Livelihood. Rights. Autonomy. These were the rallying cries of women as the nation celebrates Women's Month. However, looming over these grave concerns is Marcos Jr.'s ChaCha.
Progressive working women say 100% foreign ownership of local industries through charter change (ChaCha) will only take turns with the sector's already-harsh conditions, including low wages, gender pay gap, and violence against female laborers.
Based on the 2018 Global Wage Report of the International Labour Organization, women in the Philippines earn only 78% of what men earn—a disparity even more pronounced in rural areas where women earn just 43% of men's wages.
Meanwhile, according to the National Economic and Development Authority in 2017, 40% of women workers are in the informal sector while 54% of domestic workers are women. Both sectors have little to no social insurance or protection in terms of health, maternity, disability, unemployment, and pensions.
"Kung makikita natin, 'yung mga trabaho mismo sobrang limitado na niya pagdating sa masang Pilipino; what more sa mga kababaihan na mayroon ding nangyayaring repression sa loob ng iba't ibang field [kapag naipasa pa ang ChaCha?]" said Daniela Riego, Chairperson of Anakbayan - College of Communication.
In a petition letter sent by Migrante International to the House of Representatives last March 13, they countered the claim that ChaCha will only be limited to "economic changes." They explained that foreign capitalists having unlimited access to the country's lands and other industries, would make the local entrepreneurs and employers go bankrupt.
"The result is the closure of Filipino business and factories, suppression of workers' rights including wages, the landlessness of the farmers, massive joblessness, hunger and extreme poverty for our people which lead to forced migration," the letter said.
Medy De Jesus, a martial law survivor and member of the human rights group Hustisya, asserted that ChaCha, possibly fueling labor migration amidst evidence of poor job security, put domestic workers in danger, especially women.
She cited the tragic cases of domestic workers such as Flor Contemplacion, who was executed in Singapore after accused of murdering a fellow Filipina maid and a three-year-old boy whom she was babysitting; Mary Jane Veloso, who has been imprisoned in Indonesia for over ten years after being accused of drug trafficking; and Jullebee Ranara, who was raped and burned, with her body discovered on a highway in Kuwait in 2023.
If ChaCha is passed, De Jesus also fears that the government will continue blindsiding the growing number of political prisoners, as its attention will be directed towards foreign investors.
FORGED BEHIND BARS. 75-year-old Medy De Jesus from human rights group Hustisya proudly shares and sells necklaces during the International Working Women's Day event at Morayta on March 8. The necklaces, she said, are made by political prisoners and sold for P50.
Photo by Nathaniel Vizconde.
According to the Center for Women's Resources' (CWR) tally, 23 female activists have been jailed since Marcos Jr. became president, meaning at least one woman has been detained each month under his presidency.
These numbers were intensified by the existence of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) through Executive Order (EO) 70. The task force has been known to label government critics as communist rebels without evidence, leading to the arrest, detention, or even death of the person targeted.
Even young community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who is known to be a critic of Duterte's bloody 'war on drugs,' did not escape the brutality of NTF-Elcac, as she has been detained for four years now over trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms in 2020.
Jacqueline Ruiz of Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan shared the same sentiment. She stated that slave-like wages and human rights violations necessitated women workers to organize unions. However, EO 70 restrained them from doing so.
For instance, on September 19 2023, NTF-Elcac organized a press conference with the intention of announcing the surrender of two environmental defenders, Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro, as members of the New People's Army. However, the plan did not unfold as expected, as the two revealed that they had been mentally tortured into providing false statements in their sworn affidavits and had been abducted by the authorities.
Sarah Elago of Gabriela Women's Party is also alarmed by the prospect that ChaCha could pave the way for a possible increase in foreign military presence in the country.
Last February 2023, Marcos Jr. allowed anew the United States to expand their military sites in the country through the addition of four new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Gamu, Isabela; Balabac Island in Palawan; and Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan.
"Sa pagpapasok ng mga dayuhang base militar sa bansa, tiyak na lalala rin 'yong mga kaso ng karahasan sa kababaihan tulad ng nangyari kina Nicole*, Jennifer Laude, at iba pang biktima ng mga sundalo ng US (United States)," Elago said.
Nicole is a Filipina woman raped by four US marines in December 2005—the first case to be tried under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Laude,a Filipina transwoman, was drowned to death in a toilet bowl by a US marine in Olongapo City in October 2014.
On February 23 2024, a broad coalition of women, including workers, housewives, youth, professionals, and LGBTQ+ members nationwide, united for the launch of the 'Babae para sa Inang Bayan' network. They called for genuine economic and land reform, instead of ChaCha.
: Nathaniel Vizconde
: Franzcesca Marie Dyoirj Alcala
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