Recently, Bikol ranked first in magnitude of violence against women and children. A matter not inconceivable especially as the feudal and bourgeois culture remains thriving within the current semifeudal and semicolonial Filipino society. Until now, women and children are treated unfairly. They are treated as properties of authorities – of their class, of the Church, of their families and partners. But more than these, the biggest and most systematic violence that Filipino women and children endure are hunger, poverty and state fascism.

In Bikol, 48% of recorded cases of human rights violations perpetrated by the military and police from 2016 to present were done against women and children. Not less than 879 cases have women and children victims. One case is that of the rape-slay case of Diana Rose Razo in Brgy. Pampang, Castilla, Sorsogon in 2017. The perpetrators were CAFGU elements. Another is the physical assault and illegal detention of children in Brgy. Calpi, Bulan, Sorsogon in 2019 and 2021. Still excluded from these recorded cases are the dire effects of widespread militarization upon the lives and livelihood of many women and children in rural communities.

Women and children also shoulder the escalating economic crisis that rattle the country now. Many of them are forced to take desperate measures, accept jobs despite inhumane working conditions and endure grave abuses just to earn a living. Many of them were not given the chance to educate themselves and have been robbed of opportunities to develop their knowledge and discover their capabilities aside from being a wife, a child and other caged roles in society.

With this picture, MAKIBAKA-Bikol encourages Bikolanas and all other Filipino women to take back their voices and create their own fate. It is time for them to liberate themselves from the shackles of oppression and exploitation that have long imprisoned them. The revolutionary movement’s doors are wide open for all the women who desire to know themselves deeper and serve the people. In waging revolution, women will be able to emancipate themselves along the entire society.