The Role of Women in Education and Politics

A brief introduction to the philosophy of human values is necessary for an understanding of Filipino
values and values education. A Filipino experiencesfamily closeness and solidarity (pagpapahalaga sa
pamilya), politeness (use of po or ho), hospitality (tuloy po kayo), gratitude (utang na loob) from
"within", that is, subjectively and emotionally, unlike a non-Filipino observer, social scientist, or
psychologist who studies Filipino values objectively from "without" or "from a distance".

Such Filipino values as social acceptance, (pakikisama, amor propio, economic security, pagmamay-ari),
and trust in God (paniniwala sa Diyos, bathala or Maykapal) find their philosophical basis in man's
dynamic openness toward nature and the world (e.g., the value of hanap-buhay ng magsasaka), one's
fellowmen (the values of paggalang, hiya, katarungan, pag-ibig), and God (the values
ofpananampalataya, pananalangin, kabanalan).

This dynamic openness of man is an openness to the possibilities of the future. That is why values are
something to be realized. Take the value of peace. The Philippine situation is now characterized by
insurgency; conflict between the NPA, the MNLF and the AFP; vigilante groups; hostility and division--in
short, an absence of national peace and order.

Human values are not merely private. All values have a social aspect. The government official who
demands porsiyento, the fireman or policeman who extortstong or lagay for a service which is his duty,
all contribute to the worsening graft and corruption. We are all responsible for one another (tayong
lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa't-isa).

Values are both subjective and objective. They involve a subject or person who values (e.g., a young girl)
and an object or value to be realized (e.g.,pagkamahinhin). Justice is objective because it is a value that
should be realized by all. It also becomes subjective if justice becomes a value for me. There is an
objective difference between value and disvalue, pleasure and pain, life and death, poverty and
affluence, heroism and cowardice, truth and error, right and wrong, holiness and sinfulness. The
difference is not only in the mind or a matter of personal taste or preference. Even if I close my eyes to
the ugly poverty around me, the poor will not disappear.

Values are not objective in the sense that they are found in some static heaven:they are relational and
embodied in person-value-types (ideal moral persons). For example, to a tipong-mukhang kuarta [an
avaricious look] profit is more important than service; to a tipong-politiko [political type], pera [money],
propaganda, politika [politics] are more valuable than honesty; tipong siyentipiko [scientist type] or
tipong-artista [actor type] personify agham [science] and sining [art]; tipong madasalin [pious type] may
exemplify kabanalan (piety).
Cory Aquino embodied all that we wanted our President to be--credible, honest, just, with a strong faith
in God and in our people. The ideal type or Filipino model during the "parliament of the streets" was the
tipong-maka-Diyos (religions), makatao (people-oriented), makabayan (nationalistic).

The heroes of EDSA placed the good of the Filipino people before the safety and security of their
families. They were willing to risk their lives for God and people.Value-ranking or the priority of values is
not merely arbitrary or subjective. There is an objective ranking of values based on existence or reality
and other objective criteria.

Using the criteria of permanence, ability to be shared, and depth of satisfaction,Max Scheler ranked
human values from the lowest to the highest as follows:(3)sense values like sensual pleasure are
exemplified by the lakuatsero or pabling;utilitarian values like profit and efficiency by the businessman
and technocrat; life values, by the doctor and the hero, e.g., Dr. Bobby de la Paz and Emilio Jacinto;
cultural values, by the genius and the artist, e.g., Jose Rizal and Francisco Balagtas; religious values, by
the saint, e.g., Mother Teresa or Lorenzo Ruiz.Moral and religious values are pre-eminent and claim the
highest priority in the objective scale of values because they are absolutely necessary in order to
become fully human (magpakatao).

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According to the latest gender disaggregated data, women constitute 37.9-million (49.6%) of the 76.5
million Filipinos as of May 2000. Almost 15.5-million are between ages 15 to 40 reflecting a young
female population. However, while women constitute nearly half of the population, its status in the
Philippine society is still characterized by sharp contradictions of obvious gains, on one hand, and glaring
inequalities on the other.

Women in Nation Building Law. Republic Act 7192 (1991) is an act promoting the integration of women
as full and equal partners of men in development and nation building. The law provides that a
substantial portion of government resources be utilized to support programs and activities for women.
The law also encourages the full participation and involvement of women in the development process
and to remove gender bias in all government regulations and procedures. In relation to gender
budgeting, the law specifically mandated all agencies to allocate a minimum of 5%, increasing to 30%, of
all official development funds in mainstreaming gender concerns. Through executive directives
however, this 5% allocation is further expanded to cover the total budget appropriations, not only
development funds, of all government agencies and local government units in the country. This is known
as the Gender and Development Budget or GAD.

Participation of Women in Philippine Politics and Society: A Situationer

A Paper written by Mylene Hega, Secretary General of MAKALAYA (Women Workers Network) for the
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippine Office, March 2003

Formal education cannot be spoken of in reference to the primitive Filipino. One can only note that
there efforts conscious and unconscious, direct and indirect, of transmitting to the younger generation
the arts, skills and trades, together with the customs and traditions to the past, until these influence
them in such a manner, that they are ready to take their place in the community of their fellows.

The exposition immediately following will include not only explicit references to the manner by which
this informal education of children is achieved by certain groups, but, in their absence, also the effects
of education manifested in the arts, skills and trades found among the girls and women of the different
groups.

The early writers found among the Islanders a widespread knowledge of reading and writing in the
native alphabets of which Pardo de Tavera, upon studying several documents, distinguishes nine: four
Tagalog, one Ilocano, two Bisayan, one Pampango and the Pangasinan. Many Tagalog women knew how
to write. They wrote on certain bamboo slabs about four fingers wide, making use of a device with
which the surface was punctured to form the letters.

Teresita R. Infante, The Woman in Early Philippines and Among the Cultural Minorities, (Manila: Unitas
Publication), 129-130.

The inclusion of values education in the curriculum may well be viewed as a good start toward
attainment of a nationalist education. These values, if imbued in our younger generation, will be a step
towards Filipinizing the Brown American.