Women S Rights Activists

"Love is choosing someone every day, even when you are disenchanted and disappointed, even when the rest of the world offers brief, short-lived, and uncomplicated romances, even when the easier option is to simply let go.” - Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual 2nd Edition"

"People would often ask - what is Build, Build, Build? it Is a springboard, a chance to turn a dream of connecting Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao into a reality. It means connecting 81 provinces, 146 cities, and 1,489 municipalities.”"

"This is the first time in Philippine history that expressways operated by different concessionaires — as in this case, San Miguel Corporation and Metro Pacific — will interconnect. And who are the biggest victors of this arrangement? The Filipino people.”"

"Back in 2016, no one knew what Build, Build, Build meant or what it stood for. Critics had very little expectation of the team. They wagered against our success, not knowing that when they did, they gambled against the future of their country. They were certain that the infrastructure projects would never materialize — that blueprints would remain as drawings. They didn’t expect 6.5 million Filipinos to stand and work behind it."

"What is Build, Build, Build? It is a revolution of Filipinos who want the next generation to see a better Philippines."

"Filipinos have built many cities, expressways, subways, railways, and airports elsewhere in the world as OFWs. The pandemic gave us the best talent pool one could ever ask for. Build, Build, Build gave OFWs an opportunity to serve their country if they wanted to. Although we couldn’t match the salaries they received abroad, many stayed to ensure that Filipinos would get to use infrastructure that they only saw in photos before. We are on the right track. The Philippines can be a trillion-dollar economy."

"Many will try to discredit the accomplishments of 6.5 million construction workers. They will say that what we have completed is not enough, that there could have been many things that we could have done still, or that we never really worked at all. Allow me to say — if you are reading this, and you’re part of the Build, Build, Build team - without you, we wouldn’t have been able to build 29,264 kilometers of roads, 5,950 bridges, 11,340 flood control projects, 222 evacuation centers, 150,149 classrooms, 214 airport projects, and 451 seaport projects. Philippines is in a much better place because of your skill, work, and sacrifices."

"About five years ago, on our first day of office — Build, Build, Build Czar Mark Villar and I were talking — “What can we do to make the Philippines a better place?” His answer was simple —roads to the most rural areas so that children can go to school without risking their lives, bridges to connect farmers and fishermen to their markets and infrastructure that would open up opportunities in the countryside and allow Filipinos to dream and aspire for a better future."

"Before the six-month closure of Boracay, coliform bacteria in Bolabog reached as high as one million most probable number (MPN) per 100 mililiter (ml). The streets were so narrow and cars could not pass through. Pedestrians competed with pedicabs and tricycles for whatever little space was left on the street. There were no sidewalks. Establishments encroached on the shoreline, with some sections left with barely any sand.Six months later, water quality had significantly improved — with a recorded value of only 19 to 20 MPN/100 ml. This is even lower than the acceptable threshold of 100 MPN/100 ml for swimming areas and 200 MPN/100 ml for areas of non- contact sport."

"Prior to World War II, our rail transportation spanned 1,100 kilometers. The Philippine National Railways (PNR) used to run from La Union to Bicol, linking the north and south provinces of Luzon. In 2016, however, we only had about 77 kilometers of rail routes left. What was left would oftentimes be a bane rather than a boon due to frequent technical glitches and other service interruptions. As Asian megacities were developing their rail systems, ours was on the decline"

"In one of our visits, I met a fourth-year high school student, who was three months shy from graduation. Before Yolanda hit, he was studying for his exams with his girlfriend. It was supposed to be the last Christmas they would be dependent on their allowances. They dreamed of traveling together after college. It was going to be their first time. They never had money to spare before. But in three months, they thought, everything would be all right. They only had to wait a few more months. After all, they had already waited for four years. What he didn’t expect was the fact that the storm [Typhoon Haiyan] would be so strong he would have to choose between saving his girlfriend and her one-year-old niece. For months, he would stare longingly at the sea, at the exact same spot he found his girlfriend, with a piece of galvanized iron that was used for roofing pierced through her stomach. It was a relief that one of the first projects we started under DPWH Secretary Mark Villar was the Leyte Tide Embankment, a storm surge protection structure that would serve as the first line of defense for residents of Tacloban, Palo, and Tanauan in Leyte should another typhoon hit the region."

"While there are barriers that need to be addressed, the Philippines already has the advantage. The Philippines still leads among Asian countries in terms of closing the gender gap, based on the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, where we placed 19th in the global rankings."

"Bridging the digital gender divide is crucial to achieving gender equality and promoting economic growth. Through policies, programs, and initiatives that prioritize digital inclusion and gender equality, the Philippine government is committed to ensuring that no one is left behind, that every individual, regardless of gender, has access to and can fully participate in the digital economy"

"Not every man is greater than every woman, nor every woman inferior to every man."

