For Immediate Release
MEDIA ALERT

What: News Conference
When: Wednesday, March 26, 12:00 p.m.
Where: Hotel Monaco
501 Geary Street @ Taylor Street, San Francisco
Who: Filipina Women’s Network with Eve Ensler, author and playwright of “The Vagina Monologues,” and founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls.

Attending:

- Marily Mondejar, President, Filipina Women’s Network
- Eve Ensler, author, playwright of “The Vagina Monologues,” and founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls.
- Beverly Upton, Executive Director, San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium & Partners
- Marivic B. Mabanag, Executive Director, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
- A Filipina Survivor of Domestic Violence

San Francisco - March 21, 2008 - Spurred by a recent San Francisco Superior Court decision to reduce the sentence of a man convicted of murdering his wife, the Filipina Women’s Network (FWN) will launch a campaign on Wednesday, March 26, to ask state legislators to close the “special circumstances” loophole responsible for the reduction.”As the law stands today, a man who kills his wife will receive a lesser sentence than a person who commits murder during a rape or robbery,” said FWN President Marily Mondejar.

“Why should a domestic violence case be treated as less important under the law? We need to change the law to send batterers away for a long time so that women in abusive relationships feel safe about coming forward.”

On Friday March 14, members of FWN were in the courtroom when San Francisco Superior Court Judge Jerome Benson reduced a jury’s first-degree murder verdict in a domestic violence case to second-degree murder. William Corpuz was convicted by a jury in May of last year for slitting his wife’s throat. Although Judge Benson said the murder of Marisa Corpuz, mother of two, was “a bloody, brutal, gruesome and savage killing,” he stated that he had no choice but to reduce William Corpuz’s sentence to second-degree murder because the evidence did not support a finding of deliberation. Judge Benson explained that he was constrained by limitations in California’s laws on homicide to rule as he did.

“What started as a grassroots campaign in the Filipino community has now become a statewide initiative to make California a safer place for women and girls,” said Eve Ensler, author, playwright, and founder of V-Day. “We need more groups like the Filipina Women’s Network (FWN) to mobilize communities, saving lives, one woman at a time. It makes a world without violence truly possible.”

In addition to working with California State Legislators to change this law, FWN will launch a FWN V-Day 2008 anti-domestic campaign to build awareness, which will include performances of “The Vagina Monologues,” as well as a Tagalog language version of the play which translates to “Usaping Puki,” and the new show, “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer.”

FWN will hold four V-Day benefit performances in San Francisco with an all-Filipino cast. Since 2004, FWN engages the Filipino community through the V-Day shows. “The Vagina Monologues” in Tagalog “hits home” and helps FWN in raising awareness and outreach.

Vagina Warrior Awards Presentation and film screening of “Until the Violence Stops” - March 28, 7:00 p.m., AP Giannini Auditorium, Bank of America Bldg, California and Montgomery Sts. Tickets available online at http://morgan08.eventbrite.com.

“The Vagina Monologues” - March 31, 7:00 p.m., Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave. Tickets at www.cityboxoffice.com or 415-392-4400.

“A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer” - April 4, 7:00 p.m., Herbst Theatre (www.cityboxoffice.com) and April 5, 7:00 p.m., Morgan Auditorium, Academy of Art University, 491 Post St. Tickets available online at http://morgan08.eventbrite.com.

“Usaping Puki” (The Vagina Monologues in Tagalog) - April 5, 2:00 p.m., Morgan Auditorium Academy of Art University, 491 Post St. Tickets available at http://morgan08.eventbrite.com.

For more information, contact www.ffwn.org or call 415-278-9410

About Filipina Women’s Network

FWN is the non-profit association for women of Philippine ancestry in the United States.

FWN strives to enhance public perceptions of Filipina women’s capacities to lead, change biases against Filipina women’s leadership abilities and promote the entry of Filipina women into positions of leadership in corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors.

What is Save A Filipina?

In collaboration with V-Day, Filipinas Against Violence: Save A Filipina is FWN’s anti-domestic violence campaign to raise awareness through theatre, popular culture and education about the high incidence of violence in Filipino homes and intimate partner relationships. Our mission is to help Filipina women in abusive relationships take action and seek help. Engaging the Filipino community through the V-Day shows and hearing the women’s stories in Tagalog “hits home” and helps the Filipina community understand the broader connections of Filipino values such as respect for women, dignity, family, equality and justice to social and economic issues and to class and religion. More information, email Marily Mondejar at marilym@ffwn.org or go www.ffwn.org.

About V-Day

V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues. 2008 marks V-Day’s 10 year anniversary and with it V-Day has introduced two new events, V-Day’s A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer: Writings on Violence Against Women and Girls, and the V-Day documentary Until The Violence Stops. In 2007, more than 3000 V-Day events took place in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 5000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. The ‘V’ in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. For more information, email Susan Swan at press@vday.org or go to http://www.vday.org.

What is a V-Day Campaign?

A V-Day Campaign is a catalyst for mobilizing women and men to heighten awareness about violence against women and girls. By creating this global community, V-Day strives to empower women to find their collective voices and demand an end to the violence that affects one in three women in the US and around the world.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Alyson Megur
alysonM@ffwn.org

Sunny Dykwel
sdykwel@apr.com
(San Mateo / San Jose contact)

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