100% Pinoy interviewed me for a segment on “Modernong Maria Clara” that was aired Thursday, April 24, 2008. The episode talked on the image and the evolution of Filipino women.

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After Charice Pempengco, another Filipina may well be on her way to musical stardom. McDonald’s employee Mary Margaret Yu came back to the country triumphant last April 20 after competing in the finals night of “Voice of McDonald’s 2008” held in Orlando, Florida.

Yu bagged the second prize for the competition while the Grand Prize was won by Natércia Pintor of Portugal. The 22-year-old Davao resident and choir member took home $10,000.

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I have read two blogs that seem to misinterpret the goals of FilipinaImages.com.

Let me make it clear. FilipinaImages.com is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) project to create a balance of the “Filipina” keyword in search engine results’ pages. That’s why our tagline is called Reshaping the Filipina Image Online.

We are not out to improve or change the perception of the Filipina Image.

We believe….that

The Filipina of the Future deserves a more empowered, diverse image online.
Multiple, complex, and whole.

We don’t seek perfection. We repeat: We seek balance in the Filipina images that are available online. We share our reflections about what the Filipina of the Future could be like, too. Dignity is every person’s human right. Whether the Filipina is a mother, a nanny, a decision maker in the corporate arena, a domestic service professional (formerly known as “domestic worker”), or a mail order bride, they have the right to empower themselves — through education, through equal rights in the household and the workplace, through connecting with people who want the same — and more.

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Reading this article got me teary eyed. Another touching life story of a Filipina.

Analiza Yape worked her way through high school and college by working as a maid. An orphan since Grade 6, she did not reason out this status in life to stop dreaming and believing. All she wanted was for her and her siblings to finish college and have a better life. She saw problems in life as challenges and opportunities.. she never quitted and focused on her goal instead.
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Meet Ma. Ana Samson Betita also known as Mayen, the Filipina girlfriend that Timothy Ellis Cumper mentioned in this entry. Tim alleges that Mayen orchestrated an attempted money scam amounting to almost Php 92,213.39 thousand pesos ($2,000.00 plus) through an alleged fake ectopic pregnancy with a group of her Filipino friends from Tierra Maria Estates, Medical Center Parañaque, doctors and a lawyer of the latter, Chin Chin Gutierrez and many others including bloggers. (read the list of alleged scam artists). Tim Cumper never sent the money requested to pay for the hospital bills.

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by Marikenya

The introduction of gender laws in the Philippines has showed substantial progress in terms of protecting women and children from abuses. In other countries in Asia and in some parts of our country however, gender discrimination remains pervasive.

Although the efforts of the government and NGOs and other concerned groups are laudable in promoting gender equality, it seemed off-track or probably lacking attention on particular segment of “women” like youth and the elderly.

While there are a lot of activities and programs on addressing gender parity, most of these efforts are directed towards the very young (children) and adults (those in their mid-20s to middle-age). Although there are, it seemed that promotions of gender empowerment targeted for the youth sector of our communities are insufficient. Take for example the increase of porn websites featuring young Pinays, not to mention those who provide live show for foreigners in their very own home in exchange of dollars. Many teen Filipinas also fall for the empty promises of online dating sites as well as mail-to-order bride programs in the hope of finding rich foreign husbands or lovers.

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Congratulations to the WikiPilipinas Filipina Stories Contest

1st prize: The Filipina Doctor: Coming Full Circle by Dr. Claire Francisco

2nd prize: The Evolving Beauty of a Modern Filipina by Eddie Oguing

3rd prize: The Cyber Feminization of Poverty: Mail-Order Brides and the Image of the Filipina by Genevieve Ruth Villamin

And the winner of the Ipod nano is from Netherlands. Sorry I can’t remember the entry right now.

To the winners: Please Contact mindy@wikipilipinas.org.ph for more details.

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Lorna’s Introduction: FilipinaImages.com’s advocacy blog and news portal would like to showcase more news and stories that impact Filipinas in terms of gender equality and gender mainstreaming — so please let us know what you are doing in your community for Filipina women, wherever you are in the world.

To listen to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Pinoy Pod’s podcast on the 2008 V-Day presentations, please click here.

As the Filipina community in the Philippines’ time zone sleeps, here in San Francisco, California, the Filipina Women’s Network’s members and supporters are still waiting for our evening on March 28 to finally arrive. Today, we launch our V-Day celebrations with a film showing of the documentary, “Until the Violence Stops”, and the FWN Annual Vagina Warrior Awards.

