MOTHER: Unveiling the Warrior Women at the Heart of the Cordillera’s Historic Struggle

April 29, 2024 | By Raven B. Mensenas

As women, we carry a double burden: one that is based on our social class and the other that is based on our gender.

While we face discrimination in the rice fields and factories, we also struggle in a society that deems us inferior to men or as mere objects for the male gaze. Objects who do not have a right to our own bodies, let alone, to speak publicly. It is not surprising then that when we speak up for ourselves, we are often called insane and delirious.

Historically, this is why witches were burned. 

Although it is still a continuous battle of fighting for gender liberation, women are now celebrating the hard-won rights that they bravely fought for decades. Who would have thought that we would enjoy our rights to participate in education, labor force and the political sphere? 

Fortunately , the world is gradually recognizing women’s presence in male-dominated professions and listening to their advocacies against gender discrimination. This is all thanks to the courageous indigenous women who lived before us! 

As we mark the end of 40th People’s Cordillera Day celebration in Kalinga, let us honor some of the fierce indigenous women of Cordillera region. Together, they fought against historical oppression and bestowed their well-lived lives to serve their community.

Lola Kathleen Okubo: Mother of the Cordillera Press

Lola Kathleen Okubo (in the middle) getting interviewed by various media companies. (Photo from the Northern Dispatch)

First, meet Lola Kathleen T. Okubo of Northern Dispatch! Lola Kath is from the indigenous clan of Ibaloi in the Cordillera region. She became one of the pillars of the mass movement in the region as a grassroots media writer. Until her very last breath, she served as an inspiration to hundreds of youth, women and community journalists to follow her brave example.

Lola Kath became the chair emeritus and the longest Editor-In-Chief of the Northern Dispatch, an alternative media outfit in Northern Luzon. She grew up in a publishing house with her journalist parents. Aside from her journalism recognition and journey, she was  also a fierce indigenous women rights activist. During Martial Law, she was wrongfully imprisoned as a journalist and activist for exposing truths and advocating for justice.

Lola Kath is a First Quarter Storm veteran, a pillar of Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) Northern Luzon and a pioneer of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance. As Palanca awardee poet, Luchie Maranan, describes her friend, 

“She is a wild one, always stomping on eggshells, when everybody’s tiptoeing around them,” a Palanca awardee poet Luchie Maranan described her friend. 

Ina Dolores Pacliw: Mother of Resistance

Ina Dolores Pacliw (left) and other victims of abuse from Ifugao commemorate Martial Law. (Photo from the Northern Dispatch)

 “Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me. And before I’ll be a slave and be buried in my grave, I will fight for my right to be free.”

Whenever people hear this, they are instantly reminded of a patriotic and fearless woman. But for many indigenous people of the North, the lyrics above encapsulate their narrative of desperation and resilience, embodying the essence of their pleas for the fierce battles they endured. These lyrics eventually became a glimpse of hope—an anthem that represents the compelling stories of the collective action of women who never bow down despite the long periods of injustices and abuses in their lands and even their lives. The woman behind such a powerful message is Ina Dolores Pacliw, a 79-year-old human rights defender from Ifugao. 

During the late dictator Marcos’ Martial Law in 1974, Pacliw’s community experienced state fascism. Soldiers from the Philippine Constabulary would conduct combat operations in their village. Their people would be accused of helping the New People’s Army (NPA). Despite countless interrogations, she stood her ground to defend the rights of her family and community.

For years, they had suffered brutality, harassment and human rights violations, up until 1988. Her experiences as a member of Ub-ubon di Binabai ad Ifugao, the provincial chapter of INNABUYOG Alliance of Indigenous Women’s Organization, together with her community in Hungduan, Ifugao, developed her courage to resist and fight for their rights.

Pacliw is an example of a formidable woman who has never retreated from what she believed in. She will always be remembered as a woman of resistance, as she believed that: 

“Freedom will only be achieved when power is in the hands of the oppressed majority and not in the hands of the few. This will only happen when we start rising and break out from the box of oppression,” as these words became carved upon the tablets of our hearts, she will always be an enduring symbol of resistance. 

Mother Petra Macliing: Mother of Naked Truth and Courage

Mother Petra Macliing smiling as she looks at the camera. (Photo from the Northern Dispatch)

As one of its founding members, she dedicated her life fighting for indigenous people’s right to self-determination and the protection of their ancestral lands. She is also a founding member of Kalinga-Bontoc Peace Pact Holders Association (KBPPHA), a federation of traditional tribal leaders and a leader of Montanosa Women’s Federation. She also created the community based organizations Mainit Ub-ubfo and the Mainit Irrigators Association. In her prime, Mother Petra led her community to struggle against big private corporations who tried to invade their homes with development projects.

Mother Petra received numerous awards in recognition of her historical contributions to the protection of their land, life and resources. Moreover, she was chosen as one of the awardees of Women’s World Summit Foundation’s Laureate Prize for Rural Women (2009). Mother Petra’s courage roots back from her experiences in Mainit, Bontoc, Mountain Province.

For the younger generations of women today, Mother Petra shall eternally be enshrined as an icon and a luminous beacon of courageous women. . In the 1980s, she led her women folk in confronting corporate mining companies that exploited their communities.

They initiated dialogues and peaceful talks. However, when these failed, Mother Petra led the famous traditional Bontoc belief that drove the mining engineers away: while shouting, women remove clothes and expose their breasts as a protest. It is a belief that endless bad luck will happen to men who see their mothers’ and grandmothers’ naked bodies.

As Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) describes Mother Petra Macliing, “A shining light in the rural landscape in the Northern Philippines.” 

Historically, women have sacrificed their lives for the rights that we hold today. Armored with their unwavering teachings and fearless spirits, as they usually say, the women youth today must continue to struggle for gender liberation. The question now is, who are your mothers?

This article was also published in Seated Mag.