The future of feminism

The future of feminism


Posted 00:46am (Mla time) Mar 13, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the March 13, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


NEW YORK--It was their turn to speak. In a panel discussion -- "Future perspectives on the promotion of gender equality: Through the eyes of young women and men" -- young adults from around the world, representing various constituencies, spoke on ways to bring the fruits of the gender revolution to work on changing the future of today's boys and girls.

In previous days, the delegates and observers to the UN "Beijing + 10 Review" meeting gnashed their teeth in frustration over unnecessary delays in just affirming and recommitting to the consensus achieved at the Beijing Conference on Women in 1995. But the young people's plenary seemed more imbued with hope and optimism.

As one panel member, Thai college student Ingrid Tharasook, asserted: "It is a glorious thing to be young and feminist. In my right hand, I hold the bitter, almost stoic awareness of the gender inequality which most adults I know, numbed by years of sexist injustices, have come to terms with. But my left grasps a very firm grip of childhood naivet‚, the kind which believes with wholehearted genuineness that I can change the world. It is my left hand that speaks to you today."

But while Tharasook-who spoke of her experience as a child of diplomats, growing up in both the capitals of the most developed countries in the world and far-flung outposts in poor and developing nations-was filled with optimism and burning with fervor to carry the torch of feminism forward, other panel members chose to focus on areas where feminism's promise has yet to have an impact.


* * *

CATALINA Devandas Aguilar, a young lawyer from Costa Rica, spoke in behalf of young women with disability, who she says suffer from "systematic social exclusion." She chided the organizers for the absence of a ramp leading to the podium, of materials in Braille, and even of a sign language interpreter in consideration of disabled participants.

Young women with disabilities, she said, suffer from "double discrimination," from being disabled and being young.

"As girls with disabilities, we are seen as fragile and helpless, excluded from taking part in social and athletic activities," Devandas noted. In the same way that they have been "labeled" because of their physical disability, they are also overlooked as sexual beings in need of education and services. "We hardly have any sex education and are not warned about our risk of, for example, being infected with HIV."

But even as their sexuality is ignored, it is also tightly repressed. Devandas spoke of instances where young women with disabilities, especially those with learning disabilities, have been coerced into undergoing forced sterilization, on the mistaken notion that they have no capability to raise children or that they have a "duty" not to pass on their disabilities.


* * *

A "NEW" frontier in gender studies, that of "engaging with young men and boys," was discussed by Australian academic Michael Flood. "If we are to build gender-equality, we need to involve boys and men," he declared. In this area of gender studies, he said, "we already know what works and what does not."

Successful approaches, Flood said, need to be "comprehensive; intensive, that is, interactive and sustained; relevant to its audience; and imparting positive messages."

While there is need, said Flood, to "minimize the reaction of defensiveness" among the young men who are being asked to challenge the structures that have long worked in their favor, those working with them also need to "undermine the powerful constructs of masculinities and sexuality."

Among the most effective approaches, said the gender studies researcher, is working with peer group counselors, who can reach the young men and boys "where they are," on the streets, youth clubs, in schools and within gangs and other sub-cultures, and who also speak their language and share their experiences.

During the interventions, a delegate from Jamaica wanted to know from Flood what he would say to men who maintain that in "deconstructing masculinity," women really want "to turn men into wimps." What he would say, said Flood, would be that "the traditional men's role is no longer sustainable, that they are damaging and limiting for both women and men, and that it is men's interest to support the social changes that have been taking place in the last three decades."


* * *

THE OTHER speakers in the panel sought to point the way for the future of gender equality struggles.

Felicidad Martinez Solano, a member of an indigenous people in the Amazon area, spoke of the need to open discussion on the "system of social inequalities" that bedevils indigenous young women.

Edford Mutuma, from Zambia, declared that "culture and tradition should not be used to violate the rights of young women and men."

