II. Women in the Political Economy of the Philippines

Davies Miranda (editor), Third World, Second Sex: Women's Struggles and National Liberation (London: Zed Press, 1983), pp. 171, 219.

For further explanation of ideology as the expression of social classes within specific formations, see Amin Samir , Class and Nation, Historically and in the Current Crisis (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1980); Goran Therborn, The Ideology of Power and the Power of Ideology (London: Verso, 1980); George Lukács, “The Antinomies of Bourgeois Thought,” in History and Class Consciousness, trans. Rodney Livingstone (London: Merlin Press, 1968), 110–149.

Quoted in Floro Sergy , “The Women's Movement in the Philippines,” Philippine Report, March 1985, p. 4.

Moi Toril , “Theoretical Reflections,” Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory (London: Methuen, 1985), pp. 70–88.

Manning Robert A. , “Disengaging from Marcos,” The Sunday New York Times, 10 November 1985, p. E27.

A good straightforward narration of Philippine history can be found in Agoncillo Teodoro A. Guerrero Milagros C. , History of the Filipino People (Quezon City, Philippines: R.P. Garcia Publishing Co., 1971). For a nationalist, interpretive account, see Renato Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited (Manila, Philippines: Insular Packaging Corporation, 1975); Renato Constantino and Letizia R. Constantino, The Philippines: The Continuing Past (Quezon City, Philippines: The Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1978). For an orthodox Marxist approach, see Amado Guerrero, Philippine Society and Revolution (Hong Kong: Ta Kung Pao, 1971).

Eqbal Ahmad refers to Philippine colonization by the United States as the “bloodiest in colonial history. …” (Political Culture and Foreign Policy: Notes on American Intervention in the Third World [Washington, D.C.: Institute for Policy Studies, 1982]).

Constantino , A Past Revisited (note 6), p. 308.

See Villegas Edberto M. , Studies in Philippine Political Economy (Manila, Philippines: Silangan Publishers, 1983) for an explication of the lopsided development of the Philippine economy. For an excellent exposé of the World Bank connection, see Walden Bello, David Kinley, and Elaine Elinson, Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines (California: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1982).

Shaplen Robert , “Letter from the Philippines,” The New Yorker, 4 February 1985, pp. 60–91.

This and the following facts and figures have been culled from: Doherty John F. S.J. , The Philippine Urban Poor (Hawaii: University of Hawaii Philippine Studies Program, June 1985); Ibon Facts and Figures, February 28, April 15, and April 30, 1985; Liberation, May-June 1985; Peacemaker, March-June 1985.

The peso-dollar reference rate in January 1985 was P19.50 per dollar, down from the peak of P24 per dollar in October 1984 (“Feigning Recovery Amidst Collapse,” Peacemaker, March-June, pp. 3–5).

“Negros; Struggle for Survival,” Ibon Facts and Figures, July 31, 1985; “400,000 Sugar Workers Are Starving,” Situationer, March 1985, p. 31.

Gabriela Declaration of Principles, Second National Congress (March 13–14, 1986), p. 2.

Azarcon-de la Cruz Pennie , Filipinas for Sale: An Alternative Philippine Report on Women and Tourism (Manila, Philippines: Aklat Pilipino, 1985), p. 6.

“Child Prostitution Worsens, 20,000 Now!” Balita, 30 April 1985, p. 4. The estimate was given in an Agence France Presse interview by Estefania Aldaba-Lim, former Social Welfare Minister.

Supported by a study made by Caritas, a church-based group, which revealed that 92 percent of 52 joints it studied were managed in this fashion. “Action Urged on Sex Fronts,” Philippine News, 13–19 February 1985, p. 9.

Poole Fred Vanzi Max , “Manila Before the Murder,” Revolution in the Philippines: The United States in a Hall of Cracked Mirrors (New York: McGraw Hill Book Co., 1984), p. 22.

Azarcon , Filipinas for Sale (note 15), pp. 8–9, 19.

