A million 'No' to violence against women

A campaign has been launched in Quezon City to collect one million signatures saying no to violence against women.

The campaign was launched March 2 by Quezon City Mayor Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr. to open the city’s Women’s Month celebrations. The mayor addressed a huge crowd with a call to unite and build awareness of the situation of women. In attendance were Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, Vice -Mayor Herbert Bautista, United Nations Development Fund (UNIFEM) coordinator Luz Rodriguez, QC Ladies Foundation’s chairperson Joy Belmon-te-Alimurung, the city’s Gender and Development (GAD) Council, and key heads from local government and civil society groups.

The signature campaign launched the city’s call for a united stand against all forms of violence against women and children. It bolsters the city’s strong advocacy for gender equality, being the first in the National Capital Region to pass a code and institutionalize said measures for their protection.

Instead of the usual Monday morning flag ceremony, guests and employers witnessed the city’s fire truck shower from atop its ladder green and lilac-colored confetti over the crowd wearing various shades of pink and violet. Another highlight was the signing of an agreement by Ombudsman Gutierrez, as president of the Federa-cion Internacional de Abogadas (FIDA) and Mayor Belmonte and Joy Belmonte-Alimurung for the former to expand free legal services to the city’s indigent residents.

The city’s Gender and Development Resource and Coordinating Office (GADRCO) head Mary Ruby Palma spearheads the initiative to collect signatures against violent acts on women which will be submitted to the mayor on the 70th founding anniversary of the city and the 7th anniversary of GADRO under the mayor’s office.

For inquiries on how to add your name to the No to Violence campaign, call 4330235.

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Cynthia G. Tan emailed to say that Justice Leonor Ines Luciano is turning 90 years old, and not 80, as I had erroneously written in last Saturday’s column. Cynthia writes: “I’m not surprised that you thought she’s just turning 80 on May 8, her birthday! We are together in different charitable organizations, specifically the Catholic Women’s League (CWL) and the National Sandigan Foundation. And her intelligence, her actions, and her work contributions always make us wonder how she can do all these at her age. For us younger members, she’s our idol and role model.”

I must confess I had difficulty mentioning all of Justice Luciano’s involvements. She’s into so many organizations — all of which are aimed at helping empower women and the less privileged in life.

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Justice Luciano’s credibility got her into the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) senatorial slate in the 1992 elections. She chose to be on the Ramon Mitra-Marcelo Fernan ticket, her fellow candidates Senators Raul Roco, Edgardo Angara, Neptali Gonzales, Blas Ople and Ramon Revilla. A columnist wrote: “Justice Luciano has been a cathedral builder, not a stone-cutter. She does not spew fire and shatter things into fragments. She heals the wounds, repairs the broken pieces, and unifies the fragmented. . .”

She lost, but her platform would have made her an effective senator, as it reflected her concern for family life, special programs for drug addicts, prostitutes and juvenile delinquents, and for wives of overseas workers to help them manage their husbands’ remittances and make them productive with worthwhile social and economic pursuits so as to reduce, if not totally eliminate, marital infidelity.

Still, she became a legislator, with her appointment by President Fidel V. Ramos, as Sectoral Representative for Women in the 9th and 10 Congresses. As expected, many of her bills pushed for women and youth empowerment.

As if working for the passage of bills were not enough, she took on an even serious job of chairing the sub-Committee on Oversight of the Committee on Women. She did this because, she told an interviewer, “Oversight is the proper duty of a sectoral representative. Hence, there is a need to review and study the implementation of laws on women to see if they respond to women’s concerns; their proper implementation, and if there is need of amendments or new laws.”

As her term as chair came to an end, she said, “We noticed that indeed, there were already so many laws on women but implementation was poor and something had to be urgently done about this situation.”

Prior to her legislative work, when she was president of the Catholic Women’s League, she said the group hewed to the Catholic Church’s position of natural family planning being the only acceptable method. But years later, in 1993, she wrote in the Philippine Panorama, “Time was when the Catholic Women’s League. . . fouled up POP-COM’s campaign by carrying on a media blitz against the selling of condoms over the sari-sari store counter and the cafeteria style of presentation. But today, we agree that we need a population policy that responds to the problems of a country… that is sensitive to our culture and morals… Considering the diverse pluralism of our membership, we agree not to impose our beliefs on others… Thus, we respect each one’s freedom of conscience, an informed conscience — knowing what is right and what is wrong.”

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