry of voters 51% are women. Total registered voters from Comelec data is said to be 61,843,750. The numbers are just numbers of statistics. We can all surmise that these are strong numbers if you are able to get them all to vote for you. But how many women candidates are voted by women voters? RUTH CABAL said last election about 19% of that strong women voters voted for women candidates. It speaks therefore loud and clear, women may have the number of votes but it shall not translate to actual votes. And why is that? Women vary in opinion and priority; we still lack the education to back it up. Informed decision can only happen if you give them the education.

The panel can spew numbers; their own belief on why women vote is stronger than most but it does not speak what the women do in hard core reality. Distorted reality is that women will vote for women because they are assumed to vote for the same gender. The reality is even if the last election is national, women shall vote for what their local politicians dictate them to vote for. That is the reality. This does not have to do with gender votes. It has something to do with how women are treated in our society. We are still patriarchal and most women do not have the resources to say otherwise. We can argue that there is women empowerment in place and that there is gender equality, but it does not state the women economic empowerment.

I ask this yesterday and I did not get an answer either from the two women I am with in the studio. Would they think a mother will vote for who they prefer, in this case a women candidate over what the Baranggay Captain asks them to vote for? Simply put if a local politicians especially those in a poverty trodden community treats mothers in his community properly, he can be assured that whoever he endorses for the next national election will get the women vote. And that is the terrifying truth. Mothers can account for 75% of those 51% women voters. And those mothers are located below poverty line. This is not therefore a question of how strong the women vote can be, but the realization that women are strong in numbers but weak in preferences because of economic oppression.

Once you gave women those in poverty line and those who cannot decide for themselves and those that need to break the shackles of religious bigotry a chance to speak for themselves then we can say truly there is WOMEN EMPOWERMENT. Let’s not dupe ourselves that all women are empowered, yeah city women, educated women yes these are the empowered ones. But look around you and visit your ground roots then and only then you will realize that ALL WOMEN ARE NOT EMPOWERED.

Laws for women drafted by men are all abundant but does this translate to the total women’s right? I doubt it. When those in the city gets to tell me that the women’s equal rights are practiced in as far flung areas as it could or that all these laws in place are enforced in all areas/communities then and only then I shall accept that WOMEN ARE EMPOWERED. The laws are not the problem. The proper enforcement of the law for women should be observed and then women can appreciate what the law has for them.

So what’s next for me after CNN? A realization that TV has a different perspective of what reality is. What is my take on the MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT? Women voters need to be educated and empowered. I will take what I have learned and utilize it to further the cause of WOMEN EDUCATION in the far flung barrio. Being humanist should not stop me from being an educator.  A power of one multiplied can create a thousand mini ripples than can turn into successive waves. Imagine one of me influencing 10 girls and those girls can become an EMPOWERED WOMEN someday. It can happen. We live not for the present but for the future. Be humane at all times and so all shall be HUMANIST eventually.

Who to vote, "Election 2019"

 

I haven’t thought of writing about how a person like me can influence a vote but hey just try to see it in a perspective of a non-partisan voter.

See, my votes have always been influenced by personal connection and or knowing the advocacy of a party. Even if you check my post, I only endorse political aspirants that are known to me or have at least touched a life that is closest to me. Atty. Arellano, he is a mentor, he does not have to ask me but I will definitely take a cudgel for a guy like him, up close and personal he does not ask for money. Pay by giving mangoes and native chicken that’s all good, that is why he is fondly called “CHIEF” in LAWIN Office. Atty. Chel Diokno, he is an advocate of human rights, do I have to say more about a guy who represented against all odds for twenty freaking years (check the story of Reynaldo Davila) a case that nobody even wanted to take? Mar Roxas when others will forsake him because he stood up for a friend that seems to make one bad decision to another (whom I do not like personally). For party list hands downs it should be KABATAAN party list. I really hope though that they will not be easily influenced or be eaten by a system that is so rotten to the core. This is a party list that has been advocating for the youth, and is represented by a very astute and driven young lady, Sarah Elago, who happens to advocate for Filipino Culture through dance and politics.

It is really crazy and scary how people would be interested with a negative attribute than the positive. If you search their names, tendency is their name shall be associated with far leftist, socialism, NPA or very cruel negative stories written by paid journalist, or what we call image consultants!!!

In my class, I am very careful albeit opinionated on views regarding politics in general and issues relating to world economics but it does not necessarily take away that chance that I can influence people to my way of thinking.

Being in authority, gives you that responsibility to influence correctly. When I am personally asks who to vote then I say who it is and encouraged people to be smart and discerning who to vote.

I am saddened actually that others think I am a lawless person or advocating lawlessness because of how I think and how I defend certain type of political aspirants. Again, just because I can converse very well in our language, Filipino at hindi maging pangkal sa pagmungkahi ng angkop ako ay kagyat na isang suwail sa batas na mamayan . I made it a point to study my native tongue because I came from a family of advocates who believed that we should have our own national language to strengthen our nationalistic identity since we have 8 major regional dialects and about 185 ethno dialects spoken in about 7000 ++++ islands.

