Women for peace

Since we were not able to join the Women’s Summit of the Cebu City Women and Family Affairs Commission, Portia Dacalos, a very active member of the commission, provided us with the summit materials. From Philippine Commission on

Women’s chairperson Remy Rikken’s discussion on transformative politics we have “Five Basic Arguments for Women’ Participation in Decision-Making”. The first argument stresses egalitarianism. If women compose one-half of the population, then they should be 50 percent of the leadership or at least near it. The second argument is about democracy; with women’s limited participation in decision-making, the practice of democracy becomes questioned “since it distances elected representatives from their electorate”. The political participation of women is necessary because “women are more aware of their own needs, therefore better able to press for them.” The fourth argument is the belief that the increase of women in politics will transform politics –  its focus will shift and result in the “enlargement of the scope of politics’’. Women will bring domestic issues and family issues. They will bridge the artificial gap between the private and public sphere. A very practical argument is the point that depriving women of political participation deprives society of a very rich human resource, it would be very inefficient.

Prof. Macrina A. Morados of the University of the Philippines Institute of Islamic Studies, the other summit resource person, presented “The Universal Values of Peace and Unity in Islam and Christianity: Re-Imaging Virgin Mary as an Instrument of Peace”. So she quotes Matthew 5:9:  “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God”. At same time she brings from the Qu’ran: “Where with Allah guides all those who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace, and He brings them out of darkness by His Will unto the light and guides them to a straight way.” Other sources are cited to emphasize the points of convergence between Islam and Christianity.

Then the strong presence of Mary, Christianity’s Queen of Peace, in the Islamic scriptures is asserted: “O Mary! God has chosen you and purified you and again he has chosen you above the women of all nations of the world”. So she concludes that   “Virgin Mary bridges Muslim-Christian Relations” and brings in K. Coyle: “Mary must be retrieved as a woman strong and resourceful, our sister in faith who did not hesitate to proclaim God’s concern for the oppressed.”
She winds up with: “If you are looking at women, you have to end war. If you want to end war, you have to look at women.”

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For three years  we have been attending the lectures arranged by the Sacred Heart Parish. Always, there have been new exhilarating insights. This year we did the same with Sr. Vincent Borromeo of the Good Shepherd Sisters. This year we were able to attend the triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Fr. Mon Bautista had very organized, clear, interesting presentations. And he had  many fascinating unforgettable stories (like that of the Birdman, who nurtured dying birds or the entertainer, model who went to Fatima and later became a nun). At the beginning he reminded us not to remain in the surface of things, to go more deeply, to raise new questions, and to open ourselves to conversion.

For Holy Thursday, he made us feel Jesus’ dilemma: he had reached the point when he had to go, at the same time he wanted to stay. Love’s resolution was the great blessing of the Holy Eucharist, wherein Jesus is present in the community, in the congregation; in His Words, in the person of the minister, and in His actual presence in the bread and wine.

On Good Friday, he raised the question: What’s so good about Good Friday? Some of the answers include God paid the price for loving. If we ask how far He is willing to go for love, we can only say, all the way. He embraced all that pain and made it sacred. He is attracted to our brokenness.

On Holy Saturday, he prepared us for Easter. He reminded us that as Pope John Paul II had said: “We are an Easter people, Alleluia is our song.” We are a people always daring to hope, with joy. We cannot give in to despair. He reminded us of the people of Leyte’s rising after the supertyphoon.  He asserted that Easter is not about life after death but about a loving, faithful, constant Father who is committed to us. What is the challenge of Easter? Have  Easter made a difference in our lives? He gave the words consecration, consolation, contemplation, control beautiful, new meanings as he related these to Mary.

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The reflections on the Seven Last Words of the Archdiocese of Cebu were  also very refreshing and inspiring. Amidst all the negativity and complaining,  we heard  positive responses to the call of the poor. It was  reassuring to hear of many constructive initiatives  going on in our community. And these were not band-aid solutions or  superficial approaches. There was the effort to see the underlying causes of poverty. The effectiveness of working together and being organized was underlined. With programs in support of the education of the youth there is the promise of sustainability.

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In the third episode of “Sa Mata sa Kababayn-an”, Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale of the Cebu Provincial Women’s Commission discussed how the effort of asserting and protecting the rights of women and children can be very demanding especially with the problem of cybersex and child pornography. It requires an overhaul of our values system and  the involvement of various sectors of the community. From the Philippine Commission on Women, Dr. Rhodora

Masilang-Bucoy reported on the new challenges for women: their involvement in the environment and the issue of climate change and the challenge of peace-building. Right then and there Vice Governor  Magapale and Dr. Bucoy agreed to convene a forum on the Moro Struggle and other related issues of advancing peace.