By Dine Racoma and Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

It must have been the year 2007 when Dine and I first met Mrs. Esther Asuncion Vibal during the launch of Wikipilipinas.org or was it the joint project with Filipinaimages.com and WikiPilipinas. These days, I often see her at the cafeteria during my weekly visit at the Vibal Publishing house where I hold office once a week. And yes, I’m proud to be part of the Vibal Foundation as features editor of the Philippine Online Chronicles . I am amazed that she takes an active role with the management of Vibal Publishing House. I tell my husband that I want to be like Mrs Vibal, still sharp even at 85 years old (She turns 85 on March 25). She starts work at 7:30 AM and I can’t even imagine waking up at that time. I wonder what her secret is but maybe taking a peak at her life explains this.

Dine Racoma and I believe that her life is worth sharing here at Filipina Images.

Here is a profile of a woman we both admire.

Mrs. Esther Asuncion Vibal is a woman of many talents and accomplishments. It is difficult to describe this multi-awarded lady under one label as she has achieved and contributed so much throughout her life. Success seems to follow her wherever she goes and whatever she applies herself to.

From her humble beginnings in Camiling, Tarlac, Mrs. Vibal has relentlessly pursued her love of writing and learning to become an accomplished writer, publisher, educator, businesswoman, feminist and philanthropist. Born on March 25, 1925, Mrs. Vibal’s life is an example of how hard work, perseverance and a strong faith in God can lead one to tremendous success. She is a Journalism graduate of the University of the Philippines and started with the Manila Times and later ventured into publishing and real estate with her husband.
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March 8, 2010 is International Women’s Day, “a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. International Women’s Day has been observed since in the early 1900’s, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.”

For the Filipina who wakes up early in the morning to prepare for the food she will sell at a community market in the outskirts of Cagayan de Oro City, or for the Filipina mom blogger who takes the time to write about her passions before she starts her day, and for countless Filipina women who are toiling in farm lands, factories, hospitals, offices, or homes around the world — this is A VERY ORDINARY DAY.

“International Women’s Day” hasn’t really caught up with the sugar-dripping greeting cards for “Mother’s Day” or “Valentine’s Day.” Yet, there are a few companies that are positive about the future of a more commercialized “Women’s Day.”

Celebrating this ordinary day allows us to take our virtual stethoscopes and feel the heartbeats of Filipina women and men who support a political party in the Philippines that is “for women, by women, and of women.”

The Facebook description stated: “If elected, BABAE KA could make a difference by bringing direct services to its constituents at the grassroots level, and mobilizing the women sector in productive and constructive activities that would contribute to nation building and development.”

The phrase “Babae Ka!” a.k.a. “You are Woman!” or “You are a Filipina Woman!” sounds like a “Stand up and be counted!” battle cry. Perhaps it is. Reminiscent of Helen Reddy’s warrior song, “I am Woman!” — the call for Filipina women everywhere to celebrate their dignity, their pride, and their leadership is truly compelling.

Benjamin Pimentel, a Filipino American journalist from the San Francisco Bay Area, serendipitously posted a Youtube video today of the late Susan Fernandez Magno, a Filipina singer-songwriter, activist and academic who was “top-of-mind” for her protest music. The song had a folksy beat and bittersweet, poignant lyrics. The song’s title: “Babae Ka.”

Yesterday, over the phone, when I listened to a dear friend’s experiences as a volunteer in this for-real grassroots campaign among the Filipina street vendors, homemakers, students, and community organizers for “Babae Ka,” a women’s political party in the Philippines that is participating in the party-list election system, I was in awe of her bravery and courage. My friend confirmed that people in the cash-strapped barangays (villages) in the Northern Luzon region of the Philippines were savvy about asking for money to ensure their loyalty and their votes. However, their group’s valiant stand against vote-buying won the hearts of very ordinary people, very ordinary voters. I was touched by the email she sent me so I could, in turn, email my friends. My friend emphasized, “Contact us through Facebook at BABAE KA.”

I continued to read what they had to say in their Facebook group page.

“Babae para sa Kaunlaran or BABAE KA has evolved from being a cause-oriented civil society organization at the time it was organized in early 2005 to a comprehensive women’s political party.