Image consultants and paid journalist will say otherwise, but just because it is written in blogs and broadsheets it doesn’t mean it is true. Just because we are advocates of human rights, equal rights and education does not make us members of New People’s Army (I do not believe in armed conflict), Red Army (Socialism does not have color, it was just attributed it to a color for political gain) and most definitely not a terrorist (again I do not tolerate physically hurting innocent people for political gain).

Politics and religion are two topics I veer away from because I have personal advocacy’s that I fight for. I am a humanist, meaning I take humane treatment of everything everyone to the core of my being. I am not a politician that will care for a community so that I can gain from them and be famous. I have been living under a rock for quite some time (prefers that way) and I can always go back so that we can flourish without being noticed. Nor am I a religious fanatic that will bend the people to my way of thought and pray my prayers. Empathy and respect is part of being a humanist. Maybe others are still learning as evolution is constantly changing. Or maybe others have not evolved yet and has not reached the humanist stage.

I asked the Tindog Representative to help me campaign for Chief Are

He is mentoring me, our first case of learning is Michael White, the American tourist victimize by the Tanim Bala issue in NAIA

Aloha Eigo

 

The invitation to partake in an organized trip to interview and award the sponsorships of student fund for school year 2019 to 2020 by the aloha.org  was such a delight as I wanted to know more about the people from ground zero of the last Ompong (Manghut) disaster. Itogon, Benguet have always been known to be a mining area, so landslide occurrence is not a surprise.

The Benguet Volunteers

I was at the Clark International Airport at around 4:45pm looking at the wrong area J then I met Tempi Raziel and Hiromi Takahashi at around 5:30 pm where most Filipino would wait for their relatives, did not expect them to be there J then we rode the bus heading for Baguio City, it was not an easy travel but hey we arrived safely in Baguio City at around past midnight, hailed a Grab taxi bound for # 17 Pointsettia St., Monterrazaz, Tuding, Itogon, Benguet. The home of the Benguet Volunteers from February 21 to March 1, 2019. After meeting the caretaker, DenDen Magpilly our next team mate arrived past 2am. Now we are complete.

Our destination

 alejo n. pacalso national highschool is located in bua, itogon, benguet, this is the only public school in the area and most children of the miners came here to study. As it is a mining area, migrant local miners came to get their hand on the Baguio silver and gold that the area has been known for. The school was the brainchild and the namesake  of the then Mayor Alejo N. Pacalso circa 1978. His family donated the area with the initial intention as a vocational collegiate school but was not given the accreditation as Bua, Itogon, Benguet is about forty minutes to Baguio City where most city colleges are located.

Mt Province is pre-dominantly IGOROT, and it is to my understanding that the indigenous community takes pride in being self-sufficient and very industrious people. Self-sufficiency has always been the trade mark of the IGOROTs but the recent events led them to be more receptive and less sceptical with outsiders. The landslide in Ucab, Itogon, Benguet is the location of the ground zero due to incessant rain of Ompong.

Ground Zero in Ucab, Itogon, Benguet is located in the center between two adjoining mountain so no wonder that most people have died during the landslide, whereas the Alejo N. Pacalso National Highschool is strategically located on top of a steep hill in Bua, Itogon, Benguet.

Going to school alone takes a lot of hard work and patience, as most of city dwellers will not understand that some children need to go to the city so that they can go home in the next town. Imagine a straight line, you are already in Point B but you have to go back to Point A so you can eat at Point C. Kudos to the resiliency of these children.  I take pride in myself that I do a lot of mountaineering in Central Luzon, but dang, a few days of uphill/downhill walk in Mt. Province just proved that the oxygen in that area is a lot thinner than what I am used to.

The Program

All I know is that I have to accompany guest from aloha.org, one American and one Japanese to validate sponsorship of the local student to their prospective sponsors.

As I am listening to the encouraging introduction of Tempi Raziel on his journey in making his project a successful one, made me realize that I am indeed lucky to participate in the project.

As he has said, he had experienced poverty and bullying but it never stopped him from making his dreams a reality. He had sent himself through school by enlisting in the army, after which he had planned to make his foundation a reality. Aloha.org is a culmination of one man’s dream to help a child go to school. His foundation started about 3 years ago helping out impoverished families in Tondo to which he ventured further and have found Benguet to be a good place for his project to take roots. He clearly has resonated, that all monies he was able to collect will all be spent with the chosen students of each sponsor. What made me admire the man was when he said, that the money he will be spending up to the last centavo is not his alone but from all the people who have believed that paying it forward is a lot better than doing nothing.

