Charito Planas, fighter and feminist

Tributes have been paid in memory of Charito Planas, civic leader, former vice mayor of Quezon City, former president of the Quezon City Parks Development Foundation and executive director of Nayong Pilipino Foundation, media practitioner, feisty, outspoken and dogged opponent of corruption and malfeasance.

Her older sister Carmen was the first Filipino woman elected to office (as councilor of Manila), and so it was but expected that Charito be attracted to the field of politics and public service. But when Charito entered the realm of politics, it coincided with martial law, and despite the dangers inherent in being part of the political opposition, she typically took on the authoritarian establishment. This led to her fleeing to the United States after the entire “Laban” (Fight) slate, headed by the then detained former senator Ninoy Aquino, “lost” in the elections.

After returning to the country in the wake of the 1986 Edsa People Power revolt, Charito plunged headlong into politics, particularly in Quezon City politics.

To the end of her life, Charito remained a most concerned and committed citizen, sounding out from her wheelchair on
matters close to her heart especially during the “Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel” weekly media gathering.

Little known and little acknowledged, though, was Charito’s concern for the rights and welfare of women, and how much Filipino women owe her. She expressed this concern not just by speaking out about it, but also, and more important, through policies and programs, finding ways to address the problem of violence against women and children (VAWC).

A friend writes to remind all those involved in the anti-VAWC movement of the background to the legal measures now in place to help women and their children. “In 1991,” writes my friend, “after the late Reena Marcelo of ISSA recommended at a public forum in Club Filipino that Kalakasan (the women’s NGO coalition against violence against women) set up a Police Women’s Desk, we all got to work. We did our best to set an appointment with the commanding officer of the Quezon City police. But after months of trying and being ignored, I decided to call on Charito Planas, as she was Vice Mayor then.”

She then details how Charito quickly got to work: “Charito very quickly called the Commander into her office and made sure that he was present to listen to our proposal and to promise that he would facilitate our training seminars for Police Women, and eventually allow a Women’s Desk to be set up. Charito volunteered the use of the City Hall as a venue for the
seminar. And she made sure that the first Women’s Desk would open in Quezon City, with all the Kalakasan members in attendance. She also sponsored the book launching of Kalakasan’s two-volume work on Domestic Violence at the QC Police Headquarters in Camp Karingal. This was her lasting gift to the Women’s Movement and to her constituents.”

But all of Charito’s pioneering efforts and support went largely unnoticed and unacknowledged. Writes my friend: “Unfortunately, when President [Fidel] Ramos followed this initiative in March 1992, the efforts of Charito and Kalakasan were not mentioned. Neither was she remembered when Ramos signed the PNP Development Law in 1994, requiring the establishment of Women’s and Children’s Desks in every major precinct in the country. The PNP itself never recognized the contribution of Charito Planas to this globally awarded initiative.

“That is why whenever Charito would see me at public forums thereafter, she encouraged me to speak up about how she (and my feminist colleagues) helped to make things a little better for victims of domestic violence.”

For every woman who today is unafraid to speak out and seek help when faced with the various forms of domestic violence, remember Charito Planas in your prayers, and hope that her exemplary courage—demonstrated so often in her long and fruitful life—will find other public servants, men or women, who will carry out the same legacy.

Good-bye, Charito, and may you find peace at last even as you shake up Heaven with your feisty presence.