Initially named as Kababaihan para sa Inang Bayan or Kababayan, the organization first focused its efforts in the delivery of basic services to poor and needy communities thru medical and dental missions, livelihood projects, skills trainings, counseling, social and political awareness discussions and similar socially relevant programs.

The decision to convert the organization into a women’s political party and participate in the party-list election system stemmed from the realization that the sector needs genuine representation in the House of Representatives with the foremost aim of helping stir the country towards attainable progress and development.”

Taking a cue from the flier about the Babae Ka platform that I received via email, their “pet bill” on Equal Employment Opportunity was something I had been waiting for.

Equal Employment Opportunity, BABAE KA’s pet bill
By BABAE KA Partylist (from Mielin Medalla)

If you are a woman or a man and looking for a job, you will always see in the advertisements, “female, 20 to 35 years old” or “male, 25 to 40 years old” as one of the qualifications. Not anymore, that is if the proposal of women’s party-list Babae para sa Kaunlaran (Babae Ka) will be enacted by the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

This proposed law will make it unlawful for any employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s age, gender and religion.

To be patterned after the Age Discrimination in Employment of 1967 that was enacted by the United States Congress, even the printing of any employment advertisement that will tend to be discriminatory to age, sex and religion shall be unlawful in this proposal.

I understand that there are many party lists that are jockeying for more funding, more supporters, and more visibility. If you’re a group like Babae Ka who is doing its best to be involved with issues, not personalities, then you have my attention.

Mabuhay, Babae Ka!

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I first read about the harassment of a Filipina by EDSA Shangrila Hotel security at Marcelle’s blog before he removed it (Fortunately, I got a Google cache and you can read the full entry below the cut). You can read the comments that still continue to come in.

I recalled my sister who experienced the same harassment twenty years ago when she visited my father in Manila Garden. At that time, we were still building a house in Manila since our main home was Cebu. Before she could enter the elevator, she was stopped. In the same manner as Cleo, she spoke in English (being a Cebuano) because she was not fluent in Tagalog. My sister was very humiliated and insulted while my father raised hell with the hotel staff.

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This is an email from a reader of the FilipinaImages.com reader.

Steve Schertzer, esl_steve@excite.com
October 15, 2009

Disclaimer: The following is an opinion piece based on fact.

— “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing; to know in their hearts and see the evils going on around them, but to sit back and let it unfold whether out of fear, apathy or both.”

—Edmund Burke, Irish Political Philosopher. (1730-1797.)

I so want to be wrong about this. I want to be wrong because I feel vindicated and it doesn’t feel good. It’s not because of the Filipino mothers or the foreign fathers. It’s because of the children. I feel vindicated because of the children. In a response to a letter I wrote for www.filipinaimages.com on March 27th, 2009, titled “The Image of the Modern Filipina”, I said this:

“If the Philippines keeps on importing less than stellar foreign men to marry their women, in 10 years this once beautiful country will have tens of thousands of half-breeds running around looking for their foreign fathers, who will have awoken one morning to realize that marrying an uneducated, dirt-poor Filipina was not to their liking after all.”

Yes I did say that, but I was wrong. It’s not “tens of thousands” of children looking for their non-Filipino fathers. It’s hundreds of thousands. And it’s not “in 10 years.” It’s now. And, (if I may correct myself again), it’s not as if these non-Filipinos are marrying any of these “uneducated, dirt-poor Filipinas.” Most are not. So I apologize for my errors. You see, this problem of abandoned half-Filipino half-whatever children is far worse than I originally thought.

Here are three questions that I would like answered by Filipinos, men and women, after you have read and contemplated this well enough to respond intellectually and wisely.

1) Is there a “sperm war” involving foreign men in the Philippines?
2) Is this who Filipinas truly are?
3) Where is the outrage?

There is a seismic shift in Filipino society. It’s been happening for a long time. It’s not an earthquake, although it may feel like one. It’s not a series of typhoons, although millions of lives are being ruined by it. This seismic shift is not geological. Neither is it a product of mother nature’s wrath. This seismic shift in Filipino society is value based. It is a huge shift in personal morality and social ethics. It is a fall from grace. A huge fall from what once was to what is now.

The quotes I use from articles, newspaper columns, and websites will enlighten and inform, but I doubt if it will shock. That’s the real tragedy. Here is the full article from the October 5, 2009 edition of the Korea Times under the headline “Kopinos Search for Korean Dads.”
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