My Warrior Princess: Leticia Ramos-Shahani

CITY OF URDANETA: Last night and this morning, Saturday, 17 December 2016, I was watching CNN Philippines' Profiles with Mitzi Borromeo interviewing former Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani at her "Bahay Kubo" rest house in the village of Tulong in this City, before son Ranjit brought us to see Ms Leticia at noon in an official visit. The CNN link to the interview was posted on Facebook by daughter Lila.

I took this photo of Ms Leticia talking to someone over the phone, with her walking stick. Next to her sits Roger Daranciang, Auditor of the new Danggay Foundation, going over the papers to be signed by her as Chair of the (old and) new Board. I was there as the new President of Danggay. This Foundation was founded by Ms Leticia when she was Senator and out of her funds she financed the construction of the Pangasinan Crafts & Production Center building, which we now simply refer to as the Danggay House, the office building being occupied by the Foundation at the town plaza of Asingan. We are all natives of this town, all Ilocanos. "I am proud of my Ilocano heritage," she said. And so were we.

She was born 30 September 1929, so she is 87 years old. In the CNN interview, towards the end of her Profile, she admits that she is in her twilight years and she is saying something about legacy, and that "the way you live your life" is your legacy, and "that is important."

With her, what a life!

I had not seen her for years, since when we were building up our Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which now holds office at Danggay House. I had wanted to write her auto/biography but fulfilment had been elusive. So now I'm planning on a biography: "The Intellectual Life Of Leticia Ramos-Shahani."

What I know of her, sister to FVR, who became Philippine President, and Gloria Ramos, diplomat, I'm going to add from Wikipedia, Isis International, and WikiPilinas.

She married Ranjee G Shahani, Indian professor & writer, now deceased, with whom she had 3 children:

Lila, who is the new Secretary General of Unesco Philippines
Ranjit, who became Vice Governor of Pangasinan
Chanda, who is an entrepreneur.

Her father is Narciso Ramos, a journalist, 5-time legislator (House), and eventually Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Her mother is Angela Valdez, educator and suffragette.

Ms Leticia has drunk from the waters of a full life that has national and international wellsprings. Here is a partial list: In 1961, she graduated with a PhD in Comparative Literature, University of Paris (Sorbonne), with highest honors. From 1962 to 1967, she was a faculty member of the New School for Social Research, New York. This is probably where science told her that women were not being treated fairly. In 1974, she was Chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. From 1981 to 1986, she was Ambassador to Australia. In March1985, she became Secretary General of the World Conference on the UN Decade of Women. In 1987, she became Senator of the Philippines and stayed at the Senate up to 1995.

From 2002 to 2004, she was Chair of Isis International, "a non-government organization for women focused on advancing women's rights, leadership and empowerment in Asia" (isiswomen.org). The Isis website says, "Isis International takes its name from Isis, an ancient mother goddess, who symbolizes creativity, knowledge and women's power." And that describes Ms Leticia's life quite well.

From Isis International, Luz Maria Martinez writes (11 June 2015, isiswomen.org):

The "International Decade for Women" was declared by the UN from 1976 to 1985 with the theme, "equality, development, and peace." "That is a trilogy that I like very much," Shahani says. Equality encompasses equal rights between women and men, development covers economics and social issues, and peace deals with the political aspect.

Ms Luz says Ms Leticia's life "can hardly be categorized into one area of work." Well, Isis has a good list of 3 that applies to her: creativity, knowledge, and women's power.

She is my Warrior Princess. Up to now, 2015, Ms Luz says of Ms Leticia:

At the ripe age of 85, is now running her own business of carabao milk and cheese (that) she produces on her farm where she spends time thinking about the state of farming in the country and working with farmers to adapt more efficient forms of farming.

WikiPilipinas says she considers herself "a politician by accident" and that "all she wanted was to be a teacher." Sometimes, we don't get what we want, and all for the better.

Talking of many years before, Ms Luz quotes Ms Leticia as saying:

When I became a Philippine Senator in 1987, that (United Nations) experience... helped me formulate some of the laws that, I think, contributed much to raising the status of women in our country.

Such as the "Shahani Law," which prohibits gender discrimination at work; the Anti-Rape Law of 1997; and a law providing for 5% gender & development budget in all government agencies.

That's my Warrior Princess.

The farm Ms Luz refers to is in Tulong where we visited her this morning.

She has been anathema to the Marcoses. In the sudden presidential elections under Martial Law that Ferdinand Marcos called to legitimize his hold on the presidency, when she was still Assistant Secretary General for Social Development & Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations based in Vienna, thinking of running as Mayor, in 1986 she went to her hometown Asingan in Eastern Pangasinan (Steven Erlanger, 09 November 1989, The New York Times, nytimes.com). She said, "I was becoming very concerned about matters back home. I thought there should be some corner of democracy, and that even if Marcos cheated, I would probably win." When her townmates asked her whom she favored, Marcos or Cory (Aquino, wife of the martyred Benigno Aquino), she said, "Well, I'm for change, I'm for Cory." After that, she says, as quoted by Steven:

It turned out I was the first high-ranking Filipino official to come out for her, and it was quite stunning, and I didn't, honestly speaking, realize the drama it would create. It spread like wildfire, because that is really Marcos country. I got word from him, my second cousin (Marcos) – "What was I doing?" – and he tried unsuccessfully to suppress it.

That's my Warrior Princess, fighting even when not fighting, for "some corner of democracy." It was not really a casual remark; it was from the heart and the head. She returned to Vienna after that hometown visit, but the damage had been done. And so, we might say, began the unraveling of the Gordian Knot that had lasted 24 years.

At that time, Martial Law had lost its allure of peace to me, and I cheered when I read that Ms Leticia had stood up against her cousin, and I said to myself, in so many words, "So, there is still good people in Asingan, my hometown." I had always been proud of my hometown; she made me prouder still.

"Danggay Foundation is my legacy," she was telling us this noon. Yes Ma'am. I myself was interested in the Foundation not only because I was now President but because of its Vision stated in the old brochure:

Danggay envisions a progressive Pangasinan, with self-reliant, creative and morally strong people.

Did you note that? While based in Asingan, the Foundation's Vision is wider than the town as it covers the whole province of Pangasinan. That's Ms Leticia thinking. I say now, with women symbolizing creativity, knowledge and women's power, working from the perspective that it takes a village to take care of the village, I see this as a new Vision:

Spreading the common good village to village. @

18 December 2016. Essay word count, excluding this line. 1299