Frida Ohlsson, an officer of Sweden's Council of Young People, shared her experience in developing a research tool for measuring the inequalities between young men and women. The "tool" was quite simple, a way of tracking the participation of young men and women in group discussions. Using the statistics they gathered on how young men tended to dominate both the time and the flow of group discussions, said Ohlsson, their group was able to find an opening to a deeper discussion of how power is differently enjoyed and applied by young people of different genders.

Part of the "backlash" against feminism, it is said, is the indifference of young women and men to issues of equality, having taken for granted all the advantages they now enjoy. But if the words of the young panel speakers are anything to go by, the struggle for gender equality lives on, and it has found new soldiers with new weapons.

'Upskirting' is latest form of violence vs women

'Upskirting' is latest form of violence vs women


Posted 11:49pm (Mla time) Mar 11, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the March 12, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


NEW YORK -- It's called "upskirting." And it's the latest form of sexual exploitation, voyeurism, commercialization and even violence being directed against women these days.

As a segment on the "Today" show explains, "upskirting" is carried out by sickos who carry portable video cameras in bags, then stand very close to unknowing women wearing skirts, filming the "view" the camera captures. Filming women's thighs and underwear is bad enough, but the voyeurs have found another sickening use for information technology, broadcasting their footage on the Internet (there are apparently "upskirting" sites) and even through cell phones.

Really, these days, thanks to new technology, there are seemingly no limits to the imagination and creativity of the world's perverts and sexual predators.

Which is why discussions in the ongoing review of the Beijing Platform for Action, formulated a decade ago, often seems to be nothing more than rearguard action. Even as delegations debate new resolutions on violence against women and the trafficking for sexual purposes of women and girls, new forms of violence and exploitation, such as "upskirting," are being developed and popularized.

And yet, governments around the world are only now recognizing trafficking as a form of violence and exploitation. Only lately have governments of both "sending" countries (such as the Philippines) and "receiving" countries seen fit to coordinate their efforts to quell the global trade in women and girls, to enact laws that punish not only the women who cross borders and perhaps break immigration laws, but more appropriately the men who profit from the trade.

* * *

ONE of the more controversial resolutions in this "Beijing+10" Review is that authored by the United States entitled, "Reducing the demand for trafficked women and girls." The resolution seeks to curb trafficking by focusing on what's known as the "demand side" -- targeting sex tourism and prostitution.

Other delegations, especially the European Union and NGOs advocating for women's human rights, have raised objections to this resolution, saying it "links trafficking to prostitution, which is the wrong way to approach the problem."

The Women, Environment and Development Organization (Wedo) declared that "we do not want women to be punished and the reason why they engage in such activities has to do with poverty issues and empowerment, and countries should first look into these factors."

For its part, the Philippines, which has taken the lead in advocating on the issue of trafficking in the UN, has just managed to have a comprehensive resolution on global cooperation on trafficking in the General Assembly. The task facing the delegation, therefore, is how to wed this comprehensive resolution with the new one being introduced by the US.

* * *

AMBASSADOR to the United Nations Lauro Baja hosted members of the Philippine delegation for dinner at his residence Monday. Part of the appeal was certainly the fact that the residence is in a townhouse that was bought by Imelda Marcos, made notorious by video clips of the raucous parties held at the in-house disco.

Though showing signs of age, the residence is still quite an impressive place, retaining signs of Imeldific opulence. But the Bajas have also furnished the residence with Philippine-made furniture, art and accessories that appear right at home amid the elegant surroundings. Only four floors (including a basement) are currently in use right now, since we're told that the government can ill-afford to rehabilitate the top three floors.

Even without a disco, though, the ambassador has installed even more effective technology for oiling the social gears of diplomacy. After a buffet dinner of well-loved Filipino favorites, we went down to the basement for coffee and karaoke. When he entertains the other UN delegations, he said, a karaoke session always ensures that the evening ends on a high note.

