November 25 annually marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW). It honors the martyrdom of the Mirabal sisters who were killed by the Dominican Republic state in 1960. The dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the killing of sisters Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa for their resistance.

The sisters, known as butterflies in their country, were among the founders of the anti-dictatorship movement “14th of June.” They became symbols of the anti-dictatorship struggle in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. Their deaths helped ignite the fall of the Trujillo dictatorship, six months after their murder.

Like the Mirabal sisters, thousands of Philippine women use their minds, strength, and lives to fight state fascism, defend women’s rights, and transform society. Like the Mirabals, they also face the state’s violent response. They are victims of arrest, abduction, detention, sexual abuse, enforced disappearance, and murder.

Violence of unjust arrest and detention

Victims of state violence include the Banjawan sisters. The 85th IB abducted Gabriela Youth organizer Fatima on August 2, 2024, in Santa Elena, Camarines Sur. The 59th IB abducted Pauline a few months later on April 26. The military subjected both to physical and psychological torture.

Fatima and Pauline are only two among the hundreds of women victims of the US-Marcos regime’s arrest and abduction.

Karapatan tallies 696 political prisoners nationwide, 164 of whom were arrested under the Marcos regime, and 146 are women. Ang Bayan recorded 63 cases of arrest of women, three of whom had children or infants with them at the time of arrest, and five were pregnant. Most of those arrested are from Negros (14), followed by Bicol (10) and Southern Tagalog (9).

The state targets young women who chose to organize and serve workers, farmers, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples. Among them are Amanda Echanis, Michelle Campos, Emelyn Acevido, Charisse Bañez, Louvaine Erika Espina, Sofia Almonte, and Andy Magno. They were illegally arrested, abducted, and imprisoned in military camps, then mentally and/or physically tortured before they were handed over to police detention. Charges against them include illegal possession of firearms and explosives, homicide, murder, and violation of the Anti-terrorism Act.

Targeting vulnerable women

Pregnant or post-natal women suspected of being Red fighters or wives of Red fighters are specifically targeted. Even infants are not spared from military abduction.

On January 13, 2021, around 2 a.m., 79th IB soldiers raided the home of Edwin and Marlyn Madin in Barangay San Fernando, Talisay City, Negros Occidental, and abducted their then 2-month-old baby, Baby Marx Cairo Salino. The AFP hostaged the baby to force the surrender of his parents, New People’s Army members. The DSWD until now continues to deny the custody of Baby Marx to his grandparents, following the AFP’s order.

The violent ordeal of women worsens as the economic and political crisis in the country deepens. This escalation compels more women to rise to end the feudal-patriarchal and bourgeois-decadent system.

According to the Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan, 65 years after the Mirabal sisters were killed, the revolution has become even more meaningful and vital. Only armed struggle with a socialist perspective can decisively end gender-based violence and achieve the full liberation of women.