Gabriela goes bar-hopping

Members of the militant women’s group Gabriela will troop to various bars and liquor stores in the metropolis to convince owners to stop selling the Napoleon Quince brandy.

The brandy has been under fire from the Gabriela over its controversial billboard advertisement that features the controversial catch phrase, "Nakatikim ka na ba ng kinse anos? (Have you tasted a 15-year-old?)"

According to Malou Jarabe, Gabriela secretary general, members will first visit stores in Quezon City this morning and convince owners to remove Napoleon Quince brandy bottles from their shelves.

Jarabe said that Gabriela members will be accompanied by 15-year-old girls during the visits.

"During the visits, we will also be handing out flyers to customers urging them not to buy the brandy because it is inimical to us women and minors," Jarabe said.

Gabriela members will then visit bars in Quezon City to enjoin bar owners to support the boycott campaign.

At the bars, members will distribute table top displays and posters that will serve as reminders to customers not to order the brandy which is being produced by the Destileria Limtuaco.

"The support is snowballing. Not only are there more and more people willing to picket Destileria Limtuaco, there are already a number of establishments like bars and liquor stores who are willing to support the call for a boycott. Even the men, Napoleon’s target market, agree that the advertisement is malicious and degrading to women and children," Gabriela president Liza Maza said.

Gabriela earlier said it will be holding bigger protest rallies against Destileria Limtuaco to pressure the company into removing all its controversial Napoleon Quince billboards.

"The makers and advertisers of the brandy remain adamant to our calls. The campaign will not stop until this indecent ad is pulled put. We are dedicated to shield women and children from such offensive and abusive concepts. They made a miserable ad, they made their business miserable too," Jarabe said.

Yesterday, Gabriela members were joined by representatives from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the Association of Major Religious Superiors and the Ecumenical Womens Forum in staging a noise barrage at the offices of Destileria Limtuaco in Balintawak, Quezon City.

Maza expressed confidence that the wave of protest actions will compel Destileria Limtuaco to remove all its Napoleon Quince billboards.

"We are expecting Destileria Limtuaco to finally realize that the negative publicity and the boycott campaign will consequently compel them to pull out the advertisement. Better that they do it sooner than later," Maza said.

The company has maintained that the billboard and radio campaigns "do not contain immodest and indecent matter," saying they do not rely on pictures of beautiful women.

P26-M Suit

Liquor manufacturer Destileria Limtuaco yesterday morning filed a P26.3-million damage suit against opposition senatorial bet Alfredo Lim for damaging the company’s two billboards in Parañaque City last Tuesday.

Olivia Limpe-Aw, executive vice president of Destileria Limtuaco, assisted by lawyer Bonifacio Alentajan, filed charges of malicious mischief against Lim before Second Assistant Prosecutor Renato Garcia of the Parañaque City Prosecutor’s Office at around 10:45 a.m. yesterday.

As a result of the damage to Napoleon Quince’s back-to-back billboards, the plaintiff asked that Lim be required to pay P350,000 in actual damage, P20 million in moral damage and P5 million in exemplary damage as well as P1 milllion in attorney’s fees.

Last March 23, Lim arrived with a team and a boom truck on Rozas Boulevard. They initially intended to cover the billboards with paint, but decided to instead cut and peel off the word "kinse" from the controversial "Nakatikim ka na ba ng kise años?" ad.

Alentajan has appealed to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and barangay officials to assist them in protecting their other billboards in the country. — With Evelyn Macairan