* * *

WORK at the UN mission has been particularly hectic since the Philippines became a member of the Security Council. Indeed, a senior official said "about 90 percent" of the mission's workload these days has to do with Security Council affairs. Perhaps the heavy demands on his staff is one reason Ambassador Baja requested that the majority of his staff be composed of younger and relatively "junior" members of the diplomatic service. A member of our delegation, who had occasion to work with UN missions over the last decade or so, attests to the energy and conscientiousness of the mission staff this time around.

A member of the Philippine delegation is Cleofe Natividad, gender and development coordinator for the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was she who guided the delegation members through the steps involved in negotiations in an international conference such as this "Beijing + 10" Review.

Coordinating matters between the mission and the delegation is Ivy Banzon, a young foreign service officer, who has impressed everyone with her intimate knowledge of the issues under discussion and her ability to summarize talking points.

Of course, the support the mission has lent the delegation was made possible only because of the support rendered by the ambassador himself, who impressed everyone early on when he not only took part in a forum on women in conflict situations, but also stayed on to take questions at the open forum.

I should also mention that the current chair of the UN body monitoring compliance of governments with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) is retired Ambassador Rosario Manalo, who has been one of the country's leading lights in the international women's movement.

Faces of women in the tsunami

Faces of women in the tsunami


Posted 01:57am (Mla time) Mar 11, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the March 11, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


NEW YORK -- The major initiative of the Philippine delegation to the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which is reviewing governments' compliance with the Beijing Platform for Action, is a proposed resolution calling for "integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation efforts, particularly in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster."

In her statement read at the high-level plenary Monday, delegation co-chair Mely Nicolas, who is also secretary general and lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), expounded on the rationale for such a resolution.

"The Philippines has had its share of natural disasters and thus can empathize with our neighbors regarding the horror caused by the devastating tsunami," said Nicolas. "While we offer our prayers and support to the victims, we strongly urge that all relief, recovery and long-term reconstruction efforts be imbued with a gender perspective that protects women and children, who make up the majority of the victims, from further violence and abuse, that they be allowed to participate actively in the decisions and actions that determine their future."

As of this writing, many country delegations had already expressed willingness to either co-sponsor or support the Philippine initiative, one of them being Thailand, which as everyone knows was one of the countries heavily affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

* * *

PUTTING a "human face" to the tsunami disaster was a panel discussion of women involved in post-tsunami relief and rehabilitation efforts, sponsored by the UN Fund for Population, with resource persons from Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and Aceh in Indonesia.

Debra Yatin, who is Unifem gender advisor for relief and recovery efforts in Aceh, pointed out that the disaster has had "different impacts on men and women." Culture and socialization played a big part in making women and girls particularly vulnerable, she said. In a conservative Islamic society, said Yatin, girls are "not encouraged to engage in physical activity." Thus, many of those killed by the huge waves were women and girls who didn't know how to swim or even how to climb trees. But even if they were fortunate enough to survive the water, so many women, said Yatin, were seen "running back to the water to look for babies, the aged and the disabled members of the family."

In the wake of the disaster, when time came to count the number of fatalities, the gender dimension of the crisis came out in stark relief. Yatin cites the count in one district which had 5,500 inhabitants before the tsunami struck, and only 750 survivors afterwards. But of these, only 40 were women and girls.

Other factors contributed to this lopsided death toll. "The tsunami struck on a Sunday," said Yatin, "so most of the women and children were left at home while the men were out in the coffee shops. Thus, when the waves struck, the men were able to help each other while the women and children were isolated at home, without recourse to rescue."

* * *

ABOUT the most heart-rending aspect of the tragedy in Aceh, said Yatin, were the judgments rendered on those who perished.

The women victims, pointed out Yatin, were dressed mostly in dresses and saris of flimsy material that could easily be torn off their bodies. Thus, in the aftermath of the tsunami, "many of the bodies of women that were found on the ground up to weeks afterward were naked."

