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IAMRAFI: A Springboard for Women’s Voices
The Story of Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc., Ramon Aboitiz Award for Outstanding Institution Finalist, RAFI Triennial Awards
By Emma Masapequeña, Marco Paulo Trajano Deligero | March 15, 2019
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The Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. has been tirelessly initiating projects for the women of Negros Oriental since 2007.
All of these efforts have earned them a well-deserved nomination and became one of the finalists of the last run of the RAFI Triennial Awards, under the Ramon Aboitiz Award for Outstanding Institution Category last August 31, 2018.
This is the story of how an organization became a powerhouse of change, making waves in empowering the women in the islands of Negros Oriental.
‘Women’s Rights as Human Rights’
They say that the greatest inventions were made out of a need.
Similarly, the story of the birth of Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. as an organization came out of a need for a women’s group in the province focusing on empowerment of rural women.
Nancy Estolloso, the Executive Director of the organization, recalled that they did not have women’s organization in their province at all, saying that, “in rural areas, there’s nothing at all. There are organizations like micro-finance, but there was no organization talking about women’s rights as human rights,”
The Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. saw a pattern of domestic violence in rural households; some cases were reported, but most were not. Women would rather suffer in silence than report abuses and violence.
“They don’t recognize it as [a form of] violence. Mura’g normal lang nga you are violated (it seems normal for them that you are violated),” she said.
Powerful Intentions: We Need to Do Something
For Nancy, the culture of violence is not a distinct Filipino trait.
“Before, we even had babaylan(s) — women as community leaders; these women take on the highest leadership position and everyone in the community respects them,” she stated.
Through the years, however, western influences changed our culture and the equitable social roles and relationship between Filipino men and women.
And in order to do this, both men and women have to work together to break the cycle.
The women needed to be aware of their rights, not just merely accept their situation but to fight for a better life free from violence, and Nancy emulates this perfectly when she said, “we need women who are aware of their rights and are not afraid to act on it,”
For Nancy, men are doers and victims at the same time; they are victims in a sense that the culture imposed on them, the ‘macho image’; serves as
This is where changing their mindset comes in. As of date, Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. have been holding orientations and awareness raisings that aims to encourage men to advocate protection against violence towards women.
Quick Response Team, First Responders Against Violence
The Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. is working in the three municipalities of Mabinay, Jimalalud, and Bindoy, of which they have 17 barangay associations out of 83 barangays.
Changing people’s mindsets cannot be achieved merely through orientations and Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. made sure that the women in these areas know that there is a way to end the violence.
“It starts with the women themselves,” said Nancy.
The Quick Response Team (QRT) was established as
Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. helped the operationalization of VAW, and at the municipal level, Tuburan complemented the LGU in establishing a Women and Children Protection Unit (WCPU) and the use of
“We have created protocols on what to do, and where to bring the violated women and children in these situations,” she added.
A Safe House for Survivors
They noticed that before, women who reported domestic abuse were passed around from one shelter to another; no concrete system probed them out of the trauma. Learning about this, Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. have decided to revise the cycle.
“Before, ipasa-pasa pa na, but now we have a dedicated Crisis Center (Before they were just passed around, but now we have a dedicated Crisis Center),”
This new Women and Children Crisis Center and Protection Unit
The MDT is like a one-stop shop intervention for abused women and children, making sure that they are not exposed to
The entire VAW referral system is the QRT, the VAW desk and WCPU (MDT).
This was important for Nancy saying, “Kay kung di man gud nimo i-institutionalize, kung mailisan ang mayor e di mawala nasad ang system that we worked for (If the administration changes, then the system that we worked hard for will be gone if we don’t institutionalize it),”
Preserving Nature, Enriching Livelihood
One of the major projects that their organization
Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. helped build and develop pocket rainforests, consisting mainly of indigenous trees, in the communities, “so the women would now have sources of water to support their livelihood in farming,”
For many years, lack of access to water has been a problem for the remote barangays of
Challenges Encountered, Resolutions
Any story worth sharing would not be without its fair share of trials and tribulations. The Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc., for example, experienced hindrances in the beginning since, as to their experience, working with local government units (LGUs) was not always as smooth as they wanted it to be.
“Para nila, nakiki-alam ta (they think that we are interfering with their system),” she said, which made it hard for them to cooperate.
