Statement of the Free Leila De Lima Movement on the 10th Anniversary of the Magna Carta of Women

Paano nga ba maging babae sa panahon ni Duterte?

Ang indahin ang bawat sipol at hipo sapagkat biro lamang naman ang ganun.

Ang matutunang hindi magreklamo sapagkat lasing ka naman nung gabing dinala ka sa madilim na silid.

Ang tumangis na lamang habang pilit pinipigilan ang pagtakas ng init sa katawan ng anak na sa iyong dibdib ay di na kailanman hihimlay.

Sapagkat ang paglaban daw ay walang patutunguhan, dahil ikaw ay babae lamang.

Hindi! Hindi dapat ganyan!

The Magna Carta of Women has paved the way for policies and programs that provide equal opportunities to education, healthcare, employment, and the right to participate fully in decision-making processes. It gave voice to thousands of women whose plight would otherwise remain unheard, muffled within a deeply seated system of unequal practices and structures.

On the 10th anniversary of this groundbreaking legislation, I would like to convey my deepest admiration for the women and men who are standing their ground, challenging all duty bearers to uphold the law to its full implementation, and make it real in the lives of women, especially those from the marginalized sectors.

We take pride in what we have achieved, and we also acknowledge that there are still many women who have no choice but to remain silent in hunger, poverty, and abuse.

They have another choice. And that is to fight.

But the stakes are high.

Life has become more difficult for women as we now live in an environment which does not exactly enable our empowerment. We are up against a president who has managed to capitalize on the culture of patriarchy to justify his anti-people policies, such as the war on drugs.

For the past three years, this regime has trained its evil sight on us, women. Crushing our hopes, mocking our pain, making light of our struggles. The women’s movement has taken monumental, yet painstaking strides towards empowerment, only for a misogynist to try to diminish that victory through his strategy of gender-based assaults, to push us back into the box marked: WOMEN SHOULD NOT FIGHT BACK.

But we fought back.

Sapagkat ang maging babae sa panahon ni Duterte ay maging babaeng lumalaban.

Hangga’t ang mga sipol at hipo ay tuluyang nang mangimi.

Hangga’t ang panaghoy ng inang inulila ay maging kolektibong sigaw ng pagkamit ng hustisya.

FREE LEILA MOVEMENT