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On the 23rd of June 2011, the United Nations General Assembly, in a resolution, declared the date as the first-ever International Widows’ Day to give special recognition to the situation of widows of all ages, across regions and cultures. In this year’s third annual celebration, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “No woman should lose her status, livelihood or property when her husband dies, yet millions of widows in our world face persistent abuse, discrimination, disinheritance and destitution.”

He added: “Absent in statistics, unnoticed by researchers, neglected by national and local authorities and mostly overlooked by civil society organizations – the situation of widows is, in effect, invisible. Yet abuse of widows and their children constitute one of the most serious violations of human rights and obstacles to development today. Millions of the world’s widows endure extreme poverty, ostracism, violence, homelessness, ill health and discrimination in law and custom.”

The plight of these widows have not improved. In fact, the UN said that 115 million of them live in poverty, powerlessness, and continue to experience injustice.

And, the Philippines is not exempted from the inhuman conditions experienced by widows. Widows grow in number due to the extra-judicial killings where most perpetrators identified are state agents. Even journalists are not spared from these killings and widows become a by-product of these acts of state terrorism. Concretely, the killing of 58 civilians four years ago by warlords and their goons, where most of their victims were journalists – forced untimely widows (and widowers) and fatherless children (and motherless).

Aside from the turtle paced justice system, therefore the unrealized justice for the death of the Ampatuan 58, is their situation compounded by the continuing threat against the lives of the widows (and widowers) and their security. These threats have already pushed a journalist’s widow – Myrna Parangan Reblando – and her child to seek refuge in another country as the Philippine government cannot even assure their safety.

And, the number of killed journalists did not end at that Ampatuan massacre. This June, Nilo Baculo Jr., a radio announcer at the dwIM in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro became the 33rd journalists killed under Pres. Noynoy Aquino’s watch. He was the 165th journalist murdered since democracy was re-established in 1986.

In the adopted UN resolution declaring the International Day of Widows, it called upon member states to give special attention to the situation of widows and their children and to work for resolutions to their situation. However, in the Philippines, they are betrayed by the present administration that promised to make justice and human rights the cornerstone of its governance but where more and more are being left behind as widows or widowers as a result of the killings of journalists and political activists. # nordis.net