Mina Roces and Louise Edwards, Women’s Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism
The great feminist divide over the issue of whether prostitution is ‘sex work’ or ‘violence against women’ (VAW) has its Asian variant with activists lined up on both sides of these two camps. But here was another example of where the Asian context introduced new perspectives to the debate. Activists argued that poverty, sex tourism, the presence of American military bases and American servicemen on R&R leave as well as the trafficking of Asian women across national borders (all the way to Australia, the USA, Lebanon and Europe) needed to be considered in any discussion about prostitution as a feminist issue. As cities such as Manila and Bangkok earned reputations as ‘sex capitals’ of Asian for tourists looking for a ‘good time’, women’s organizations were committed to dismantling the Orientalist narrative that represented Asian women as ‘exotic’, ‘erotic’, and submissive women since this powerful myth perpetuated the view that Asian women were ‘available’ for sex. Activists from Asia not only has to debunk their local culture’s grand narratives of the feminine, they also had to destroy images perpetuated by foreigners (including colonial and imperial powers both Asian and Euro-American) who could not get beyond the sexualized image of the ‘Asian woman’.
Western white feminists have to stop acting as if something that worked for them will work for us. There are so many other factors that play into our lives. Nor is there such a thing as “quintessential ‘Asian woman’” when different religions, cultures and histories (including older and more recent political regimes and contexts) have shaped womanhood and femininity for different Asian women in different ways.
(via themindislimitless)
The Sumilao Farmers crossing the San Juanico Bridge. November 2, 2007. To chants of “Samar na gyud!” the farmers crossed to Santa Rita, Samar from Tacloban City.
Starting from San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon on October 10, 2007, the farmers would reach Manila by foot and barge on December 3, 2007.
The march of the Sumilao Farmers was launched also on the 10th anniversary of a hunger strike they launched in 1997 to protect their claims against business interests encroaching on their land. The protest was resolved in a controversial settlement which placed the farmers at a disadvantage.
The farmers would eventually retake their land in March 2008, after more than a decade of struggling against a huge business conglomerate, several public officials and private individuals who were interested in their land.
But the victory was bittersweet. Just three months after they reclaimed their land, one of their leaders, paralegal Rene Peñas (leftmost in the picture above), would be murdered by hired assassins as he was on his way home from a meeting. The case remains unresolved.
Statue of Datu Lapu-Lapu of Mactan
Rizal Park, ManilaConsidered the first known hero of the Philippines, Datu Lapu-Lapu was a chieftain of Mactan who fought against the Spaniards and Ferdinand Magellan. On the morning of April 27, 1521, dATU Lapu-Lapu led 1,500 Mactan warriors armed with barong, spears, kampilan, and kalasag, in a battle against Portuguese explorer and conquistador Ferdinand Magellan who led a force of forty-nine Spanish soldiers armed with guns in what would later be known as the Battle of Mactan. It was in this battle that Datu Lapu-Lapu killed Ferdinand Magellan with a kampilan and thus prevented the on coming of Spanish colonization for several years as well as the completion of Magellan’s voyage completely around the world.
List of Resources for Pre-Colonial Philippines.
superhusbandslove asked: Hi, I was just wondering if you have a list of resources for finding out more about pre-colonial Philippine culture, especially with religion. Thanks.
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(Made Rebloggable by Request)
There’s actually several and they are the primary sources in learning about pre-colonial Philippines. You can find most of them online on this site with English translations. There they have a database of all the volumes of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, that is a combined composition of all the historical records of the Philippines and our ancestors between those years. There are no written records written by us because we were an oral culture, any stories and important information was passed down orally through each generation. The only things we actually did use our writing was for poems, songs, and short messages with one another. If we did write down any information they were on perishable objects like bamboo or palm leaves, and if not they were on things like the famous Laguna Copperplate, however we haven’t found them yet. Perhaps someday we might find some more written records by us but for now we still haven’t found any besides the Laguna Copperplate, so we must make do with what the early Spaniards wrote about us and the islands, which thankfully they did in some detail or else known of that would be known today. That and also records from neighboring area’s like China and Borneo.
But anyway here are some useful documents that do mention cultural stuff.
- Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas. Miguel de Loarca, June 1582
- Conquest of the island of Luzon. Manila, April 20, 1572
- Customs of the Tagalogs (two relations). Juan de Plasencia, O.S.F.; Manila, October 21 1589
- Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. Antonio de Morga 1609There is also William Henry Scott’s book, Barangay: 16th Century Philippine Culture and Society, which is a book based on his studies on those historical records in a more convenient organized book.