Muslim clerics later preached that the tsunami was an "act of God," with some pointing out that it was a punishment on women who were wearing "loose clothing." These conservative clerics then began to fulminate on their view of "woman as the original sinner who brings tragedy down upon society."

The injustice applied even long after the disaster. Women, said Yatin, "were out of the radar screen of relief efforts."

To reach women and address their specific needs, relief efforts "need to focus on the nature of women" in a particular setting. For instance, while spiritual solace would go a long way towards easing the trauma of the disaster, many women feel they cannot properly pray unless they are in "prayer clothes," special white robes that need to be primarily clean. "But many of the survivors have only one set of clothes, and they cannot even get them to be clean enough for praying," said Yatin.

* * *

A SPEAKER from Thailand, representing the community of Burmese migrants, many of whom died in the tsunami, pointed out the need to count as well minority populations who have remained invisible to authorities and to the international community.

Of the more than 1.8 million migrants from Burma in Thailand, more than 25,000 of them were living and working in the tsunami-affected areas, she said. But only about 18 percent of them are registered, with the majority keeping a low profile in an attempt to evade being traced by authorities.

"There has been no news about the migrants in the tsunami," the speaker said. "There is no system (in place) to identify and help the migrant victims," she added. In most cases, the fear is justified, for migrants who surface to avail themselves of relief and rehabilitation are often arrested on the spot.

"It's as if there's another disaster in the aftermath of the tsunami," noted the migrant representative.

As these accounts prove, relief and rehabilitation efforts are not "one size fits all," for not only do men and women and children have different and unique needs, their needs may also vary according to circumstance and culture. A measure such as the Philippine initiative would certainly go a long way toward giving women the help they really need as they start to rebuild their lives after the tsunami.

Ten years after

Ten years after


Posted 05:39am (Mla time) Mar 08, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the March 8, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


NEW YORK -- In 1995, at the opening and closing ceremonies for both the official meetings and the much larger NGO gathering of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing and Huairou, the organizers and the Chinese government went all out on the hype and hoopla. The rites were marked by exuberant performances of lion dancers, jugglers and tumblers, dancers in the hundreds, fireworks and, of course, the infectious energy of an estimated 30,000 women and a few men gathering to talk about and affirm women's rights, and our striving for equality, development and peace.

In fact, so heated was the enthusiasm of the participants at the Beijing Conference, perhaps the largest UN gathering to date, that they even instigated climate change. When organizers of the NGO conference inquired from their hosts if they should take precautions against rain, the Chinese assured them that "it never rains here at this time of year." Well, what do you know, almost from the start, unseasonal rains turned the grounds of the hastily established conference site into a muddy mess. "This just proves that God is a man," a friend muttered. But I chose to look at it another way: When women gather and realize their strength, the power they exude can change the weather.

Ten years later, at the UN headquarters in this city, there is little expectation of women warming the chilly air. Celebrating "Beijing + 10," the mood is more subdued and reflective, with the participants seemingly having come to terms with the fact that the bright and blazing, tantalizing promises held out 10 years ago weren't as realistic or easy to achieve. Much progress has been made, true, and there is more than enough reason to celebrate. But the road has been rocky and twisted, and for many women, strewn with nearly insurmountable obstacles.


* * *

THIS somber mood was reflected in the subdued "celebration." Instead of a huge stadium or the Great Hall of the People, the site of the global observance of the Beijing Conference's 10th anniversary was a small conference hall in the basement of the UN headquarters. (Even if the much roomier and more impressive General Assembly Hall was not being used at the time.) With the audience in the conference room limited to two delegates per country, the rest of the delegates and NGO observers had to squeeze themselves into an adjacent hall, watching the proceedings on a huge TV monitor. While adequate, the arrangements could not but give the women the feeling of estrangement from the celebration. And the suddenly humbled circumstances gave one the feeling that the world's women -- or at least the UN -- were almost apologizing for what they had done a decade ago.

