Ang Bayan Editorial On The Occasion Of International Women’s Day 2025

Ang Bayan | March 7, 2025

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, the Party pays tribute to all the women who rightfully took their place in the revolution. They are the women revolutionaries, cadres, Red commanders and fighters, who traversed the difficult path of struggle, took action and took lead, and many took up arms, to achieve the lofty dream of women’s and national liberation.

They are the ones who did not yield nor surrendered in the face of intense battles, filled with revolutionary spirit until their last breath. They are revolutionary stars whose radiance will shine forever.

The Party gives its highest tribute to the women who led the Party, the people’s army, and the revolutionary movement. The Party honors the women who served in the Central Committee including Ka Maria Malaya (Myrna Sularte), secretary of the Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee and the Mindanao Commission; Ka Bagong-Tao (Wilma Tiamzon), general secretary of the Party; Ka Fiel (Eugenia Magpantay), general secretary of the Party; Ka Elay (Helenita Parladis), secretary of the Eastern Visayas Regional Committee; Ka Lalay (Aprecia Alvarez Rosete), secretary of the Western Mindanao Regional Committee; Ka Sandy (Josephine Mendoza), deputy secretary of the Southern Tagalog Regional Committee; and Ka Kaye (Sandra Reyes), member of the Mindanao Commission.

We also will not forget Ka Concha Araneta-Bocala, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front-Panay, and hundreds of other women who served as secretaries, political guides, commanders, fighters, doctors and nurses of the masses, organizers, propagandists, supporters, teachers and trainers, counselors and advisors, and many others.

Let us celebrate the enormous contribution of women to the Philippine revolution. Let us value their wisdom, enthusiasm, and determination which enriches and strengthens the people’s struggle. It is in the realm of struggle for the nation and for women that they achieve their full potential as human beings and equals. They fight against patriarchy that relegates them as weak or inferior, and demonstrate their steel commitment.

Women revolutionaries are a beacon of hope for the millions of women who suffer in a society that regards them as inferior and weak. They serve as models for women who receive lower wages and caught in the drudgery of menial work; those who toil in the fields, yet are not counted as productive; those who are landless and driven away from their ancestral lands; those tied to domestic work of caring for their husbands and children, but have little or no voice in their own homes; those who cannot escape abusive relationships due to fear and lack of economic power; those who are forced to work abroad to provide for their families; those who experience gender discrimination; and those who are victims of sexual abuse and violence.

Let us recognize their outstanding contribution as mothers and wives in building revolutionary families and relationships, in advocating and militantly promoting policies for the protection of women, children, and LGBT individuals against exploitation and oppression. Let us recognize their role in raising the awareness of men and people regarding women’s issues, promoting equal treatment regardless of gender, and building strong support systems for fellow women.

Let us appreciate their sacrifices, their decision to leave behind comfortable lives and personal dreams, their endurance in facing the many hardships of war, and especially their long separation from their own children. Despite this, their lives in the struggle are filled with joy and enthusiasm. Endless are the stories of affection, humor, and tears of women in the struggle. Like rare flowers in the forest, they are cherished and protected by the masses and their comrades.

In the face of worsening poverty and suffering of millions of families amid the economic crisis caused by the corruption of the Marcos regime, and anti-poor and pro-foreign capitalist policies and programs, women, along with the entire community, continue to awaken to the need to rise and fight.

Women are among the front line of workers actively building their unions and various organizations. They are among those leading in expressing their grievances and their fight for higher wages, rights to regular employment, and better working conditions. They are among those who bravely stand up against greedy capitalists, their armed goons, and fascist state agents.

They are at the forefront of the poor masses fighting against the relentless rise in prices of rice, food, oil, fuel, medicine, transportation, and other services. They are the mothers and daughters who unite with their neighbors to condemn Marcos and politicians for squandering the people’s money on their luxurious lives, and to denounce the government’s policy of endless borrowing to fund corruption. In campuses, young women are among front line marchers fighting incessant increases in tuition fees and cost of education, as well as against Marcos’ puppetry to the US and for allowing the country to be dragged in imperialist wars.

In the countryside, women are among the masses organizing and taking action against the Marcos regime and its policy of all-out liberalization that is killing the livelihood of millions of peasants. They are among those collectively calling for genuine land reform, and raising demands to lower land rent, interest on loans from usuerers and banks, and prices of farming equipment. In thousands of villages controlled by the military, they courageously condemn the abuse and violence of fascist soldiers, especially against women and children.

Women are among the front line of young new Red fighters of the NPA. Like previous generations of women fighters, they now demonstrate boundless courage in facing the enemy, and endless love and care for the masses who are one with them in their desire for a free and bright future.

Source : https://philippinerevolution.nu/2025/03/07/the-radiance-of-the-revolutionary-stars-will-never-fade/