Aquino’s Tough Stand on RH Brightens Day for Women but Has to Make Clearer Stand and Concrete Actions on Other Problems On President Aquino’s 100th day in office, we in KAISA KA consider the President’s stand on family planning endearing to women, mothers’ especially. He still has to make clear policy statements, however, on other issues that concern women and the rest of the population and start action to show that indeed, his administration is essentially different from GMA’s. It is encouraging that the president, up to his 100th day has stood firmly on the state’s duty to provide the population information and access to different family planning methods despite the Catholic bishops’ warnings that amount to saying they will set off a destabilization campaign against this administration if he does not retract. Many political leaders back out when faced with stiff opposition from the leaders of the biggest church in the Philippines. But he still has to take action on the long list of demands of women’s organizations and those of other marginalized sectors regarding some important issues. For instance, he has remained silent on the issue of foreign military troop’s presence, which for years, KAISA KA and other organizations have been opposing because it undermines national sovereignty and puts women and their communities more vulnerable to military sexual violence. It has remained silent on the VFA that is among the reasons for the US military’s continued stay and has led to several reports of abuses on women and other civilians. Despite the seriousness of trafficking in persons in the country, the Philippines being in the Tier 2 of the US ‘State Departments’ list, it is only a statement through an interview that the president gave out and nothing more. President Aquino has not made any pronouncement against neo-liberal economic impositions instead harks on his Public-Private Partnership scheme that doesn’t break away from the former. He has not taken any step to curb casualization of labor, which puts many women out of work, forces them to accept jobs that are more exploitative and makes them more vulnerable to trafficking. He has not taken a clear position on Hacienda Luisita, an issue that would define his land and agrarian reform agenda. He stopped frenzied demolition of squatters in North Triangle but does not act yet on the demand of urban poor on the three-year moratorium of demolition nor lay down his urban land reform and comprehensive housing program for the poor. His realignment of budget with clear bias on health and education is encouraging, but his comprehensive plan regarding these matters must take off from the most practical and realizable. While he claims to have improved the fiscal situation of the country and has remarkably stabilized the peso’s standing, mothers find it ever more difficult to stretch the peso to meet the family’s daily needs. KAISA KA reminds administration that rhetoric will not work for long.
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Post-Election Statement May 12, 2010 Contact Person: Atty. Virginia Suarez-Pinlac IN HIS HANDS This county is in no one’s hands – that was the clear and loud message of the electorate in the just-concluded election, which first and foremost debunked the myth of command votes, whether left, right or center. If one may use a well-known phrase from world literature, indeed the heart is a lonely hunter, meaning that when it comes to making a choice between this or that candidate, one does it by one’s own criteria, whether rational or delusional. What is also clear, as evidenced by the long interminable lines before the polling precincts, is that the Filipino people want to participate and exercise democracy, want an input into who should govern them and want to be responsible citizens of the nation. Let this lesson not be lost to those who would lead by command alone. We react with opprobrium to the “puro utos-puro utos” syndrome. The election results, still in process as of this writing, also indicate that over the next six years, this country will not be held by a single pair of hands. Benigno Aquino III might be president, but his second in command could come from another party – Jejomar Binay – and those who are about to be senators come from a mish-mash of political orientation, from the autocratic to the entertaining. More than ever, citizen participation will be of vital importance, as we look forward to six years of more squabbling and paralysis, as occurred with the now lame-duck Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration. It is time, in other words, to lift national politics from self-interest and the preservation of one’s own power and power dynasties – left, right or center – and act from a national perspective, as a people. As a women’s organization, Kaisa Ka is highly gratified that the electorate chose to ignore religion’s attacks and bans on those who would support reproductive health and safety for the Filipino people. We note that President-elect Aquino’s consistent stand on reproductive health and safety for the women of the Philippines did not hurt his chances at all, just as we note that those who waffled on this issue did not improve their vote count. We congratulate all the women who chose to vote for those who had an unequivocal stand on this issue, which is of prime importance, not only to women, but to the very survival of the nation. We were disappointed on one aspect: though much was made of the possible impact of the votes of overseas Filipinos, their issues were barely focused upon in these elections. Let us rectify this in the coming years and make sure that in the next elections, the continued overseas slavery of one-tenth – and increasing -- of the population (and 65%-70% women) become a major political concern. No nation can stand together with a major segment of its population enslaved. It was a long, tense and oft-times bitter election campaign. But time now to reflect upon the results and gear up for the battles and struggles ahead. ### |
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