Things weren't helped any by the insensitivity of the UN leadership. It was bad enough that the 10th anniversary of the landmark women's gathering had to be observed in subdued rites in a basement conference room. Rubbing salt on the women's sensitivities was the choice of moderator, a male undersecretary who heads the UN media office. As if there weren't any number of women around of enough stature and skill to preside over the celebration!


* * *

STILL, despite all these, the "Beijing + 10" observance gave women the chance to reflect, in a way which a grand celebration could not allow, on the gains achieved through decades of struggle, and what it took to bring the world to see women as the equals of men.

The theme of the observance seemed to be "retrospect," a look back at all the previous women's conferences, and speeches by the surviving secretaries-general of these past conferences. The Philippines was represented in this line-up of speakers by former Sen. Leticia Ramos Shahani, who was secretary-general of the Third World Women's Conference held in Nairobi in 1985.

In the two years that the Nairobi "Forward-Looking Strategies" were being formulated, said Shahani, "consensus was very elusive until the end." Indeed, until 10 p.m. of the day of adjournment, "no agreement was achieved among the political blocs, and when a formula for consensus was finally found, separate voting on many contentious paragraphs was demanded." There was, said Shahani, "clapping, dancing and loud rejoicing" when the document was finally adopted, with the body adjourning at four in the morning, "an unforgettable experience and perhaps one of the most exhausting yet exhilarating conclusions to a world conference."

The major divide at the Nairobi conference, noted Shahani, was between women from rich and poor countries. "Women from the North demanded: 'Why introduce politics ... when what women want are day care centers, jobs and social security?' The women from Africa replied: 'But firewood is politics; water is politics; food is politics.'"

The consensus achieved at the close of the Nairobi conference, she declared, proved that "women worldwide could be united, despite major differences, in a spirit of solidarity and commitment to fundamental freedoms. This solidarity must be strengthened after Beijing + 10."


* * *

THIS is why the divisive attempt of the US delegation to insert language on abortion in the political statement that will open the review and assessment of how governments have complied with the BPfA was resented and deemed so offensive by many delegations.

The work that lies before women at the end of the last decade is to assess how much progress was achieved after that historic meeting in Beijing, and then determine what else needs to be done not just to meet the challenges outlined in the Platform for Action, but also to truly change the lives of women worldwide. Ten years after Beijing, so much still remains to be done.

Back to the past?

Back to the past?


Posted 00:20am (Mla time) Mar 06, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the March 6, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


BY THE TIME you read this, I would be in New York as an NGO member of the Philippine delegation to the meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The meeting will review the compliance of governments around the world with the Beijing Platform of Action.

The BPFA is the document signed at the end of the Fourth World Conference of Women held in Beijing 10 years ago. That conference was considered a landmark in the decades-old struggle for women's rights and for equality with men under the law and in all spheres of life.

But 10 years after Beijing, as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned in his talk at the opening of the two-week meeting, "sex trafficking and the growth of AIDS (are) imperiling the quest for female equality."

Many governments since the 1995 Beijing women's conference have recognized that women's equality was critical to a nation's development and growth, Annan noted in his speech. Still, even as governments search for ways to make women's participation in development real and lasting, other governments, notably the United States, wish to derail this progress by insisting that the assessment focus on a single issue: abortion.

At least 100 government delegations, 80 ministers "from Afghanistan to Peru," as well as 6,000 activists, are sitting together and analyzing progress and setbacks since the Beijing meet.

A report by Reuters notes that "rather than producing a lengthy document, the organizers decided to keep controversies in check by writing a short declaration that re-affirms and pledges implementation of the 150-page platform of action."

To the dismay of key delegates, the report continues, the United States submitted amendments at a pre-conference negotiating session, declaring that the Beijing conference did not create "any new international human rights" and did not include the right to abortion.

"In Beijing, abortion was treated as a health issue, with the platform saying it should be safe where it was legal and criminal action should not be taken against women who underwent the procedure," the report said.


