A glimmer of hope

The Legal Alternatives for Women Center, Inc. ((LAW Center, Inc.) continued its tradition of holding an “agape” lunch on the Feast of the Santo Niño before joining the procession of the Holy Child.  This year’s gathering was significant and well attended by the Board of Directors, the staff, the volunteer lawyers, clients, partners and friends because it was a thanksgiving for the 20 years of working for and with women and to hold a tribute to Portia Dacalos and Sister Ma. Belen “Mabe” Alcoseba, ICM , both former presidents of the LAW Center Inc. Board of Directors who passed away in December 2015 (Portia on Dec. 16 and Mabe on Dec. 22).

LAW Center Inc. always  integrates the involvement of women in the cultural dimension of the feast. I was given the task to share my thoughts  on women and the Sinulog. To start I recalled how women have been the culture-bearers from  precolonial times to the present. The best example is puso-making. In precolonial times the “puso” was a ritual object with eight shapes to express the different occasions or petitions. Puso-making was passed on by mothers to their  daughters and granddaughters and recently to the sons and grandsons.

With the coming of Christianity and other colonizers, only one design survived (the design which looks like the banana flower called “puso” in Cebuano) and puso-making became a means of livelihood up to the present. The mountain barangays of Metro Cebu have been part of the precolonial practice. In fact, the Inocian clan of barangay Taptap produced 15 professionals from puso-making.

This was revealed during the July 20, 2012 memorial lecture of the 75 families of distinction who contributed to the development of Cebu City at the 75th Anniversary of the Charter of Cebu City.  Puso-making is now everywhere in Cebu and this shows how the women have transformed the puso from a ritual object to a means of livelihood.

Dance as a form of worship was prevalent in precolonial times and was made more elaborate with the coming of Christianity.  Dancing in veneration of the Holy Child graduated from intimate communication through a communal dance to the beat of drums in circular motion that made the community move like a current of water, hence the name sinulog from “sulog” meaning current.

Transformations have also been made with the dance steps from the simple three steps of untol-untol (bounce) using the feet, kiay-kiay (sway) with the hips, and wara-wara (wave) with the hand to the variations of the times occupying more space in street dancing and ritual showdowns during the grand parade. Variant  colors and sounds now add to the festive mood of the celebration.

Women popularized sinulog as candle dancers in front of churches and sometimes using handkerchiefs and more recently dancing with the statue of the Santo Niño (originally we don’t dance with the statue but before the statue). I had a  very memorable experience in 1984  when I attended the fiesta in Matutinaw in Badian, Cebu. After  the mass, a group of old women in sayas danced in front of the church holding babies as they danced.

For this was how the women did the sinulog   where they danced with their child for whatever petition they had. Today sinulog is both done in reverence and revelry. The sinulog also produced several songs and accompanying music that invites everyone to dance.  The agape of LAW Center, Inc. became alive with everyone  dancing to one of these songs while shouting in thanksgiving to Santo Niño their theme “Duha ka Dekada Kauban sa  Santo Niño ang Tuburan sa  Kaaghop og Kalooy (Two Decades with Santo Niño as the Source of Mercy and Compassion).”

With the 51st International Eucharistic Congress being held in Cebu, there is a glimmer of hope to transcend ourselves.  For the LAW Center, Inc. there is a glimmer of hope for its work of providing women the services and support to improve their quality of life and to strengthen the campaign against violence against women.

With the gains and challenges surmounted in the past 20 years, there is so much hope of covering more areas, reaching out to more women, and finally coming up with a book documenting the amazing feats of women  empowering women. Just as the women have been the culture-bearers and sustainers of important traditions and adjusting to the changing times, the women involved in LAW Center, Inc. are the bearers, transformers and sustainers of what it is to be human.  As Pope Francis has said, “Hope is the most profound gift of God in troubled times.”  Let us receive and use this gift.

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The first meeting of the new board of the UP Alumni Association Cebu Chapter whose new name is Tatak UP Cebu Inc. bolstered so much hope in resuscitating the alumni association which like other alumni associations needs much attention. I have been with this alumni association and saw its ups and downs. In the history of UP Cebu, the alumni were instrumental in the reopening of the college after it was closed for a decade due to a political action. Even in its early years with the threats of closure from the Manila authorities, the alumni also lobbied for its retention.

UP Cebu is the oldest regional unit (1918), and its Alumni Association will have its centennial in 2020. The perennial problem of attendance and commitment has paralyzed the association. Before the Tatak UP 2015 Awards Night, I contacted some alumni who were interested in working for the alumni association and got very good responses.  They now form the new board and have asked Dr. Lelani E. Paredes and me to be  mainstays in the board.

Victor Caindec (UP High, ’91, UP Cebu BBM, ’95) heads the board and came up with a good suggestion on how the alumni can help provide a win-win solution to the problem faced by UP Cebu in relation to the Lahug lot. It was very rewarding watching the board members interact  (most of them were my former students) especially Victor presiding professionally and passionately sounding off the importance of helping those who have served UP and for alumni to pay forward. I sighed with great hope for a very dynamic stint of this new board.