Data from a TW-MAE-W study by Sister Soledad Perpiñan, “Philippine Women in the Service and Entertainment Sector,” 1981, cited in Paredes Vina , “In Manila, They are Called ‘Hospitality Girls,’ But Their Business is Selling Sex,” Philippine News, 4–10 January 1984, p. 7.

Estimate given by Sister Myrna Tacardon of Caritas, as cited in “Poverty Leads Girls to Red Light Areas,” Philippine News, 6–12 June 1984, p. 7.

Azarcon, Filipinas for Sale (note 15), p. 35.

“A Thrilla in Manila,” The Diliman Review, Vol. 28, November–December 1980, p. 44.

Simbulan Roland A. , “The Socio-Eeconomic Costs of the Bases,” The Bases of Our Insecurity (Manila: Balai Fellowship, Inc., 1983), p. 253.

For example, Diokno Jose in “Tourism as Subversion,” The Diliman Review, November-December 1980, pp. 34–36, clearly traces the contours of tourism that are corrosive to the domestic economy (international hotel cartels and transnationals being the prime recipients of the industry's beneficence) and to the development of a national consciousness. In this important book, Neo-Colonial Identity and Counter-Consciousness, editor Istvan Meszaros (New York: Merlin Press, 1978), Renato Constantino lays much-needed emphasis on the non-economistic (i.e., cultural) components of colonialism, yet surprisingly leaves out any mention of women in his section on tourism. At the other end, Kathleen Barry's thesis, as explicated in Female Sexual Slavery (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1979), is an example of the poverty of a feminist viewpoint that dichotomizes “sex colonization” and “national colonization” (see Chapter 8).

Spaeth Anthony , “Visa Face-Off,” Asian Wall Street Journal, reprinted in Philippine News, 21–27 March 1984, p. 13. In 1984 the US Embassy in Manila issued 37500 immigrant visas (Philippine News, 20 March 1985, p. 4).

Reprinted in Icthys, April 1981, pp. 21–23.

Concon Ma. Theresa Garcia Ma. Rhodora Gratuito Corazon Panganiban Teresita de Santos Senen , “Filipinas for Sale,” The Diliman Review, July-August 1982, pp. 26–27.

Ruiz-Wall Deborah , “Unhappy Filipino Brides in Australia,” Solidaridad II, January-March 1984, p. 46; Wall, “Perspectives on ‘Mail-Order Brides,’” Solidaridad II, January-March 1985, pp. 35–36.

Maglipon Jo-Ann Q. , “Marriage by Express Mail,” Solidaridad II, April-September 1985, pp. 33–35.

Philippine News, 18–24 September 1985, p. 4.

Maglipon , Solidaridad II (note 30), p. 35.

Ibid..

Concon (note 28), p. 27.

Maglipon , Solidaridad II (note 30), p. 33.

“Filipina Brides 8,000 in 1982,” Balita, 2–16 August 1983, p. 3. Australia also has, next to Israel, the largest labor force of overseas-born workers (Dazzle K. Rivera, “Asian Women Down Under,” Balai Asian Journal, November 12, 1985, pp. 23–24.

Villegas, Studies in Philippine Political Economy (note 9), pp. 136–159; Bello , Development Debacle (note 9).

Bureau of Women and Minors, “The National and Overseas Employment Scenario: Prospects and Responses With Specific Reference to Female Workers,” a paper prepared for the International Women's Day Celebration, Philippine International Convention Center (March 8, 1984), p. 6.

“Dollars Lure Workers to Lonely Jobsites,” Philippine News, 23–24 January 1984, p. 7.

“$1 Billion Income of Overseas Workers Eases Economy,” Philippine News, 18–24 January 1985, p. 7.

Orozco Wilhemina S. , Economic Refugees: Voyage of the Commoditized: An Alternative Philippine Report on Migrant Women Workers (Manila: n.p., 1985), p. 3.

