Clad in their tribal wear, women from the tribes of Manobo-Bukidnon, Bagobo, Matigsalog from Mindanao, Dumagat and Mangyan from Southern Luzon and Kankan-ey from Cordillera joined in a protest rally in front of Camp Crame in Quezon City, for the International Day of Action for Women’s Health yesterday.

The group threw their support for and demanded the release of Andrea Rosal, daughter of the late Communist Party of the Philippines Spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal. They said that the “lack of humanity extended by State forces” to Rosal, caused the untimely death of her first born child.

“Not a shred of humanity was extended to Andrea Rosal. It is unimaginable suffering to languish in a cramped, sticky, blistering hot jail cell while pregnant. Proper and adequate medical attention was bereft from Andrea while in jail. Even after the death of her child, Andrea was kept from mourning. This is a disgrace, a well-publicized violation of women’s rights,” said Bai Norma Capuyan a Manobo woman leader and BAI convenor.

Same predicament

Capuyan said that the condition suffered by Rosal while incarcerated is very similar to the situations of Lumad women in Mindanao and other indigenous women around the country.

She  said that women and children bore the brunt of heavy militarization in far flung areas especially in communities where mining companies operate.  Capuyan added that the recent mass evacuation of Manobo from Talaingod, Davao Del Norte resulted in the death of a baby, while two women had miscarriage while in the evacuation in Davao City.

“Women gave birth in the evacuation center, suffering from cold, heat, lack of proper shelter and exhaustion. It is no news to us that another woman has suffered the same maltreatment in the hands of the government,” said Capuyan, referring to Rosal. The evacuees reaching 1,353 individuals mostly women endured 6 days of trekking the mountains, before reaching Davao City, according to Capuyan.

She also said that bombings in Talaingod traumatized pregnant women. “When the military bombed Talaingod, a seven month pregnant woman run aimlessly, she was frightened caused her miscarriage,” she claimed. In a report of a recently concluded national fact finding mission, participants witnessed the death of at least two infants due to measle.

Capuyan further said that aerial bombing in Talaingod and as well in other parts of Mindanao is due to the intense desire of mining companies to operate in their communities.

Another tribal woman leader Lorna Mora, a B’laan, added that mining operations always come with militarization, and cause human rights violations.

Mora said the case of Juvy Capion, who was killed by the military last year was a clear testament that women bore the burden of militarization. “The Capion family defend their ancestral domain, they, together with their tribe frustrated the entry of SMI-Xstrata, and she was killed together with her children,” Mora said. Capion was three months pregnant when she was killed.

Mora also lamented the lack of government medical services for the indigenous women, she said that most of their communities are located in far flung areas.

“We have to endure walking for several kilometers before we reach the nearest poblacion where a health center is located,” she said. According to Mora, men are forced to oversee their pregnant woman during childbirth. “Husbands learned how to deliver babies, and we rely on our Babaylans,” said Mora.

“(But) now, the government wants to ban home birthing, and yet they send military troops instead of medical services for women and children,” Mora added.

Mora referred to local government policies prohibiting home birthing in many provinces. The Department of Health had denied that the government bans home birthing, but encourages pregnant women to avail of “professional birth attendants”.

The protesting indigenous women also urged the Philippine government to resume talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

“It is high time for both parties to go back to the negotiating table and resolve the roots of the armed conflict. Indigenous women bear the brunt of massive attacks of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the hills, Oplan Bayahinan is grief and suffering for us women and indigenous peoples,” Capuyan said.

Double standard

The group said that instead of giving priority to marginalized women, the government prioritize the likes of Janet Lim Napoles who was detained in a spacious house in Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Napoles is now being cared for in Ospital ng Makati, while Rosal was detained in a cramped cell in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig before the authorities took her to Philippine General Hospital where her newborn child died.

“Andrea is languishing in jail. Yet none of the senators, congressmen, and their cronies implicated in large-scale corruption of public funds have been put behind bars. It is these plunderers and the human rights violators that should be in jail,” Capuyan added.

The human rights group Karapatan also slammed the idea of the Philippine National Police to construct or renovate a building inside Camp Crame for politicians allegedly involved in the pork barrel scam.

“Actually, the BS Aquino government and the PNP need not construct or renovate a building for these 100 pork barrel suckers. This government need only to release Andrea Rosal and 489 political prisoners to give space to the plunderers of the people’s money,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan.

Aside from Rosal, Karapatan also called for the release of at least 14 peace consultants of the NDFP and other political detainees who are elderly and sickly.

Adding insult to injury

Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus, meanwhile, said that corruption in the government has denied Filipino women basic health care, but allows those implicated in corruption like Napoles to use their own health problems as an excuse to stay in hospital confinement.

De Jesus lamented that while poor women cannot afford the most basic fees for maternal and child care and suffer serious reproductive problems, Napoles is being cared for with taxpayers’ funds while conspiring with government officials in confusing the cases against the bigwigs involved in the pork barrel scandal.

“Napoles and her pork clients allegedly stole so much money that could have been spent for providing health services for poor women and families…(T)hey add insult to injury by using her health problems as a bargaining chip to lessen, if not totally escape, their legal liabilities. Her supposed sickness is the cheapest play-acting, a slap to poor women detainees such as Andrea Rosal,” De Jesus said.

De Jesus also filed a resolution calling the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate possible violations of the rights of Andrea Rosal which could have contributed to the death of her two-day old infant Andrea Diona Rosal.

“Any pregnant woman in her third trimester is in need of special care and her request for an electric fan given that she was detained at during Metro Manila’s rising heat spell was not capricious but was perfunctorily denied for a flimsy excuse that the facility’s electric bill is high,” the lady lawmaker said.

De Jesus added that the denial of immediate medical attention given Andrea’s advanced pregnant state runs counter to the State’s affirmation of women’s human rights and its avowed duty under international and domestic laws, particularly under Republic Act No. 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women, to respect, protect and fulfill women’s human rights, which includes, among others, the right of the mother to reproductive health.