As for our indigenous religions they also mention that on there. If you want to read that in a more organized way read William Henry Scott’s book (it’s pretty organized as it’s already laid out for you with different sections like physical appearance, food and farming, trades and commerce, religion, literature and entertainment, etc. ) You can read parts of it online on Google Books, however it’s limited, so once you start reading you will only be able to read a few pages. Once you use your limit then only a few pages are able to be viewed. If you live in the Philippines however they do have a copy that you can borrow and read in the library in Ateneo University and most likely in UP.
You can also look at this site for a brief overview of our indigenous beliefs and practices for someone today interested in reviving them. The website was made by someone who does practice our indigenous beliefs and practices and is geared toward for those interested in reconstructing our indigenous beliefs. If you have any questions about that feel free to message me as I also practice our indigenous beliefs.
Only 100 meters away and protesters could have reached the vicinity of the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) headquarters where the US Joint Special Operations Task Force also holds office. The militants could have reached the gates if they march for 600 meters farther, only if the military didn’t set up barricades of makeshift barbed-wire fence, three Armored Personnel Carrier, a fire truck and some 300 police riot dispersal personnel.
About 3,000 workers, peasants, youth and students, teachers, church people, Moro, Lumads (indigenous people) and urban poor settlers, among others, converged here to protest the Balikatan military war exercises between the US and Philippine troops.
Dubbed People’s Caravan and Lakbayan against US Militarism and Plunder, participants came from five Mindanao regions in a 77-vehicle caravan.
While the US-PH war exercises ended last April 27, Patriyotiko Mindanao spokesperson Bai Ali Indayla said they are still opposing it because it extends until June in Sarangani in the Soccsksargen region.
“We all know that US troops will not leave,” she said. “We believe, the US is only using the feud between China and Philippines over the Spratlys to justify its continued presence here,” she added.
“The pro-US stance of every president has become worse every time we change administration,” Satur Ocampo, Bayan Muna and Makabayan Coalition president, told davaotoday.com, adding, “But, we must not stop resisting.”
Ocampo was here when a Mindanao-wide People’s Caravan was held 10 years ago. That was the time when the first US-RP military exercises, then under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, began in the areas of Basilan and Zamboanga. He witnessed how participants, after entering the city, were practically locked up by local authorities inside the sports complex. They were not allowed to march through the main streets to the city center.
But now, the protesters were allowed to march from the sports complex to Sutterville, San Jose in Gusa village. A 15-kilometer march to reach the spot that is few meters away from the WestMinCom headquarters.
Back then, locals and the local government unit have reacted negatively. A number of unidentified locals stoned the protesters’ vehicles upon the latter’s entry to the city. Many were hurt. Allegedly, bags of feces were also prepared against the protesters.
Last week, PNP-Zamboanga’s Deputy Director Superintendent Hado Naingay Del said they allowed the protesters to conduct the activity as long as they “abide the conditions imposed by the local government.” He added it is the protesters’ right to petition the government for redress of grievances. However, he declined to comment on the Balikatan exercises.
Luzon protest caravan
Meanwhile, in Luzon, a simultaneous protest caravan was held from Metro Manila to Basa Airbase in Floridablanca City and to Clark Airbase in Angeles City, Pampanga.
“Since 2002, US forces have been deployed in the country, raping our women and our sovereignty,” Gloria Arellano, national secretary general of urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayan Mahihirap (Kadamay), said in a press statement.
Kadamay slammed the entry of more than 4,700 US troops who will be deployed in the country’s different urban centers. It further scored the ‘rotational deployment’ to the country of more American troops on top of the more than 600 soldiers already based in Camp Navarro, Zamboanga City.
“The presence of thousands of foreign troops in the country is a virtual reinstatement of the US Military Base in the country after the Philippine Senate rejected its renewal 20 years ago,” Arellano added.
It can be recalled, the Senate was compelled to vote against the renewal of the Military Bases Agreement (MBA) on September 16, 1992 because of the people’s mounting protest. It led to the abolition of US bases in the country.
The MBA was signed between the US and Philippine governments on March 14, 1947. It formalized the establishment of 23 US military installations in the country’s strategic areas including the Subic Naval Base which covers 26,000 hectares and Clark Airbase which covers 66,258 hectares. Under this agreement, the US retains primary criminal jurisdiction over its troops. That is, if US personnel are accused of a crime, they are usually shipped back to the US rather than tried in the Philippines.
In 2006, US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was convicted for raping ‘Nicole,’ a native of Zamboanga, in Subic base. Smith remained under US custody instead of being detained in a Philippine jail.
