2006: A Year of Horror for Southern Mindanao?s Women Activists
SUFFERING WOMEN. This political art, seen at the Davao offices of the women’s group Gabriela, depicts the abuses women, particularly their activist sisters, go through under a repressive regime. (davaotoday.com photo by Cheryll D. Fiel)
According to the human-rights group Karapatan, 15 women from Southern Mindanao alone were killed in the past five years due to their political involvements. Nationwide, 86 of the more than 700 victims of political killings from 2001 to August 2, 2006, were women.
By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY — A young village teacher killed in a strafing incident. An elderly woman hacked to death while sleeping in her home. Two volunteers of a nongovernment organization abducted and tortured by the military. Another NGO worker disappeared without a trace.
Several women in Southern Mindanao went through these, and more, in 2006. It was a year that, overall, saw the deterioration of the state of human rights and civil liberties in the Philippines.