Top 600 women?
Inquirer News Service
THE PAID advertisement, "Message to the Congressmen: From Over 600 Top Independent Women in Civil Society," which started appearing in the Inquirer last August, has caught the attention of our group, the Women of Partido ng Manggagawa.
The signatories of the ad clearly belong to a very small group of well-known and affluent women in Philippine society. It is to their best interest that the status quo remains. But not to the majority of poor and discriminated women whose situations have been getting worse each day President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo remains in Malacañang.
The continued rule of the elite in this country has made the lives of poor women an endless struggle with hardships, hunger, poverty and oppression. Their conditions in life will definitely be better off if the government makes significant changes in its economic policies -- like higher budget allocations for economic and social services, such as health care, childcare, livelihood programs, etc.
However, the Arroyo administration has stood its ground and has opted to pursue anti-poor policies -- implementation of the expanded value-added tax law, bigger budgetary allocation for debt servicing at the expense of social services, and the privatization of public utilities such as power and water, among others.
In addition, the political siege that has hounded the Arroyo administration for the past several months now has been left unresolved with the death of the impeachment complaint. The issues of cheating and betrayal of public trust are far superior to the issue of admissibility of evidence and all other technical and procedural issues. Thus, Ms Arroyo does not have any right and duty to serve out a term stolen from the Filipinos. For as long as she squats in Malacañang, the Philippines will never be given genuine respect by the community of nations.
But, indeed, Ms Arroyo has been a real blessing to the likes of the Osmeñas, Valencias, Cojuangcos, Montenegros, Yuchengcos, Pamintuans, Imperials, De Dioses and hundreds of others in "civil society." To the poor majority of women, however, the Arroyo administration has been a never-ending nightmare.
JUDY ANN CHAN-MIRANDA, secretary general, Labor Party-Philippines, 34 Road 3, Project 6, Quezon City