By INNABUYOG-GABRIELA
www.nordis.net

Today, much talk is afforded to the debate about the empowerment of women in the Philippines. People often say that Filipinas enjoy a status better than their counterparts in other developing countries. The country came out first in the Asia-Pacific region and 5th worldwide in terms of achieving gender balance according to the 2013 Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum. Women’s rights and welfare are guaranteed in the 1987 Philippine Constitution and national laws have been passed to protect women from violence and discrimination. Moreover, government institutions at all levels are mandated to allocate 5% of their budget in gender-responsive projects through the Gender and Development Budget.

Pres. Benigno Aquino III (PNoy) is also bragging of bolstering the Philippine’s economic growth citing the 7.2 increase in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013 which he attributes to good governance.

However, these gains are rendered insignificant if we take a closer look at the situation of women, especially in the grassroots level. In the Cordillera where poverty and hunger prevail, the positive legislations for gender equality and the increase in GDP have made no meaning to the indigenous women. They are increasingly placed in dangerous positions because government poverty and hunger mitigation programs such as the Conditional Cash Transfer fail to address the fundamental problems in the Philippine society. Also, the disparity between the basic salary in the country and the incessant price hikes in basic commodities compounds the already dire situation of women. Hence, some are forced to leave their families in search for work abroad. These women comprise the majority of Overseas Filipino Workers, engaged in jobs where they are most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Other Cordillera women, together with their families flock to town or urban centers hoping to find a better means of livelihood. These women are transformed into cheap laborers working in the Baguio Export Processing Zone, call centers and in the service sector where contractualization is the trend. Contractual labor is designed primarily so that companies can fully exploit the available cheap labor. In addition, women laborers are often subjected to insecure and harsh working conditions and are vulnerable to sexual abuse either by their employer, customer or their co-worker.

Those who cannot find employment, usually end up in seasonal or irregular jobs such as sidewalk vending in which income is never guaranteed. Also, poverty and hunger, both in the urban and rural areas push an increasing number of indigenous women to work as entertainers and waitresses in entertainment establishments. They are often prostituted and are prone to sexually-transmitted diseases and the human immunodeficiency virus (hiv).

Meanwhile, since the region largely depends on agriculture as a source of livelihood, the bulk of Cordillera women are peasants. However, with the liberalization of the agricultural sector, peasant women and their communities are pushed to produce cash crops contributing to the erosion of subsistence farming and loss of indigenous agricultural practices. The influx of imported agricultural produce and the inherent dependence of commercial farming to agro-chemical inputs leave peasant women and their families in a cycle of indebtedness. This is aggravated by the limited, if not lack of support from the government received by the agricultural sector.

Given this situation in the region, a greater number of women are increasingly dependent on government services. Nonetheless, government expenditure for basic social services is progressively decreasing giving way to the privatization of public institutions such as hospitals. This will weigh heavily on the shoulders of women and their families who can hardly afford privatized healthcare.

In the rural areas, indigenous and peasant women continue to face the threat of landlessness, displacement, militarization and the destruction of their communities as transnational corporations in cahoots with the government encroach on their ancestral domain in the guise of development projects such as mining, logging, large dams, energy projects and agribusiness. The concrete experience of rural women and their communities prove that these so-called development schemes bring more harm than progress. 66 % of the total land area of the Cordillera is under various mining applications including the already operating mines in Benguet. The province of Benguet has been host to several large mines for over a century but meaningful development and progress is yet to be felt by the people.

Recently, Chevron, whose global reputation in respecting the rights of communities where its projects are located is stained, has applied for a geothermal project covering three provinces: Kalinga (tri-boundary of Lubuagan-Pasil-Tingalayan), Mountain Province (Bontoc-Sadanga) and Ifugao (Tinoc). In addition, Makilala Mining Company has renewed efforts to pursue its mining exploration in the ancestral domain of the Guinaang Tribe of Pasil, Kalinga. Both projects were rejected by the affected communities, with women joining, if not leading the opposition. The non-consent of both communities was not respected by the government and the companies involved. Instead, military personnel were deployed in the areas where there is resistance breeding confusion and sowing fear in the community weakening the unity of the people. The government even outlined a security plan not for the protection of the people but to ensure the smooth implementation of these development projects dubbed as the Oplan Bayanihan which can only result to the increase in the number of human rights violations.

In this platform, one can say that discrimination and violence against women in all its forms still persist in the region. As we commemorate the 104th International Women’s Day, the Innabuyog-GABRIELA calls on all women to strengthen our ranks to fight against the oppression of our sector.

Intensify the women’s struggle for justice!

Hold the US-Aquino II regime accountable for plunder of resources and oppression of the people!

OUST AQUINO! #nordis.net