THE WOMEN WHO HELPED SHAPE PHILIPPINE FEMINISM

Karina Constantino-David

Karina David, part of the female duo Inang Laya, was a former community development professor before forming a band. “Music has a very powerful impact on ordinary people especially on Filipino … In the anti-dictatorship struggle, songs became part of the program,” she says. “No longer entertainment, no longer pang-alis ng sawa but just like another speech.”

The duo is composed of Becky Demetillo Abraham on vocals and David on guitars. Inang Laya went on concert tours all over the country especially during Lakbayan and during anti-dictatorship rallies. “One time, we were in Mendiola, on top of a jeepney, singing to flanks of soldiers with their helmets and shields. We couldn’t see any of them but we knew there were snipers. So, nangangatog ang tuhod,” she says. “First, we were turned away from the soldiers, the crowds started shouting, harap sa sundalo! Harap naman kaming dalawa. After a while you could see fingers tapping on the shields. After a while, you could see the heads [nodding]. Nakiki-kanta-kanta. Of course, three hours later, ti-near gas kami. Okay lang.”

“Sometimes, there are young people who insist on basta, peminista ako, wala akong pakialam sa iba. I think that is a disservice to the blossoming of a real feminist movement.”

— Karina Constantino-David

Inang Laya started as a group of academics who only wanted to record all the songs of protests from the past to the present. “We thought since we were lowly-paid professors in the university, we could record these songs for posterity and at the same time, save a lot of money and give it away as Christmas gifts,”she says. “So we recorded from 1800s onwards — the songs of the Katipunan, the songs of guerilla struggle up to the anti-Martial Law songs.” The album was launched at the UP Faculty Center and all 500 copies sold out. They reprinted and students insisted that they sing in their mass actions.

David began doing non-government organization work in the early ‘90s. They conducted seminars on violence against women, trained paralegals in communities so they could help stop domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence. “I still see that while it is necessary to segregate the feminist from the political, it is also necessary to look at the feminist side, within the larger structures. Sometimes, there are young people who insist on basta, peminista ako, wala akong pakialam sa iba. I think that is a disservice to the blossoming of a real feminist movement.”

David refused to join the beginnings of the feminist movement in the ‘70s. She observed how the movement was fractured and politicized. Eventually, she began doing non-government organization activities for Harnessing Self-Reliant Initiatives and Knowledge (HASIK) that focused on urban poor, women and children. She also held positions in Caucus of Development NGO Networks and Women’s Action Network for Development (WAND) before becoming the Chair of Civil Service Commission.

“There was always this attempt at distinguishing the feminists from the political but at the same time it was always politics in control… Today, I think we need allies. First and foremost [allies] among women and then with men. There are enough semi-enlightened men at this point who can see the feminist side of the progressive struggle and do not just say, as they used to tell us in the past ipapanalo muna natin ang rebolusyon, saka na ang babae. That cannot be because one half of the world has to be part of the change. If we are not, then that is not change.”