ID: HR19-1381
Presenting author: Marielle Marcaida
Marielle Marcaida
This article seeks to contribute to the lack of research on the societal impacts of the Philippine drug war and the gendered experiences of women as silent victims, particularly that of mothers who have suffered trauma and actively resisted the culture of violence in their communities. The study highlights the case of the Sitio Pagkakaisa Women Volunteers of Barangay Sta. Ana in Pateros, Manila, which has been a model of civic activism since 2017 when they started their volunteer work in accompanying the police on night patrols after witnessing a series of drug-related killings in their town. Armed with their motherly concern and familiarity of their neighborhood, they sacrifice rest and sleep to enforce curfew on minors and street drinkers, who are also potential targets of motorcycle-riding gunmen. Guided by Andrea O'Reilly's theoretical framework on matricentric feminism, this article argues that women use their symbolic roles as mothers as a starting point for political empowerment and as a means to legitimize their participation in the public sphere, in a sociopolitical context marred by extra-judicial killings under Duterte's macho leadership. Qualitative findings are drawn from in-depth interviews with mothers and participant observation of nightly patrols and meetings of the organization. This study problematizes the debate on maternal activism of viewing it as simply an emotionally-motivated and apolitical extension of the domestic duties, or rather as an avenue for the negotiation of gender roles and the reconstuction of gendered expectations and collective identities.