JEDDAH, 21 March — Rep. Augusto Syjuco of Iloilo has sponsored a bill that seeks to make basic self-defense training a must for Filipino girls and women.
Syjuco signed the proposed measure, "An Act Establishing the Movement to Help Eradicate Rape and Other Female Abuses (Mother)," which was prepared by the Mother Movement in Riyadh on Saturday.
Rep. Bellaflor Angara Castillo of Aurora province had also pledged to file a bill as soon as she gets back to Manila.
The two House members were in Riyadh as part of the joint Senate-House committee which came to conduct a public hearing on the absentee voting bill.
Perla S. Vega, founder and chairwoman of the movement, said the congressman sent an original copy to his staff in Manila for filing with the House of Representatives.
In an interview with Arab News early on Saturday, Syjuco said he was convinced to sponsor the bill after learning about the self defense program being carried out by various women’s groups in Riyadh and the Eastern Province.
"We all know that women are vulnerable to many kinds of physical abuses. What I came to realize during my trip here in Riyadh is that there is a novel way of teaching women how to avoid getting abused and fighting abuse," he said.
Syjuco’s soon to be filed bill is similar to Senate Bill No. 123 of Juan Flavier and SB No. 733 of Loren Legarda-Leviste.
Also both an offshoot of the Mother Movement’s advocacy, the Flavier and Leviste bills were filed as early as the 11th Congress but they failed to hurdle the committee level because members of Congress were busy quarrelling.
The two senators refiled their bills when the 12th Congress opened last year. Both were also taught to be sleeping the sleep of the dead until the Mother Movement called the attention of opposition senators who were part of the delegation to Riyadh.
Sen. Edgardo Angara acknowledged that the bill was pending action under a committee that he heads and he promised to bring it out for plenary discussion after one more hearing.
Convincing demonstration
To impress upon the lawmakers the need for a law on women’s self-defense training, Vega said in a speech that the Philippines, because of its high rape record, is now considered the rape capital of Asia.
"This could be evident from the fact that of those in the Philippine death row, most have been convicted of the crime of rape," she said, noting that in 1999 alone, out of the more than 800 on death row, 550 were rapists.
She also reminded the lawmakers that 60 percent of of the Filipinos who seek work abroad are women, "many of whom return home physically or emotionally brutalized, if not in coffins."
At home or abroad, she said, Filipino women are also most vulnerable to trafficking, attacks by drug addicts, robbers, snatchers and even by abusive husbands.
After enumerating the dangers women face, the lawmakers were shown how women could benefit from self-defense trainings, based on a practical program developed by the Mother Working Group (MWG) with the help of well-known Filipino martial arts groups in Riyadh.
During the demonstration, three couples showed the different techniques of defending themselves from different kinds of physical attacks.
Another actor also showed how a woman could defend herself from two or more attackers.
One of the women demonstrators took it seriously by giving her husband a real beating, prompting cheers from females in the crowd but sending shivers among the males.
The Mother program, however, is more than breaking a molester’s nose or kicking his groin.
It also teaches girls and women ways to avoid abuses, such as not wearing provocative dresses, giving a response that immediately discourages would-be molesters, and effective way of seeking help.
Mrs. Vega said that while the program could be spread to benefit many more women by organizing groups and through networking, a legislation would make training mandatory so that all Filipino females would be protected.
The bill filed by Syjuco and those pending in the Senate calls for free training as part of the Physical Education program of the Education Department, with other agencies Philippine National Police, and the departments of foreign affairs, labor, and interior helping to implement it.
Mother’s volunteers
In Riyadh, the Mother Movement had been operating on a purely volunteer basis.
The working group, which continues to work on the self-defense program, is composed of the:ASPIMA, Black Pythons, Eagle Force, King Tiger Taekwondo, International Kuntaw Federation, PhiDiAi, PhilAiKiKai, and Philcombat.
The MWG is chaired by Rudy Flores of IKF, with Milo Maligaya of King Tiger Taekwondo as vice chairman and Philcombat’s Saulo Matavia as secretary.
Riyadh International School, whose administrative officer, Erlinda Songcuya is active in the movement, provides the venue for the 5-hour weekly trainings.
For the instructional manual: illustration Philip Datu; layout artist, Richard Cruz; texts — Buck Roger Madrid, Melvin Candelaria and Noel Pasigna; supervision, Aaron Espiritu.
Performing during the demonstration were the couples Rudy and Melly Flores of IKF, Rodrigo and Ariya de la Cruz of Philcombat, and Cesar and Malou Mendez f of Eagle Force, plus the PhilAiKiKai boys.