* * *

"ANYONE wanting to know why the rest of the world collectively shakes its head and rolls its eyes at the Bush administration's foreign policies need only look to Monday's high-level United Nations' meeting for evidence," said an editorial of the San Jose Mercury News.

"Never mind that the thrust of the UN platform isn't about abortion rights, but rather about ending discrimination against women in 12 different areas, ranging from health to education to employment. Never mind that the UN strategy on reproductive health is resulting in reduced abortion rates around the world. It's bad enough that the Bush administration continually tries to put itself in every American doctor's office whenever a woman and her physician are discussing such issues. Now it wants to impose its will on women and doctors around the world."

By its insistence on re-opening the contentious debate on abortion, the United States was "left almost entirely isolated" in the sessions, reports say. Officials who were at the meetings said only the Vatican observer supported Washington's hard line.

"This sort of statement is a clear signal to everybody present that the US does not support the Beijing agreement perspective on the human rights of women," said Adrienne German, president of the International Women's Health Coalition.

"It clearly demonstrates that this government has taken a 180-degree reversal from the US government in 1995 and 2000."


* * *

THIS was exactly what organizers had feared going into the "Beijing + 10" review process.

Instead of moving forward and exploring ways by which governments around the world can cross borders and address new and emerging threats to women's health and rights and to gender equality, the review now finds itself mired in an "old" issue, one that had been debated heatedly 10 years ago and on which, it was thought, signatory governments had reached consensus.

Once again, women are being held hostage by the issue of abortion, as if getting pregnant and making a decision to proceed with the pregnancy or to terminate it is all that women are about.

The work of the country delegations in the next few days, then, would be to get the discussions back on track, to leave ideological debates behind and instead focus on what lies ahead: to make progress where progress had been impeded in the last decade.

For the Philippines, among the emerging issues identified earlier were new and more insidious forms of trafficking of women and children, including cybersex; a more focused process of including women in rural and indigenous communities in development planning; innovative approaches to poverty alleviation; and increased mainstreaming of women in all aspects of governance.


* * *

IN HIS speech, Annan recommended "seven specific investments and policies that can be applied readily over the coming decade, on a scale large enough to make a real difference."

These are:

Strengthen girls' access to secondary as well as primary education.

Guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Invest in infrastructure to reduce women's and girls' time burdens.

Guarantee women's and girls' property and inheritance rights.

Eliminate gender inequality in employment.

Increase women's share of seats in national parliaments and local government.

Redouble efforts to combat violence against girls and women.

Not a bad start, as far as an agenda goes, but nothing really earth-shaking. These are much the same goals talked about and agreed upon 10 years ago. We could and should move forward, if only some folks weren't so intent on dragging us back to the past.

Of racists and the courts

Of racists and the courts


Posted 00:23am (Mla time) Mar 04, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the March 4, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


TEN years ago, Filipino teachers at the International School of Manila began their struggle for justice. Though couched in crass material terms (they were demanding "parity" in wages with foreign faculty members either hired abroad or locally), they were actually fighting for their dignity, for their right, and the right of all Filipinos, to be viewed and treated as the equals of anyone in the world.

I'm not being overdramatic when I say the ISM teachers were -- are -- in fact continuing the struggle waged by Jose Rizal and the Propagandists who were motivated mainly by their desire to prove themselves the equals of the Spanish colonialists. In another era, and against a different colonizer, Filipinos waged other forms of struggle against racism, forcibly knocking down race-based barriers against membership in social clubs and leisure establishments.

One would think, more than a century after these nationalist struggles were waged, and decades after the success of the civil rights movement in the United States and the end of apartheid in South Africa, that there would no longer be room for racism anywhere, but especially in an educational institution. But to this day, Filipinos teaching in the International School are treated as "second-class citizens," deemed unworthy of receiving equal pay for equal work.

When news of the labor dispute between Filipino teachers and ISM management first leaked out, a columnist said he wanted to know what the locals were complaining about when their pay, even if it was the lowest among the "three-tier" salary levels, was still much higher than the average salary of their counterparts in local private and public schools.

