From L-R. Senator Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (Photo from www.gracepoe.ph)
TAGUM CITY—A Mindanao-based group said that Senator Grace Poe’s recent victory at the Supreme Court does not reflect the aspirations of women, even if the presidential candidate thinks it does.
“The SC verdict does not in any way reflect women’s aspirations as the ‘Galing at Puso’ presidential bet has not even presented a comprehensive women’s agenda,” the Forum of Women for Action with Rody Duterte (Forward) Women said in a statement over the weekend.
“Grace Poe’s victory cannot be equated with ‘women’s victory’ per se,” the group stressed.
The group, which is composed of women leaders in Mindanao, accuses Poe of “deception” after she claims that her victory was also a victory for all women.
“We are deceived by such statements from Sen. Grace Poe and this speaks much of how little she knows about how International Women’s Day came to be— the struggles of women before they can vote and assert for their rights are simply off tangent to how she described her legal victory as synonymous to that of women’s emancipation,” they said.
It can be recalled that Poe, during the International Women’s Day rally in Manila on March 8, claimed that her victory at SC was also a victory of the oppressed women.
“This victory isn’t only mine.. This is most of all a victory for the oppressed, a victory for those who are burdened by this system and a victory for women,” Poe said as quoted saying.
But the group pointed out that the High Tribunal’s decision which favors Poe “cannot be equated with victory of the women’s movement.” The ruling has reversed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling over her citizenship and residency issues.
“To claim her touted legal triumph on account of residency and citizenship issues as a sort of victory for the women sector comes short of stating that she has the ‘women vote’ when in fact she is yet to prove and show us her track record relative to addressing women’s issues and concerns,” the group said.
Poe’s statements during Gabriela’s Women’s Day Rally in Manila are apparently sweeping and out of context, the group added.
According to the group, only PDP-Laban presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has committed to prioritize women’s agenda in the economic, political and social spheres including governance and legislation once elected into office.
It was learned that Duterte made his commitment during a Mindanao-wide Forum of Women for Action last February 27 in Davao City which was attended by more than 300 participants coming from several parts of Mindanao. (davaotoday.com)
