Although Purita “Babes” Sanchez’s moving on fills us with a great sense of loss, we are full of gratitude for such a beautiful, fruitful life to which we were privileged to be exposed. I will never forget that whenever we were challenged with facilitating a gender discussion with a “macho” group, who might be defensive then turn out to be offensive, we would seek Babes’ assistance. True she was passionate about the cause of women, but she was always pleasantly assertive. She was of course very charming and attractive and therefore actually irresistible!
Whenever women gathered together, her enthusiasm would shake them out of their indifference, starting with the spirited singing of: Ako, ikaw, kita mga babaye; may kagawasan, may mga katungod, may baruganan! (We are women – we have freedom, rights, and a stand and commitment!)
On her last birthday at the Perpetual Succour Hospital, we celebrated with a Mass at the chapel. After the healing Mass, Babes moved close to the tabernacle and sang an oblation song. She chanted her offering of everything to Jesus. She asked for healing, but with a firm voice declared that if it was His will for her to have the pain and illness she was accepting these totally. What an awesome sense of surrender!
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The Cebu City Women and Family Affairs Commission organized a Women’s Summit bringing together representatives from various sectors. The chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Women, Remy Rikken, ,was the keynote speaker. She had a dramatic, provocative and very informative discussion of this year’s Women’s Month national theme: Women Weathering Climate Change; Governance, Everyone’s Responsibility.
To respond effectively to the complex and enormous challenge of climate change, citizens in this very unstable group of islands in the Pacific, cannot act individually. Neither can they leave the matter in the hands of government officials. Civil society and government have to work together for an organized, systematic preparedness. Women have to actively participate in the processes of organization and education. Women have to develop their skills of asserting their claims – demanding accountability and transparency. We cannot afford to lose resources through corruption in the face of such a serious problem.
Remy said that women should not withdraw from the challenge of governance for it is the “greatest of all apostolates”. Women have to be catalysts for genuine participation in their communities. Risk reduction management requires that the community be authentically organized because there must be genuine human connectedness. The preparedness needs to be comprehensive and the level of geographical knowledge has to be high.
So in order to have resilient communities, a thorough investigation of both the physical and social realities needs to be done before systematic plans, preparations, and action.
She alerted us regarding Republic Act 10121, the law on disaster risk reduction management. It provides for funds not only when the disaster actually occurs. She challenged Cebu to be a model for the building of truly resilient and democratic communities. She invited Zonta to take the lead in this endeavor.
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The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.Triennial Awards was a ceiling experience. For who would not get a high with an excellently planned celebration of the great blessings we have in Southern Philippines: persons and institutions of great generosity and commitment. It felt good to know that there were actually 268 nominees. This required a great deal of diligence and wisdom from the Search Committee and the RAFI staff that supported them.
The institutional awardee, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc., was described as “moving women from poverty to financial independence”. Wilhelmina Gonzales, its chairperson stated: “We are happy when we hear our clients’ success stories, and when we see them move from poverty to the level where they can respect themselves and become productive.” Their story will be a great inspiration for women struggling towards empowerment.
The narratives on the process of selection, the history of the institutions, and personal life stories were compiled in a book launched in the celebration. I shared it with the Professional Education faculty the next morning. We were one in the thought that this was very valuable educational material.
I admire the individual awardee Rene Vendiola a lot. Aside from his very relevant, inspiring “garden of Eden”, his simplicity and self-acceptance gave him such a serene aura, that I was very glad to come close to. He often declares his gratitude for having been discovered by RAFI in spite of his being far away up in the mountains of Negros Oriental.