Celebrations
Legal Alternatives for Women Center (LAW, INC.) had its usual reunion with its members, beneficiaries, and partners on the day of the procession of the Sto. Niño. Former students of Dr. Esther Velasquez came to surprise her amd serenade her with classic love songs and Cebuano favorites like Rosas Pandan. Everyone enjoyed her inspirational talk. She narrated the significant role of the Sto. Niño as she began as a teacher. Like most of us, Ma’m Esther prayed to the Sto Niño for her first job. Her first job was at the Colegio Sto. Nino. After being rejected in other schools (in one for being married), she was warmly accepted here. It turned out that they had difficulty retaining a teacher for a class of mischievous students but she successfully managed the young people. She treated them with respect, boosted their morale, and even improved their relationship with their parents.
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We also joined the 21st anniversary of Bantay Banay, one of the lead programs of Lihok Filipina Foundation. It envisions to develop “communities that are dynamic, non-violent viable, effective and self-reliant, where the dignity of women, children and men are upheld and continuously developed.” With this, they exert efforts to organize “women and their families into viable self-help groups capable of directing and sustaining their own initiatives on issues like health, child care, livelihood, laws, housing environment, and other concerns.” The group has also worked for the “acceptance by the Philippine society of the central significance of women’s perspective in the national struggle for social transformation.”
Lihok Filipina has several programs and services: the Women’s Savings and Credit Center; Women’s Integrated Support and Crisis Center; Community Waste Management (Katilingbanong Pagdumala sa Biya); and Bantay Banay. For the youth, they have Bantay Banay Youth and Children of Hope (Kabataan sa Paglaum), a support program for working street children.
Lihok Filipina describes Bantay Banay as “a comprehensive family/community watch program with a wide spectrum of activities and interventions to alleviate, if not totally eliminate domestic and other forms of violence against women and children. Its main strategies are the involvement of communities, interagency collaboration, mainstreaming in governance, and identifying champions in every area. In Cebu City, the Bantay Volunteers Federation and an Inter-agency Council responds to the cases. Presently, there are 65 cities and municipalities which replicated Bantay Banay.” It had been instrumental in promoting gender-responsive governance especially in Cebu City.
The celebration started with recollections of past experiences. One member stressed that Bantay Banay had no intention of breaking up families but aims to bring peace within families. This must have been a reaction to the misconception that when women or children are assisted as victims of domestic violence, this results in the break-up of family relationships. Bantay Banay is concerned not only with the victims but also with the perpetrators. In fact it joins others in calling for a center for the rehabilitation of the perpetrators of violence. What I really appreciate about Bantay Banay is the fact that it raises domestic violence to the level of a community concern. Many times people hesitate to assist and ignore their Christian duty to act on a neighbors call for assistance because of the notion that a household dispute is a “private matter.” Here, survivors also assist victims of violence as a continuation of their healing process.
There are also times when victims lose their resolve and don’t follow suggested action about the source of domestic violence. In one case, this actually resulted in the death of a client.
So these verses of Tess Banaynal-Fernandez to celebrate the Bantay Banay Anniversary are very appropriate:
Thank You for the Blessings:
For the gifts of persons who came our way, wrapped so differently;
For situations of fear and despair that drew courage within each one;
For difficulties and challenges that provided opportunities for responsive interventions;
For confusion and misunderstanding, that needed reflection and more defined action;
For the woundedness that cried out for healing and renewal;
For relationships that faltered, bloomed, and made living more meaningful;
For personal, material, and spiritual resources that sustained the journey;
For love, hope, faith, and joy as we go on towards a society that is less violent and fair, free and equal for all.
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Let us all be together at the Ayala Terraces on Valentine’s afternoon. Let us celebrate our love for women and our resolve to end all forms of violence against all. Let us dance, join one billion rising!
