The month of November is significant to the women’s movement especially in Cebu City.
The 25-day campaign against Violence Against Women which spans from November 16 to December 10 (incidentally International Human Rights Day) was first conceived in the second half of the 1990s after the Beijing Conference and the rise of Women’s Solidarity in Cebu City. It gained tremendous strength with the outrage over the 2004 killing of Atty. Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco who was murdered in her residence. Since then various women’s groups continued to conduct various campaigns for public awareness of all forms of violence against women and numerous laws and ordinances to protect women.
From time to time, they make an assessment of the status and nature of the violence. Though there have been gains in the campaign, news reports still hound us everyday with brutal killings and forms of sexual harassment and rape of women.
On the other hand, there have been positive results of various interventions. Last Oct. 13, 2012, at the 14th anniversary of the Cebu Women’s Network, seven survivors of domestic violence served by the Law Center Inc. shared their experiences at the Women’s Kapihan over radio dyLA. They were later joined by more co-survivors in a get-together where the food prepared was part of their livelihood. They credit their survival to the assistance of the Legal Alternatives for Women Center especially the monthly psychosocial services.
This week, we continue the campaign with more vigor, more creativity. This is strongly connected with a more dangerous problem – drug abuse. Recently I was horrified to learn that a 68-year-old former classmate, a retired public school teacher, was raped by a young drug addict in her house last August 23. Luckily she survived with the immediate assistance and proper attention provided by relatives and former co-teachers. Four days after the incident, I visited her with another classmate. She vividly described how she wrestled with her attacker for one hour. Her attacker is a known drug user in her place. At the time we visited her, he had surrendered to the authorities. It is a familiar pattern that rapists act under the influence of drugs. Perhaps it’s time the campaign against violence against women should go hand in hand with the campaign against drug abuse. This campaign should not be confined to the concerned agencies but these concerns should be addressed by the communities.
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November is also a month of thanksgiving. This will be highlighted with the Thanksgiving Mass in honor of San Pedro Calungsod at the SRP on November 30. With the excitement over the completion of the templete, the prominent persons who will grace the occasion, and rigid security measures mapped out for the event, nowhere do we see or hear about the participation of the youth sector in the preparation, the celebration and the aftermath of the event.
The thanksgiving is for the youth sector; they should play a significant role. Catholic schools and local parishes should take initiatives for the faithful to internalize what San Pedro Calungsod died for. The Thanksgiving falls on the same date of the death of a great Filipino hero, Andres Bonifacio, whose struggle against colonialism has inspired many young nationalists, hence it should be a double celebration of our history as a nation and a reaffirmation of our faith.
I would like to witness a thanksgiving celebrated in a different tone, different from what is done for the Sto. Niño during the Sinulog.