Such is her renown in the Philippine Women’s Movement that she has been called upon to represent the country in many an international conference on women. In 1985, she was a delegate to the UN International Conference on Women, held in Nairobi, Kenya. The following year, she was tasked to be the resource person for a Speaking Tour on the Situation of Filipino Women. For this, she had to travel to Holland, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Rome, Florence, and London to raise awareness on the plight of women in the Philippines. In 1989, she again became a delegate in the Intl. Conference on Women and Development, in West Berlin, Germany, and then in 1991, speaker in the Europe-wide Conference of Migrant Women, held in Barcelona, Spain, and in the Germany-wide Conference of Migrant Women.
Other similar international conferences in which she has participated are: the Women-Linking Conference, in Jakarta, Indonesia (1993); the Women Conference in Bangkok, Thailand (1994); International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Citizenship, in London (1996); and the International Conference on AIDS (1999).
Ms. Ilagan’s involvement with women’s concerns also extends to the field of research, where she has conducted major studies now considered as classic references to contemporary research on Women in the Philippines. Among her major research studies conducted are the Effects of the Modernization Process on Women Working in a Banana Plantation in Davao del Norte (1975), Perceived Effects of Farming Practices of Banana Plantations On The Health of Women of Little Panay, Davao Del Norte (1992), and Sexual Harassment in the Campus (1996).
Her experience as an educator is another plus for the women’s movement. She regularly conducts Gender Sensitivity Training, Reproductive Rights, and similar topics to firms. Organizations, and cooperatives all over the island.
Fortunately, all her work for the emancipation of women has not gone unrecognized. In 1992, the Ventures International gave her the Mae Carvell Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Upliftment of the Status of Women. In 1995, her alma mater also conferred her with the Ateneo’s highest honor, the Blue Knight Award, for Community Service and as Outstanding Spokesperson for Women. She was also a recipient of Soroptimist International’s Women Helping Women Award in 1999.
Proud as she is of these honors bestowed upon her, the ultimate merit, she says, is the realization that more women will have become empowered to oppose violence and abuse, to rise up against exploitation and oppression, and be future partners in the continuing effort to liberate women.
Public Servant
Burgeoning city that Davao is, not a year goes by when scores of people are received to make the city their new home. Many, therefore, would not have had the opportunity to know Ms. Ilagan during her early days in Toril or as their teacher in college, but are familiar with her more public role in the latter years as Councilor of the first district of Davao City.
Her decision not to run again in 2001 drew mixed reactions. Some said that it was better for her, politics being dirty business. Others expressed their dismay, saying that a single term was too short a time. Davao needed more honest and sincere public servants.
