Lea, Monique, Honey and Winnie (and Noy, Bongbong, Jinggoy and us)

MANILA, Philippines—Bright moments have been taking place in current events that give us cause for delight and optimism. Women brave and true have been scintillating, bringing their talents, hearts and minds to private and public concerns. Smart, articulate, credible women who have been doing their homework. You’d be sorry not to have them on your side—or not to heed their words.

“That is the biggest joke of the century!” exclaims Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, dissenting from her Supreme Court colleagues who had declared Eduardo Cojuangco the legitimate owner of San Miguel Corp. shares apparently bought with the blood and sweat of coconut farmers. To her it was clearly a crime for someone entrusted with public funds to use them for his personal benefit. She shed no tears for the “resulting damage and injury” to Cojuangco over the almost 30 years he has been waiting to sell the shares for a whopping P37 billion.

Solid facts, unquestioned legal expertise, and an unblemished reputation make Associate Justice Morales well-qualified to clear away the ghosts of past regimes. Hailing from Ilocos Sur, she might have been expected to be a Marcos loyalist. Appointed by GMA to the Supreme Court in 2002, she might have been expected to be a GMA partisan. Instead she opposed the midnight appointment of Renato Corona as Chief Justice, making her President Aquino’s choice to administer his oath of office.

Women speaking up in Philippine society is nothing new. But we badly need to hear more from our best and brightest as we flounder on our country’s path to maturity.  Women are expected to perform all tasks of daily living, not to mention be good marital partners, child-bearers, caregivers, clan matriarchs, community and business leaders, if not breadwinners. We are also charged with special events—childbirths, hospital stays, deaths, weddings, anniversaries and holidays. These and other crucial issues are too important to leave to the men!

<strong>No pussy-footing</sstrong>

When women speak up, they do not pussy-foot. Nor do they insult or humiliate. They simply tell it like it is. They bring conviction, clarity and common sense to their arguments.

“I was instantly outraged,” declares Lea Salonga, in protest to attempts by her barangay (village)  to restrict the purchase of condoms. “No one has a say in how my husband and I express ourselves sexually or what contraceptive measures we decide to employ,” she says  with diva super-confidence.

Lea and fellow international star Lisa Macuja have been staunch supporters of the RH (reproductive health) bill, which empowers every Filipino woman to plan her family.  Wow, how we need celebrities with moral brawn to hawk more than cosmetics!

Thank you, Monique Wilson, for scolding the networks that lack “not only some very basic human values but also aesthetics,” for asserting that TV “should be used to educate, empower, inspire and awaken,” and for condemning game shows that make mendicants of our poor. You know only too well that life is not just a song-and-dance act.

How we need you, brave and true women, to be the voice of those who cannot speak. We need brave and true women to speak for those who refuse to speak. There are the Erlinda Ligots, seasoned travelers and hard-nosed real estate dealers, who quake, tremble and weep when questioned about their high-finance transactions.  There are the Teresita Reyeses who just want “peace, peace, please leave us alone,” with  no interest in contributing to the cause of truth.  Deafening is the roar of silence for fear of self-incrimination!

Three hurrahs for the intrepid Winnie Monsod who, armed with unimpeachable facts and irrefutable logic, has been calling for a lifestyle check on ex-Makati Mayor Binay and ex-Makati Mayor Elenita, parents of incumbent Makati Mayor Junjun. A longtime Makati resident, Mareng Winnie deplored as “an example of how our justice system works” the recent dismissal by the Sandiganbayan of charges against Ms Binay. This after the state audit team headed by Heidi Mendoza found overpricing, excess quantities and bidding irregularities resulting in the government paying over P110 million than necessary.

“Honor first and excellence second,” the straight-shooting economics professor reminded recently her students in an iconic end-of-semester speech at UP. “If you do not repay the university by serving your country, I will haunt you from the grave—at a moment you least expect it,” is her oft-repeated threat to her pupils. We need women brave and true who do not seek power or personal gain. May we have more of them instead of those who speak nonsense.

“A child’s dignity and respect must never be violated. It becomes worse when he or she is rewarded after being ridiculed or shamed,” says long-time child advocate Dr. Honey Carandang, referring to six-year-old Jan-Jan. “When we do this in public, and say that he is being heroic because he is doing this for his family, we are sending not only mixed signals to the child but also presenting a distorted sense of values to the whole country.”

Someone must be crazy or ignorant to jeer Dr. Honey, esteemed campaigner for truth-telling, as a “self-styled child psychologist.” Even accuse her of conspiring with media and government to harass Willie Revillame. If Honey is lying, we can believe Revillame’s lawyer Leonardo de Vera that “bodywave” is “a dance form that has become a part of Filipino culture.” Excuse me!

<strong>Carriers of culture, wisdom</strong>

Women are the carriers of culture, the repositories of the wisdom of the race. Women connect the generations. Our strength of character influences the quality of the next stage of evolution. Look at our leaders now and the women who bore and raised them.

A Cory created a Noynoy. Sincerity is in his bones as it was in hers. Balding and un-dashing at 51, not the most brilliant leader we ever had, but surely crowned by destiny to take on gigantic tasks. He had just entered his teens when his father prophetically wrote from his prison cell: “Son, the ball is now in your hands.”

Like his mother, he was thrust into a leadership position he did not spend his life preparing for. Just as her first act was to go after the ill-gotten wealth of her predecessor, he is determined to root out the corrupt elements of the GMA regime. Just as his mother did not utilize her vast powers and popularity to go after her husband’s killers, he now shrinks from deciding whether Marcos deserves a hero’s burial or not. Yet his political opponents call him vindictive!

An Imelda created a Bongbong. But he wants to be a Noynoy—the son of a hero! It is too late for his father to undo the deeds that proved him a villain, yet he believes that burying him in Libingan ng mga Bayani will somehow change the record. But even if Bongbong gets his way, Noynoy will still be one up with a mother sainted by the nation even if she was despised by Imelda for her unmanicured fingernails.

Dr. Loi must be the best of Erap’s many partners for having created a Jinggoy who seems promising enough. Credit him for having the self-discipline to slim down and the personal vision to change his earlier sinister look. He is also not known to be a womanizer or drinker, and is proving to be an ambitious, hardworking senator. Who can blame him if he, too, will want to redeem his father’s image someday?

A Gloria did not only pardon the father of Jinggoy, she created a Mikey. So we know where Mikey got his sense of entitlement, including being entitled not to pay his taxes.  Spoiled by boundless privilege during nine years of his mother’s regime, gifted with a political career carved out of non-credentials, he now whines that the bogeymen of Noynoy are out to get him. He still has a lot to learn about public appearances, though, from mom Gloria, who famously apologized for her “lapse in judgment” with a well-practiced poker face.

Which brings us to the fact that sometimes a woman speaks and we are not edified. The voice grates on our ears, the condescension hits us like bricks. How grateful I am to this unpretentious bachelor, for a political landscape brightened by the absence of presidential tantrums, presidential husbands and brothers-in-law, presidential sons, and obnoxious presidential allies. I am grateful for the truth-seeking space he has created. May I cast my lot with him, this man born of a woman brave and true, who spoke up against a tyrant. And we all listened.