The Philippines: Peasant Women, Our Place Is In The Revolution! Take Up Arms, Participate In The People’s War!

Hereby we share an unofficial translation of an statement by the Patriotic Movement of New Women.

The Patriotic Movement of New Women (Makibaka)-Eastern Visayas extends its highest tribute to all peasant women on this International Day of Rural Women. With the worsening crisis and poverty of women in the countryside, it is only right to firmly grasp its roots and how it can be addressed through advancing people’s war.

The situation of women in rural Eastern Visayas remains dismal. Eight out of 10 peasants in the region do not own their own land. Of the few who do, it is not owned by women; only 19% of those with Emancipation Patents and 31% of those with Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) are women. This is despite the fact that women are the leaders in global food production.

They are paid little or nothing for their productive work. Worse, if they cannot pay, they are turned into servants by the landlord to pay off the debt. In the poorest communities, daughters are treated like commodities to be sold to support the family.

Poor women are the main targets of semifeudal exploitation. In Eastern Visayas, microfinancing institutions such as ASA Philippines are widespread, which instead of lifting them out of poverty only further sink women into an endless cycle of debt. Microfinance is in fact newly packaged surplus capital of international banks; it considers women as a large market because they constitute 70% of the world’s poorest, and their consumption is high, which goes towards household expenses.

In the face of disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes, women are also the most vulnerable. They are not immune, especially since they depend primarily on the environment for their food, water, energy, and livelihood. The reactionary government is utterly helpless in the face of successive disasters.

Rural women are also victims of the calamity caused by military rule in the countryside. Whenever military camps are imposed, they are directly prevented from earning a living for weeks or months. Education and health services are disrupted as soldiers camp out in schools, clinics and daycare centers. They are victims of sexism and gender-based exploitation. They are harassed and kidnapped along with young people to stop their relatives to join the revolutionary movement. Fear reigns as a result of relentless shelling and bombing.

Due to unemployment, women are increasingly forced to migrate. Those less fortunate become vulnerable to prostitution, pornography, human trafficking, and the sale of children. This is also the situation faced by LGBTQ members and youth.

The oppression and exploitation of women is being perpetuated by US imperialism, bureaucratic-capitalist feudalism. So, when and how will women enjoy true liberation? Patriarchy will only be completely destroyed and the oppression of women will end if the social base that supports oppression and exploitation is also destroyed. And this kind of society can only be destroyed through revolutionary change.

In the NPA guerrilla fronts in Eastern Visayas, they are building or rebuilding their mass organizations that were destroyed by the fascist regime’s violent counter-revolutionary war. They are not just tied to housework, but are actively participating in the antifeudal and antifascist struggle, forming cooperatives and self-defense units, and even acting as the people’s militia. They are leading medical work and literacy programs. The talented elements in the ranks of the mass organizations, especially the youth, are serving the people’s army full-time.