Bureau of Women and Minors, “The National and Overseas Employment Scenario” (note 38), p. 3.

Manlogon Melanie , “Domestic Worker's Plight,” Balai Asian Journal, No. 12, 1985, pp. 11–13.

Ibid., p. 11.

Ibid., p. 12.

Taken from the National Census and Statistics Office (NCSO) reports for the 4th quarter of 1983 ( del Rosario Rosario , Life on the Assembly Line: An Alternative Philippine Report on Women Industrial Workers (Manila: n.p., 1985), p. 11.

Bureau of Women and Minors, “The National and Overseas Employment Scenario” (note 38), p. 3.

Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers, “Overseas Domestics,” Asian Action, September-October 1983, p. 11.

“Hong Kong to Hire More Filipino Girls,” Philippine News, 26 January-1 February 1983, p. 7.

“Interview with Carlos Valdez, Ambassador to Japan,” Who (14 November 1981), p. 32. No big surprise, BWM places “entertainers” in the category of professional, technical, and related workers in its listing of overseas female contract workers (Bureau of Women and Minors, “The National and Overseas Employment Scenario” (note 38), Table 9).

“Interview with Carlos Valdez, Ambassador to Japan” (note 50).

“Non-Traditional Exports Top Priority!” Ibon Facts and Figures, August 31, 1984, p. 8.

Bureau of Women and Minors, “The National and Overseas Employment Scenario” (note 38), p. 1.

“Beyond the Facade of Development,” Philippine Labor Monitor, June 1984, pp. 15–17.

Cueva Annabelle S. , “BEPZ Workers Set Pace for Coordinated Strikes,” Sunday Malaya, 24 November 1985, pp. 5–6.

del Rosario , Life on the Assembly Line (note 46), p. 12.

Ibid., p. 10.

Center for Women's Resources, Women's Studies: Preliminary Findings (March 1985), n.p.

del Rosario, Life on the Assembly Line (note 46), p. 15.

As negative as all this appears, there are progressives who have argued that the phenomenon of transnationals is far more complex than the view presented here admits. Linda Lim points out that the employment of women in free trade zones has improved their lives, increased their freedoms along with their contributions to the family, feelings of worth, etc. In short, she stresses the potential for liberation that work experience in transnationals presents to Third World women. Lim Linda , “Are Multinationals the Problem? No,” Multinational Monitor, August 1983, pp. 14–16.

del Rosario , Life on the Assembly Line (note 46), p. 4.

Bello , Development Debacle (note 9), p. 141.

Cueva , Sunday Malaya (note 55), p. 3.

Salgado Joey , “The Bataan Export Processing Zone: Nine Years Later,” Sunday Malaya, 24 November 1985, p. 3. In a visit to BEPZ in January 1986, I was told by a union leader that the numbers had gone down to 12000 workers employed by 28 companies.

For a description of the capitalization of agriculture and its effects, see: Luzon Secretariat for Social Action, “The Ugly Truth of Chemical Use in Farm Production,” pp. 34–36, and Eduardo C. Tadem, “Philippine Rural Development: Corporate Farming or Land Reform?,” pp. 37–39, both in The Diliman Review, March-April 1982; also Rivera Temario C. , “Capitalist Penetration into Agriculture,” The Diliman Review, November-December 1980, pp. 22–24.

del Rosario , Life on the Assembly Line (note 46), p. 1.

Lucero Rosario , “What do Sugar Workers Cry and Laugh About?” The Diliman Review, May-June 1985, p. 4.

del Rosario , Life on the Assembly Line (note 46), pp. 14–18.

For documentation on how this pattern of industrial development has affected other Southeast Asian women, see “Beyond Stereotypes: Asian Women in Development,” Southeast Asia Chronicle, January 1985. See also the monograph by Maria Patricia Fernandez Kelly, A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Export-Processing Zones in Asia and the U.S.-Mexico Border (San Diego, CA: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, n.d.).