Philippine Women’s Coalitions Launch 18 Days of Activism against Violence (tags)
On the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (VAW), which marks the start of the 18 Days of Activism Against VAW, women’s groups held a press conference and rally in front of the US Embassy. The coalitions announced today that they unite in focusing on the call for justice for Jennifer Laude during this 18-day campaign period which starts on November 25, and will sustain the campaign until justice is served.
The day after “Ka Bel” died, my father sent me an email urging me to go to the wake for the party-list representative. He said Crispin Beltran was once his boss and one whom he deeply respected, and he felt it was his filial obligation to offer flowers and prayers at his wake. But since he was away in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on a scholarship, he asked me to go his place. I’m no leftist; I’m not even politically inclined, as some of my schoolmates have probably noted. So when I put on my denim pants and rubber shoes to go to Manila’s Quiapo district to buy some flowers, I thought that I was merely doing what my father had asked me to do: to offer flowers and prayers for a dead man.
December 17 Mass Rally in Manila:Unresolved issues justify protest, say bishops (tags)
AJLPP -USA and Philippine news sources reported today that the December 17 prayer rally in Manila will push through. AN “escalation of crises” that the leaders of the country’s Roman Catholic Church can no longer take sitting down prompted the Church to spearhead tomorrow’s planned huge prayer rally at Manila’s Rizal Park. News reports also confirmed that top officials of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines yesterday rebuffed calls from administration stalwarts for them to abandon the rally at the Quirino Grandstand in the wake of the decision by Ms Arroyo’s allies to scrap plans to convene a constituent assembly. The CBCP secretary general, Msgr. Juanito Figura, said the CBCP could no longer ignore the escalating problems facing the country, including the questions surrounding President Macapagal-Arroyo’s disputed victory in the 2004 elections. Figura specifically cited the “Garci” tapes, which set off the election controversy, the P728-million fertilizer fund scam and the so-called Mayuga report on the alleged involvement of military officials in election fraud as among the issues unresolved to this day. “The Church cannot play blind, deaf and mute to the sufferings that these issues have brought,” Figura said in a press conference.