We have come a long way from 2004 when FWN started its first Vagina Monologues’ community production. Many in our Filipino American communities have come forward to help out in ending violence against our Filipina girls and women worldwide.

In 2005, FWN published its first Anti-Violence Resource Guide, named V-Diaries, that served as a supplement (to targeted zipcodes in the San Francisco Bay Area) for the San Francisco Chronicle, a playbill for its V-Day productions, and a real helpful resource guide for many of our Filipino families nationwide. It is also available online at FFWN.org. FWN continues to seek sponsorship and advertising for this yearly publication — so please keep this in mind if you are looking at sponsoring FWN’s efforts in helping end violence against our women and girls worldwide.

Among this year’s beneficiaries of the FWN V-Day productions (aside from the V-Day organization as a beneficiary) is the Liga ng mga Lolang Pilipina, the League of Filipina Grandmothers (LILA Pilipina). M. Evelina Galang, the celebrated author, tireless advocate for these lolas, and one of the 2008 Vagina Warrior awardees, recently wrote the FWN members this message:

“Thanks to all of you for choosing the lolas I have been working with, surviving Filipina “Comfort Women” of WWII as one of your beneficiaries for this year’s Vagina Monologues! I have already been working with several of you who are writing their profiles up and highlighting the struggles of their fight for justice and your excitement and enthusiasm has been amazing. I was actually in Quezon City working with the lolas during the time that Eve Ensler came out to interview them. Those same lolas you see in her film, UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS, are the lolas of Liga ng mga Lolang Pilipina. Many have died, but many in their late 80’s and 90’s are still fighting. Your fight, your hard work, your many hours of rehearsal, of marketing this program, of selling tickets and of speaking their words in these programs, are felt by the women of LILA. I am excited to come to SF and NYC to be a part of your productions on their behalf.”

We quote from the 2005 V Diaries, page 23, which explains what “Vagina Warrior” means.

What is a Vagina Warrior?

Someone who has suffered or witnessed violence, who grieved it, transformed it, and then does extraordinary work to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else in their community.

In every community there are humble activists working every day, beat by beat to undo suffering. They sit by hospital beds, pass new laws, chant taboo words, write proposals, beg for money, demonstrate and hold vigils in the streets. These women and men have dedicated themselves toward ending such violence through effective grassroots means. They have been the heart of V-Day since it was conceived as a worldwide movement to empower and enable local activists to raise awareness and funds locally through V-Day benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues.

In order to guarantee a world without violence, in a time of danger and escalating madness, we urged the following Vagina Warriors to come out and join us so together we can continue our work.

IMAGINING A VIOLENCE-FREE WORLD
AN EVENING WITH THE 2008 VAGINA WARRIOR HONOREES

What: Presentation and film screening of “Until the Violence Stops”
When: Friday, March 28, 6:30 p.m.
(reception at 5:30 p.m., courtesy of Ramar Foods)
RSVP: Online, go to http://morgan08.eventbrite.com
or Call 415.278.9410
Where: AP Giannini Auditorium, Bank of America Building
555 California @ Montgomery, San Francisco, CA

Who:

- Anna Lisa Enrile PhD, National Chair, GABnet; Professor, USC School of Social Work
- Ken Marquis, Senior Director, V-Day FWN; Team Manager, George P. Johnson Company
- Ken Theisen, Justice & Courage Oversight Committee Member; Advocate, Bay Area Legal Aid
- M. Evelina Galang, Filipino American Coordinator, HR 121; Asst. Professor, University of Miami
- Mona Pasquil, Board Member, My Sister’s House; Vice President, MSHC Partners
- Nenette Flores, Accounting Officer, San Mateo County
- Sonia Delen, Senior Vice President, Banc of America Leasing
- Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye, Justice, California Third District Court of Appeal

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Tomorrow, March 29 at exactly 8 PM, let us all join the world-wide event Earth Hour. Let us participate in making a statement against global warming.

We invite everyone to turn off the lights and unplug the electrical appliances at home, in the office, anywhere! We are doing this to save energy. We are doing this for the environment and most especially, for our children.

Here in Manila, major cities are joining the Earth Hour. Both private companies and the government are supporting this event.

To know more about local activities, please visit: http://www.earthhour.org/cities/manila

To know more about Earth Hour, please visit: http://www8.earthhourus.org

Please spread the word.

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.

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