First world countries does not understand poverty as we do in the Philippines. Hence, looking for donors is not as easy as it was assumed to be. What he wanted was for the students to understand that the aim of the program is paying it forward, the program shall enable a child to study and make good with their lives but also in the hope that after the education given to them they shall also help the foundation to grow by helping the next generation in the school.

A hope was provided by aloha.org to indigent students it will be up to them to make that hope a success so that the next batch will be given a chance to succeed as well.

The task

The task is simple, we have to validate about 860 student to be included in the program. Our team leader, Tempi Raziel will video each student to introduce themselves to their probable sponsors, Hiromi Takahashi is our Japanese Teacher instructing the students on the proper enunciations of Nihongo, DenDen Magpilly and I will be the English tutors.

What we did as volunteers for aloha.org

The task was very educational. We have to divide and conquer as the saying goes. DenDen and I would switch classes to keep students occupied while the others are being prepared for the interview.

Being an inquisitive person, I have literally probed the lives of each Grade 7 to 12 students. Each student has varying hopes, dreams, stresses but all have one thing in common they are depressed over their inability to eke out a living for themselves and family. Their situation is not so different from the lowlanders, but theirs is not a choice. The natural disaster made it for them.

What impressed me the most was their ability to communicate well in English sans grammar and enunciation which made my exercises easier to deal and a lot funnier, I hope. We did converse a lot and it was as eye opening experience for me as I hope to them as well.

They did open their hearts bearing scars of a life so hard for them to fathom and yet so yearning of hope, my experiences were put to shame.

If I was asked again to comeback, and ask what continuing program will I do, I most definitely process each child so that each one of them will understand their emotions and how to face that conflict. Their scars was left with me unintentionally, I think it is what you call transference?

 

            The faculty with me, Denden Magpilly, Tempi Raziel and Hiromi Takahashi

Advocacy should not be limited to one

Sex Education and awareness is still not properly implemented. The prevalence of domestic violence has been shrugged off. People in the slums knew it existed but does not dare speak of it. The support and awareness of the plight of incest victims in the Philippines is still in its infancy and dismal in both material and legal support. Rape or sexual abuse is treated as if non-existent.

Incest in the Philippines is still taboo in discussion, even if the law have sighted several rights of women and children, the economic side of it still plays the big role in controlling the victims in speaking out. Those who are brave to speak out are either thrown out of their own homes or placed in a private care. 

Very few organizations have offered a stable place for these victims. Those that houses incest victims have very limited access to personal hygience, education and support.  Bahay Pangarap Women Center, Brgy. Tabe, Guiguinto, Bulacan is one of them. Although it is under the Diocese of Malolos, their operation is very dependent on the care and support of private individuals. Orphanages have better support than these type of havens. Some of these cases are very sensitive that children are guarded. Being active on these cases made me realize what we lack as a society being patriarchal in nature. 

Bahay Pangarap is basically a halfway house for females in crisis, it is a temporary center for women suffering from abuse. It was meant to be a temporary shelter so that the women will be self-sufficient after being rehabilitated. But from those who understands what they have gone through, with how the judicial system in the Philippines is as slow as a snail in a rat race, the girls turns into woman before she can see and attain her justice. So in the meantime, the center becomes her home instead of a half way house.

The children can stay at the center after their case is litigated but having minimal funds to support their daily needs the center is heavily dependent on private support.

For sustainability, the center are upcycling junk food wrappers to wallet and bags, sell dishwashing liquid, sews rags and create beautiful rosaries for visitors.

This is my third year of involving my Grade 5 students from Livingstone International School and making them aware that an advocacy is not one dimensional. When the care recipients from the center create new things out of the food wrappers they are helping the environment, and in return when they buy the upcycled items from the care recipient's they are helping create sustainability.

Mentoring Senior High

 Part of the services I offered is outdoor education. Outdoor education is primarily about teaching children the value of everything around them. I made sure that all the children involve in my program understand their role. The life skills they will learn when they enroll in my program are intended to create an impact with Aeta (One of the Indigenous People that lives in the Philippines) children.

The city kids are brought to the nearest community where I have been part of for years now. I have been advocating for basic literacy programs. Hopefully soon, I will find a similar minded organization that will help push for the same advocacy. In the meantime, my Senior High Students will help me bring forth change in the community.

 

PATHFINDERS our Second Year

Each one of us creates a ripple. An effect that will influence others of how we live and shall determine who we want to be in the near future. How we treat others, and the environment around us will surely affect how we live.

The PATHFNDERS  since it's formal launch have hope to influence the children toward a better understanding of relationship between self and the environment.

This school year we hope to encourage others to join us to help create a chain of change.

Class of 2017

Should education be an advocacy rather than a right?

 After ten years of my thought to empower Aeta's, is this the only way I can contribute to create change? I need to look for more people to understand why they should be educated.

I have been doing this module for sometime, maybe its time to add more 

these children are all eager to learn and so far this is what we can do at the moment

we learn however we can