Not a win for women

FORMER president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo getting the title as the first female Speaker of the House is not a win for women. It does not translate as a win for women. It is an affront, not an achievement.

She has never pushed forward the interest of women, and she never will. Her record of pro-foreign capitalist policies, human rights violations, massive cheating, and corruption as president clearly indicates her disregard to push forward the agenda of the marginalized.

Instead, the public should be warned and reminded of Arroyo’s scandals and crimes.

Even though Arroyo has been cleared by the Supreme Court for the case of plunder, her record as president has been linked to many other cases: NBN-ZTE deal, fertilizer fund scam, presidential elections cheating or the Hello Garci scandal, Ampatuan massacre, 205 enforced disappearances, 1,190 extra judicial killings, 104 media killings, and 1,028 torture cases.

With all of these cases, she has never been prosecuted.

While it was under the Arroyo administration that the Magna Carta for Women was enacted, the passage was a result of women’s persistent struggle for equality.

It was also during her time that an American soldier convicted of rape was allowed to escape.

Apart from that is Arroyo’s stand on reproductive health and home birthing that put many lives of mothers at risk. The anti-home birthing policy, which is still currently implemented in the country, has proven to be burdensome and dangerous for the majority of Filipino mothers, especially for the indigenous women and rural women who do not have any access to home birthing facilities.

Her anti-women and anti-poor stance as a president should be a reminder to women now that she is leading the Lower House. With charter change and federalism being pushed in congress, we know that we are into a big fight these coming days.