"But to be fair, in any covenant and time and in any land and place, has it ever happened that someone was told "my darling…" and she replied "shut up"? If a man doesn't say thousands bad words to a woman and doesn't hurt her, that woman won't give an ugly answer even once."

"It's quite hard, especially because of African traditional culture where a woman's place is in the kitchen"

"Women have a tough time contesting elections and they have to show exemplary proficiency to get recognised."

"People were not used to seeing women in public meetings talking just like male politicians do. They realised that women can talk back."

"For a woman to be successful, she has to have a very supporting husband and family."

"Parliament is very unfriendly for a woman with a child. We are talking about it and we would like to see more women with children getting into parliament and then performing their parental duties without hindrance, without neglecting the children.""

"I have been a victim of bad legislation and I want to change it. I want to make legislation that's for the people."

"I also get a lot of motivation from my children because if I didn't have children, I would not need to change the world."

"I use nudity because it's a weapon of the weak and the poor. The cost to pay is called shame, but I think I'm not ashamed of my body. It's a beautiful big mama body, and I am glad to deploy it for war."

"When I put my nipples on the frontline, I learnt they fight harder than any bazookas. Men don't know how to deal with that."

"Men with guns can't shoot at nipples."

"I am aching for the world I live in to become a better place for my children."

"A lot of what I do is really related to my position in the world as a woman for whom a lot of things don't come easy. Public health services don't work, the education doesn't work for my children, we struggle a lot and that's why I do what I do."

"These women are working, no matter where they are placed within politics. They entered political participation with the heart of the masses, the heart of the people, with the will to work against oppression."

"For many women, there is a great cost to pay, to challenge the status quo, because they benefit from it. Their children benefit from it. Doing the sort of activism that I do, threatens to take away from one’s status, or privilege, or wealth, or whatever it is they benefit from."

"The ultimate prize in the fight for freedom for my country is death. Many have been murdered. Many have disappeared and we don't know where they are. So the ultimate prize is death."

"Motherhood is important for me because everything I do is about creating a better legacy for my children."

"But do women have agency to enter politics on their own? Or must we be beholden forever to male patriarchs, and misogynistic dictators, to whom we are answerable for our political participation?"

"The third layer of participation for me are women who become enablers. They are not working with, but right from the word, ‘go’, they enter politics to enable those who are oppressed, suppressed, and abused."

"When I die, I hope my children will be proud of me as a woman who at least tried to change things, instead of just waiting for the dictator to die."

"I learnt that politics is a dish I love to eat… No one is going to make the world what I want to make it to be, unless I do it myself."

"I think it is very liberating to embrace the many forms of motherhood in all its diversity. We must not be trapped by homogenous ideas of motherhood"

"I wear lipstick, I speak like an academic, I take off my bra… and this is usually not what politicians look like."

"I don't get inspired by high and mighty women, it's everyday women. It's grandmothers, stepmothers, second wives, all swearing at their men."

"In a way, motherhood keeps me very grounded."

"Now, I am sure the poor woman in her grave… is shocked every time I perform my own version of womanhood and femininity"

"I fled to get my voice back. I fled to get my mind back. I fled to get my freedom back."

"I feed my children with takeout, once in a while, and sometimes we even buy street food. But ‘a good woman’ doesn’t do that, for example. These stereotypes trap us, and they make us feel like failures if we cannot meet these very high standards."

"I encourage emerging writers to practice writing daily if this is possible. Writing is a craft that gets better with practice. It is impossible to write a perfect script, and thus while editing and revision make finished products better, it is necessary to let go of revised drafts by submitting them to potential publishers."

"That is another form of women’s participation in politics: that they may come and sit at the table, using whatever means, but when they get to the table, they forget the core values of women empowerment, feminist agendas, and they participate with those who oppress us through models of patriarchy and misogyny that must be combated."

"I think if I weren’t a mother, I probably wouldn’t do at least ¾ of the activism I’ve done."

"Not only is an educated Ugandan woman expected to respectfully serve and sustain the status quo, but her methods of resistance are also expected to be polished, refined, respectable, and temperate—not abrasive, rude, and hard-hitting. I deliberately defy all these expectations."

"Codes of politeness demand that colonized, dominated, and subjugated peoples do not talk back to their captors, colonizers or oppressors. Politeness blunts the tongue of criticism, ridicule, satire or irony. On the other hand, radical rudeness breaks down the doors to the arsenal of verbal, literary, and linguistic devices available to launch a counterattack against corrupt militant brutes in government who use bullets, prison sentences, and mass graves to silence their opponents."

"In fact, as expressed in one of my poems written in prison, I wear my prison sentence for poetry as a badge of honor."

"The transgressive reversal of my role as an elite academic who chooses to write for (sexual and gender) minorities, poor people, and the political opposition party members further enhances the shock element within my audacity."

"In my experience, there is much greater currency and power in my deployment of irreverent idioms of satire, mockery, and ridicule of oppressive power."