"In other words," says Vida Dizon-Vergel, an officer of the International School Alliance of Educators (ISAE), "we were already in the bus, even if we were made to sit in the back. Why do we still want to sit up front?"

* * *

THERE is another, more serious aspect to the ISM controversy than "just" racism. There is the spectacle of, again, an educational institution flouting the law, defying no less than the Supreme Court, and even boasting to parents of its students that it has the capacity to delay execution of the final decision until "some years down the road."

In a background paper, the ISAE asks, with some exasperation: "Why, or how, is it possible that they [ISM] have the audacity to openly dance around the highest court and then brag that they have the courts' favor? This foreigner's view that manipulation in Philippine courts is endemic is not his view alone. When will the courts and DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] finally have the courage, determination and guts to put an end to this sad, revealing and never-ending circus?"

The teachers thought that the circus had wound down in July 2000 when, after five years of CBA negotiations and contentious arguments before the DOLE and the courts, the Supreme Court ruled that the Filipino teachers at ISM were entitled to equal pay for equal work. But when Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas attempted to implement the Supreme Court decision in 2002, after a flurry of appeals from ISM, the school's lawyers inexplicably managed to secure a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals, in effect reversing the Supreme Court!

* * *

THREE more years passed before the Court of Appeals finally bowed to the will of the Supreme Court, which I must say certainly moved glacially in this case to assert its authority.

But if the teachers thought the "final and executory" order held any real meaning, they had another think coming. At the scheduled pre-execution conference last Feb. 15, the lawyers of the school and the administrators, upon spotting the ISAE leaders and their lawyers, refused to sit down at the negotiation table, demanding a separate session with the DOLE official assigned to the case. To the astonishment of the ISAE and the teachers, the official seemed amenable to giving in to this unreasonable demand, which they immediately opposed.

"The issue seems to be now whether the writ (of execution) can ever be enforced," seethes Raquel David-Ching, ISAE president.

If Ching seems overcome with frustration, it could only be because while the school administration has failed to win its case for discrimination in the courts, it is achieving a de facto victory through attrition and delay.

* * *

WHEN the ISAE's case reached the Supreme Court, she says, Filipinos composed 80 percent of the faculty. Now they make up just over 30 percent. Of the original 147 petitioners, only 34 are still left in the school.

What happened? Well, many things can take place in the course of 10 years. Some teachers resigned or opted for early retirement, with the snail's pace of justice certainly contributing to their frustration. Others were systematically harassed and hounded out of their jobs. Most important, ISM refused to replace the Filipino teachers with other Filipinos, opting instead to hire from overseas. And the few Filipinos they took in were relegated to the new category of "teaching apprentice."

Through the years, the board and the parents at ISM have denied the Filipino teachers their support, with some arguing that if the school were forced to finally cough up the back wages it owes, tuition would shoot through the roof. But education at ISM is already even costlier than in the United States. The decision to make foreign hires the majority of the faculty has resulted in much higher salary costs overall, not including expenses for "expat" privileges such as housing in a posh condominium near the new ISM campus.

Like all racists before them, the ISM administrators may yet realize that all they have done is to cut off their nose to spite their face.

A man in the news

A man in the news


Posted 01:40am (Mla time) Feb 27, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: ublished on page A13 of the February 27, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


EARLIER this week, there was a "breaking news" item on a TV newscast: a news crew, passing by Commonwealth Avenue, came upon a car that had overturned on the overpass and had burst into flames.

Though a crowd of bystanders that had quickly gathered round the burning car saw someone inside, no one dared to go near it for fear that the car would explode anytime. Firemen arrived shortly and after putting out the flames, they were able to pull out the victim. But it was too late by then. The driver, who was alone in the car, was dead.

I remember pleading silently to the TV that the burned corpse not be shown. Indeed, all that was aired of the poor driver was a view of his soles. But even then it was a disturbing sight, as the rubber soles of the victim's shoes appeared to have partially melted.

