“Despite the challenges that Gabriela faced over the years, we are more determined to have more representatives in the Congress for the women to carry on the advancement of women’s rights and welfare in the country,� Ilagan said. �The Gabriela Women’s Party also seeks to harness the potentials, initiatives, skills of marginalized women toward empowerment and active participation in governance, and towards justice and equality.”

Also last week, the party criticized President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the militarization of towns and villages in North Cotabato in the wake of the jailbreak two weeks ago.

The women group said the deployment of more soldiers to go after the escapees has escalated the danger faced by civilians, especially women and children. It has been reported that families had suffered the brunt of the military operations, with hundreds of residents evacuating in order to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

The group said women and children are usually the primary casualties of war.

“Bringing peace to Mindanao is done not by waging war and displacing women and children,� the party said. �If Mrs. Arroyo still has the heart of a mother, she should have not turned the communities into battle fields.”

Reports reaching Gabriela indicate that the continuing conflict in North Cotabato has resulted in human rights violations, mostly against women and children. In one case, Mira Matelendo, 29, together with other civilians, were apprehended and physically tortured by government soldiers in Barangay Ulandang, Midsayap town, on Feb. 3, the group said.

According to Corazon Espinoza, Davao City coordinator of Gabriela, Arroyo �seems oblivious to the effects of war to women, especially the children, for allowing conflicts to prolong in the country, like the militarization in Midsayap, instead of addressing the violence committed against women and children.�

Espinoza said that “aside from massacres, indiscriminate firing and bombing that resulted in the lost of innocent lives, many of the women and children who have been displaced suffer from diseases and psychological disorders that cannot be treated by mere relief missions.� (davaotoday.com)

[tags]davao today, davao, gabriela, luz ilagan, liza maza, mindanao, women’s rights[/tags]