Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 5 February 29 - March 6, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
Women’s
Party Closes Doors on GMA, Lacson Gabriela
Women’s Party, a new entry in the party-list election, is not endorsing any
presidential candidate at the moment and that it is open for talks but its doors
are definitely closed on President Macapagal-Arroyo and Senator Lacson. By
Northern Dispatch BAGUIO
CITY (Nordis) — The Gabriela Women’s Partylist (GWP) last week urged the
Filipino voting public to junk President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA) and Sen.
Panfilo Lacson in the May 2004 elections. In
a news conference last week, Imelda Tabiando, GWP national vice-chairperson for
Luzon, said that GWP is not endorsing any presidential candidate at the moment
and that it is open for talks but its doors are definitely closed to Macapagal-Arroyo
and Lacson. Tabiando
stressed that the incumbent President’s poor performance is enough reason to
junk her this coming election. She added that GWP disregarded Lacson because of
his human rights violation cases. GWP
is a new entry to the party-list elections but its leaders are very confident to
win seats in Congress with an expected 506,000 votes. Tabiando
explained that that GWP’s expected half million votes will come from its
nationwide membership as committed by regional chapters. She added that the GWP
vote is expected to swell during the campaign period. Jacqueline
K. Carińo, GWP’s fifth nominee and indigenous women representative, declared
that there is a greater need to popularize the essence of the party-list system
more than the GWP. “Ang kailangang habulin
ay ang awareness sa partylist system dahil marami pa rin ang hindi
bumoboto ng partylist dahil hindi nila alam kung ano ito,” Carińo
explained. Meanwhile,
Innabuyog-Gabriela, the Cordillera women’s alliance, sees the current
electoral exercise as an opportunity to inform and educate “a bigger number of
women and their communities on the issues and situations they are
confronting.” The women’s alliance said they will teach the poor women to
use their issues and concrete conditions as a bargaining agenda for candidates
who will woo their votes. Vernie
Yocogon-Diano, Innabuyog-Gabriela secretary general, added that Gabriela, as
national women’s alliance, is two-decades old; its 20th anniversary
will be marked this year. In
its 20 years, Diano said that women organizations were able to establish enough
strength to pursue their struggles. “The two decades of Gabriela are two
decades of building the national women’s movement in the country,” she said.
Diano
explained that through Bayan Muna, Gabriela joined the legislative struggle. Liza L. Maza, Gabriela’s then secretary general and one of
Bayan Muna’s representatives in Congress, brought the voice of the women in
the halls of Congress. In
the past years, Gabriela spearheaded and supported campaigns opposing violence
against women which include the Purple Rose Campaign; international campaigns
against sex trafficking of Filipino women and children; and justice for the
Filipino comfort women during the Japanese occupation.
Other campaigns were anti-U.S. bases, anti-militarization and human
rights violations from the Marcos dictatorship up to the present. It was also in
the frontline of the oust-Estrada movement. Gabriela also participated in the fight against globalization and Visiting Forces Agreement. Kim N. Quitasol for Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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