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Women bear the brunt of Arroyo's rule; Maza leads women's march to prevent GMA's attempt to perpetuate self to power

Submitted by mkbyn on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 9:53am

Gabriela representative and Makabayan-Nacionalista senatorial candidate Liza Maza led thousands of women in a nationwide march against any attempt of PGMA to perpetuate self in power in the coming May 2010 elections. The march marked the centennial celebration of International Women's Day on March 8.

“Women bore the brunt of the shameless corruption and lies that characterize the almost decade-long rule of President Arroyo. We are struggling against the perennial economic crisis brought about by her brazenly mismanaged administration. We should not allow the continued stay in power of this anti-woman president, most especially her attempt to become the prime minister through the coming congressional elections," Maza said.

Maza cited the positioning of the members of the Arroyo cabinet and her family in the local and party list elections as moves to ensure hold to power.

The Gabriela solon said women are the primary victims of President Arroyo’s economic policies, which burden women most of all, worsened by lack of employment, low wages, high prices of basic commodities, and dislocation due to massive land conversions in the countryside.

IBON Foundation pegged the unemployment rate in the country at 11.2%, the highest since 1956. Government data also reveal that 70 million Filipinos are barely surviving on a meager P110 or less every day, with a tenth of the Filipinos making do with only P18 a day. Majority cannot keep up with the P894 daily cost of living, with the average minimum wage pegged at a meager P382 in the National Capital Region.

Maza challenged her kabaros to let women be the deciding force for genuine change in the coming May 2010 elections.

"A change in the leadership and governance is necessary if we want to make sure that the current condition of Filipino women will not persist in the next six years. It is a challenge for us women to choose candidates who will pursue genuine pro-people and pro-women agenda," Maza said.

The three term representative of underrepresented and marginalized women said that women should set criteria for selecting candidates for national and local positions.

“We must ensure that the people we are going to elect will prioritize the women's agenda; that they respect and promote women's rights, uphold women and children's rights have no track record of human rights violations and are supportive of wage increase and stands for genuine agrarian reform.

The International Women's Day celebration was attended by peasant women, workers, urban poor, youth, professionals and women's rights advocates from Metro Manila and nearby provinces, who earlier converged at Welcome Rotonda before the march to Mendiola.
Maza also attended the women's day celebration in Calamba, Laguna. ###