Nancy remembered a time when some of the barangay captains even had their workers locked up temporarily for being mistaken as propagandists. Instances like these did not stop them.
“If you persevere in your work, then they realize nga dili jud kompleto (If you persevere in your work, then they realize that it’s really not complete),”
The second challenge comes with staff retention. As Nancy reflected, “when you work in an NGO, ‘di man na pariha sa mga big corporations na we are highly paid (working in an NGO is really not the same as working in big corporations wherein you are highly paid),”
“Half of it is love,” she added.
In an effort to preserve their work, they had to tap young people to pass on their commitments –– young people who could continue what they have started.
“We did this by partnering with some department(s) of Silliman University,”
She also mentioned funding as a challenge. They have funding partners in Germany but according to Nancy, “when you try to do so much with so little, you can only go as far as your resources will take you,”
She is, however optimistic, saying, “there will always be a way,”
Unspoken Reality: Incest
In this day and age, more and more women are embracing their freedom from violence by being proactive advocates of their rights.
However, for Nancy, “the fight for women’s rights never stop especially in a country where it is still prevalent,”
A story reported in the newspapers of an incest case in Palawan… wherein the father(s) would abuse their teenage daughters emotionally, physically, and sexually; the Palawan case mirrors the state of things in rural communities in the country.
“It’s a concept of ‘property’ man gud sa Papa nga, “ako man ning anak, ako ning property” (Fathers think that their daughters are their ‘property’ so they think can do ‘anything’ to them),” Nancy shared.
“–– It happens and will still happen if we don’t do anything about it,”
Abuse is also another topic she delved into since there is a notion that abuse is only physical, but it goes way beyond that.
Abuse, as she puts it, happens when your rights are violated –– when you are stripped off the freedom to think and express, when you feel like you have lost a voice, and when you are made to think that you are less than a human.
On Being a Woman, the Paradigm Shift
Ever since the Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. has been established, the women in the rural areas of Negros Oriental were given roles they never had before.
The more active they were, the more they felt the impact of what they were doing. Eventually, the more empowered they became.
When asked the proverbial question, ‘what is a woman?’ here is what Nancy has to say.
“A woman is a person… a person with rights,”
“It’s not enough to have just a livelihood, but the woman should be empowered enough to make her own decision on what kind of livelihood she wants,” Nancy added.
For Nancy, the best part about her job is helping women find their own voice. She also shared that the best moment comes whenever there is a story of women whose life was changed for the better.
“There was a time when a woman farmer tells me that before they have no voice, but now they can stand up for themselves and recognize that the abuse needs to stop,” Nancy shared.
“To me it’s very touching kay (because) you can change the life of a single woman. Every story of a woman is important. Every single woman is important,”
Since then, the women have experienced a paradigm shift –– women have rights too.
“Equality is giving the same amount, but equity is giving what is right for you,”
“For us, it is about equity –– we can do what the man can do, what the man enjoys. These human rights, women should enjoy as well,” Nancy happily shared.
The Next Chapter: Men Against Violence
The Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc.’s journey in empowering women throughout the province of Negros Oriental continues, and there is still a lot of chapters left unturned in their book.
And as for growth, Nancy envisions the organization to “organize a province-wide women’s organization and province-wide men’s organization –– Men Against Violence,”
The organization also aims to make their referral system more ‘functional and sustainable’ for “it is very important that there’s a mechanism that the women can go to,”
Empowering women all over the world might take years and years. As Nancy said, “It’s a long process,”
Standpoint: Women, the Backbone of Society
The purpose of advocating the rights of women is not about the battle of the sexes; it is never about man versus woman, or about who is more dominant or who could do things better, but instead, it is about having equal rights and equal opportunities for both sexes –– making it the norm in a society that thinks otherwise.
At the end of the day, the fight for the rights of women might take a long way, but with the help of women like Nancy Estolloso; a woman of grit and character, the fight in advocating women’s rights as human rights may be a lot easier for she is not alone, she has collectively built an entire army of men and women who
Outstanding institutions like the Tuburan for Rural Women Empowerment and Development, Inc. will remain tireless in their undying efforts for they are back with a purpose: helping women help themselves, women who are the backbone of society. #IAMRAFI
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