In celebration of the International Women's Month, the
Balay Mindanaw Peace Center hosted a presentation of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues last 15 March 2007.
The presentation is a V-Day benefit production and acts as a vehicle to give voice to its mission to end rape, incest, battery, female genital mutilation and sexual slavery. "Reclaiming Peace" is this year's V-Day theme. The theme seeks to make a connection between and among worldwide anti-violence work of thousands of V-Day activists. By putting forth this production, it is hoped that awareness of the message of peace through peaceful means is increased and funds are raised to continuously support anti-violence work.
Each year V-Day creates a Spotlight around a particular group of women who are experiencing violence and resisting it with courage and vision that the world must know about. This year, 2007, the V-Day Spotlight is on Women In Conflict Zones because war exponentially increases the crimes of violence against women, girls and children. In equal measure, the strength and resilience of women in rebuilding their communities and leading governments through peaceful solutions needs to be celebrated.
For women, not just during war but for decades to come, armed conflict means escalated military, sexual, and domestic violence, lack of security as a displaced person or refugee, and vulnerability to sex traffickers and coerced prostitution.
This years Spotlight serves as the focus of the performance of The Vagina Monologues. This is in line with V-Day's tradition of celebrating, encouraging and supporting women globally to end violence.
Presentation of The Vagina Monologues was made possible by the support of the following groups and individuals: The Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology
(MSU-IIT) ABEO Playhouse, the
Iligan City Government Women's Desk, the
Mindanao Commission on Women, the
Balay Mindanaw Peace Center, the
Balay Mindanaw Group of NGOs, Ms. Bebot Rodil, Ms. Jenny Ramos, Ms. Popot Baldevia, Ms. Aili Gatuslao and Ms. Charmaine Dagapioso-Baconga.
Artistic Direction was provided by Ms. Jean Graciela E. Penola. Major sponsors for the staging of the play/monologues included Petronas Energy Philippines, IVORY Printing and Publishing House, Soroptimist International, Debbie's Delight Food Haus, Peek and Betty Bakeshoppe, and Cafe Hermoso.
Sign yourselves up to "give peace a vote" and spread the word about the campaign at your events by visiting http://www.givepeaceavote.org.
At around 9:30 in the evening, my wife, son and I went around the city center to observe the proceedings of the counting. We were a bit dissappointed when we arrived there as there was not much going on so far. So we decided to visit the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) Operation Quick Count headquarters located in the Xavier University Gym. We had several friends there that volunteered to help in the operations. Nothing much was also happening in the quick count center. People were still waiting for the results from the prescints to arrive. The general mood was that of anticipation and people were raring to start work. Some were starting to get bored already.
