Duty and Context of Remembering

For former Ambassador Henrietta de Villa, the snapshot of images from the May 26 special polls in Lanao del Sur remains clear in her memory, kept alive by a conscious telling and retelling and one that she returns to constantly like a pilgrimage in her mind. “Sample ballots strewn like carpet on the floor, secrecy folders thrown to the winds, wads of envelopes with money brazenly handed to voters, youngsters of 16 and 17 casting ballots.”

It is with a voice of passion and quiet restraint that De Villa, chair of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting PCRV), recounts in a dream-like sequence the images that still sear her memory. “And oh, the pandemonium, shouting, pushing, fist fights inside the polling precincts, gunshots.”

Watching the Watchdog

The Philippine media is taking its ‘watchdog’ role seriously. Recently, the local media in Davao City formed a body to monitor reportage on violence against women’s cases and take an active role in the public information campaign to help popularise the UN Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Composed of representatives from print, broadcast, news services and advertising, the ‘Monitoring Board on Violence in Media’ also aims to clarify and define the media’s role in mainstreaming gender in the media and in the city’s policies and programmes. “This will definitely lead to more gender-fair reportage on women,” says Amalia Bandiola-Cabusao, Convenor of the board and Editor-in-Chief of Mindanao Times.