“The women and children are mostly affected with these military exercises,” Emmi de Jesus, representative of Gabriela Women’s Party, told davaotoday.com.
Prior to the war exercises, US Marines remarked that “scantily clad women” are a source of “fun” in the Philippines. Women’s group Gabriela scored the US Marines saying the remark was an “insult and denigration” against Filipina women.
De Jesus said, it is an affront to the country’s dignity that Filipinas, and even children, are made commodities as the US troops carry their “culture of conquer” here. “It’s a form of violence that women and children are made prostitutes,” she said.
Gabriela said the massive US troop deployment will only heighten prostitution and abuse of women and children just like in the ‘80s when the US Army was based in Olongapo. Back then, the group said, 30,000 women — mostly between 14 to 16 years olds — work in brothels and bars.
Despite granting the Philippines its so-called independence in 1945, the US maintained its military presence in the country. On August 30, 1951, the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty was signed, obliging both countries to provide joint defense against any external attacks. In 1999, the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement was signed. This accord allows US troops to conduct war exercises in the country, further entrenching the US military role in the country.
Worse than his mother
Ocampo said it was the late “pro-American” Corazon Aquino who rallied in the Congress for the US military bases to stay in the country.
Now, under her son’s leadership, the “puppetry to US dictates is even worse.”
Ocampo said the V FA was not enough for President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III, adding that Aquino entered into an agreement with the US last November creating a joint committee. The committee aims to study and review the country’s economic problem. There is a five-year joint US-PH economic program and reform program for the country’s trade and investments, legal system, and taxation law and order, among others.
“This means the US is even meddling with the civilian administration,” Ocampo said.
On April 30, according to Ocampo, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin will meet with US State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Washington DC (District of Colombia) to discuss an agreement to enhance US military intervention and increase troop deployment in the country. Aquino is set to follow to co-sign the agreement with US President Barack Obama.
The agreement is said to be part of the US defense plan to re-assert its dominance in the Asia-Pacific as it is threatened with China’s rising economic and military power and to protect its economic interests. US’s plan calls for maximum use of treaty and executive arrangements with its allies including our country, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
Currently, China and the Philippines are at odds because of the Spratly islands.
Ocampo said the Philippine government and its people need to strengthen their stand, to diplomatically oppose China’s harassment. “We need to assert our place but we must not depend on US, rather, we must defend ourselves. We must not allow ourselves to be under the mercy of US again.”
Defend its economic interests
Bai Ali Indayla of the alliance Patriyotiko Mindanao explained why the US continues to deploy its troops in the country.
“The US has long been under economic crisis. It needs to colonize and control countries to get raw materials and to sell its surplus products,” adding that US also needs these countries to sell its weapons and military equipment, “It needs to create wars to save its bankrupt economy.”
Indayla said, the US wants to continue controlling the country including the economic and natural resources. In 2008, the biggest oil company in US, the Exxon Mobil, started exploring the natural gas deposits in Tawi-tawi Sea. The US is also interested in mining the goldfield province of Compostela Valley in the Davao Region. It continues to guard other US-based corporations like the Dole-Philippines that has long owned vast lands in Mindanao.
“We have seen, in the almost one decade stay of US troops here, they’ve done nothing good. Instead, they only trample our sovereignty,” she said.
Receiving aid for a pittance
“We have been at the losing end of the 65 years of supposed RP-US “special relations,” Ocampo said.
Since the US-RP military assistance agreement in 1947, the US has given the country only secondhand war materiel such as secondhand rifles, secondhand helicopters and secondhand ships, among others. The agreement has aimed to modernize the armed forces, yet, the country has been receiving aid for a pittance despite its support to US wars against Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ocampo quoted US Army Gen. Edward Reeder who said that it only cost them USD 50 million (PHP ) a year to maintain the “small military contingent of about 600 US service members” while it cost them USD 2 billion (PHP ) a week in its war in Afghanistan since 2001.
“Filipino soldiers are already happy if the US government gives helmets and other things. But this is very small compared to what they’ve been getting from us. Through surveillance mapping of our territory, which they can do through their satellite, they can locate mineral resources that they can later exploit. Since they came here in 1898 until now, their primary interest is the economy,” Ocampo explained.
“The US spends billions for wars and military equipment that kills people in our communities,” Indayla said.
Patriyotiko Mindanao calls on the people of Mindanao to defend the island from the continuous US incursion. “As long as the US troops are here and the US controls our country, we can never achieve genuine freedom, meaningful change and development. We can never have our national sovereignty.”
