PROGRESSIVE women organizations are set to join the caravan today to register their opposition to the on-going military exercises of Filipino and American soldiers.
The caravan is set to pass through the urban centers of Davao del Sur and Cotabato and will culminate in a rally at the gate of Camp Lucero, Carmen, Cotabato, the venue of the military exercises.
Cora Espinosa, Gabriela spokesperson, said the rally will depend on the permit to be issued by Carmen municipal government. But she said in any case, the caravan will continue.
“This is our way of informing the people the disadvantages of the military exercises to the people of Central Mindanao who are still on the stage of recovery from the havoc brought about by the campaigns of the military against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2001 and 2003. The military exercises are derailing the peace process,” she said.
Earlier, Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said he is open to any form of peaceful protests against the military exercise s provided the participants would not disrupt the flow of traffic.
Anna Luisa Calix, chair of Lawig-Bubay, said her group will ventilate the issues on prostituted women and minors. Calix feared that with the presence of the American soldiers, more prostituted women and minors would be recruited to work as entertainers in night spots of the province.
“We have monitored the decreasing number of prostituted women (in Davao City) and that minors have been recruited to work in the clubs in Cotabato,” she said. Calix said the military exercises bring the women to increasing vulnerability to prostitution, exploitation, violence and the possibility of getting infected with sexually-transmitted diseases.
“It will just bring shame to our women and children,” she added.
However, Janet Laurel, area coordinator of Talikala, said they do not have data yet confirming the movement of prostituted women from Davao City to Cotabato.
But Laurel told the Mindanao Times that this phenomenon happened in the first joint RP-US military exercise in Zamboanga City in 2002 when women from as far as Davao City flocked to Zamboanga to work as entertainers to clubs visited often by Filipino and US soldiers.
“We cannot confirm yet if the influx of women to Cotabato is happening now, but we have monitored this in the past in Zamboanga City. Money is our competitor here and women tend to be discreet in the conduct of their trade,” Laurel said.
She said since there is no effort on the part of the government to prevent prostitution close to the military camps, the Talikala has initiated an information campaign to heigten the consciousness of prostituted women on the effects of liaisoning with foreign servicemen to their health and dignity.JGD
