GABRIELA
Respect for women.
This was the call of Gabriela, a women’s rights advocate group during a protest yesterday on Saturday, coinciding with President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Cebu.
Gabriela Partylist (GWP) Rep. Arlene Brosas, who led the protest rally attended by at least a hundred women, said, women in Duterte’s administration are prone to abuses.
“Hanggang sa ngayon matindi ang pagsasamantala at pang-aapi sa mga kababaihan. Na ang pagtingin sa mga lalake sa mga babae ay mababa pa sa kanila,” she said. (Until now, women are still subjected to abuse. In the eyes of men, women occupy a lower status than men.)
She said the President, in many instances, has shown his discrimination against women, among them that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales should not be replaced by another woman when she retires.
“Kung ang powers ng Ombudsman at Chief Justice ay ang huling pupuntahan mo para magkaroon ng hustisya, sino pa ang pagkakatiwalaan mo kung ang powers ay mapupunta sa pangulo lamang?” Brosas said. (If the powers of the Ombudsman and Chief Justice are your only hope to achieve justice, who can you trust when all those powers will be wielded only by the president?)
Angel Trocio of Gabriela Youth – Cebu also condemned what she described as misogynistic statements of Duterte.
“We should not accept a president who disrespects the human rights of women,” she said in Cebuano.
She emphasized that women play a significant role in the society and should also be valued.
“Kon wala lang ang mga kababayen-an wala ta aning kalibutan. Ang mga kababyen-an pareha ra sa katungod sa mga kalalakin-an. Dili lang ta nga for sexual pleasure of men,” she said. (Without women we would not be in this world. The rights of women are the same as that of men. We are not here only for their sexual pleasure.)
Brosas said they are currently pushing for the Extended Maternity Leave bill to benefit working women.
The bill, authored by Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros, seeks to give working mothers a maternity leave of 120 to 150 days from the current 60-day leave.
Other groups who joined the rally from Osmeña Boulevard to Colon Street, Cebu City, were the Cebu Urban Poor Women’s League (Cupwol), Amihan Peasant Women, Coalition for People’s Right to Health and Akbayan Youth.