The report carried the accident fatality's name, but it didn't strike a chord. About the most significant detail I remember was that he was just a year older than me.

But funny (well, not really) how a news item, the like of which would be given in the past only a passing attention and a twinge of sympathy for the dead man's family, is suddenly imbued with significance when a personal connection is made.

The fatality, Venito Atienza, it turned out, was the husband of a distant cousin, Mila Labayen-Atienza. Mila is not just a distant relative, she's a friend from childhood. Since the Labayen house in Cubao was just a street away from ours, and Mila and her sister Maying were roughly the same age as us, my sister Chona and I would either walk the short distance to their home in the company of our “yaya” [nanny], or they would come to our home and there join us in our pretended "grown-up" games.


* * *

PERHAPS our Mama and our Tita Nora Labayen found it amusing that their daughters would develop a fast friendship in the footsteps of their own durable relationship: They were chums from childhood.

The Labayens, in fact, are very much part of the warp and woof of our family fabric: It was Tito Ben Labayen who was responsible for introducing my father to my mother. Tito Ben and Tita Nora married at about the same time as my parents, and had the same number of children. So it was inevitable that friendships between the Jimenez and Labayen children would blossom through our childhood.

Some years back, I heard that Mila, who was by then a vice president of a local bank, had migrated to the United States with her family. Ven, though, had been assigned to Peru by Path, an international development NGO, though he had applied for a transfer to New York after his Peru stint was over.

According to their eldest child who had stayed behind in Manila to finish her medical studies, Ven had flown in from Peru for a weeklong visit -- mainly to attend his high school reunion and also to visit his family. Since Mila was expected to arrive from the United States only late Friday night, the wake at the Filinvest Chapel was overseen by the Atienza and Labayen families as well as by the daughter's classmates at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. I'm glad my siblings and I came as a delegation, for in a way it revived the ties between our families, which we once thought had frayed due to distance and time.


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MY personal condolences also to the family of the late Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena, who passed away Friday evening.

Shortly after being diagnosed with brain cancer, Garchitorena was confined at the Makati Medical Center for five weeks, weakened by radiation treatments and chemotherapy. According to his wife Vicky, Garchitorena had displayed no outward symptoms before his hospitalization. The only indicator that something was bothering him, Vicky said, was some disorientation (he would drive around in circles, unable to find the village's exit) and slurring of his speech.

I had a soft spot for Francis Garchitorena, whom I first met at one of the numerous rallies against the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship in the early 1980s. When he found out I was a journalist on the side of truth -- meaning, with the alternative press -- he regaled me with wild jokes and outrageous rumors. I left the rally, wondering who this garrulous mestizo was.

I wasn't at all surprised when he was given a post in the anti-graft court, for Garchitorena struck me with the zeal he displayed to right the wrongs of the Marcos regime.

After retiring from the Sandiganbayan, Garchitorena found a new calling by joining the ranks of columnists, writing for Today. Even as a social commentator, he managed to keep his trademark acerbic wit and sarcasm. He seemed pleased when I told him I looked forward to reading his pieces. As a friend and a reader of his columns, I will miss the man.


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"THE JOB of nation-building begins with me ... and it begins today." This is the motto of a group of women who wish to promote national unity and love of country. As they proclaim: "...for our sake, let us unite, let us build up our people. For a country is not made up of roads, bridges and structures but a country is made up of people. Lack of faith, lack of hope and lack of purpose destroy a people. But as we build up our people, we build a nation."

For now, the main vehicle through which the women hope to spread the gospel of national unity and common purpose is through the sale of pins that declare "Mahal Ko Bayan Ko." Aside from spreading their message, the pins also serve a good cause-funding livelihood projects for our marginalized countrymen made possible by microfinance. If you wish to wear or distribute these message pins, you can call Soi Nuyda at +632 7358005 or Evelyn Kilayko at +63917 8400417.