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MANILA: The choice of Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona Robredo as the candidate for Vice President 2016 of the Liberal Party (LP) is bad news, very bad news to the ladies who have been fighting for equal rights of men and women – and they don't realize it yet!
Leni believes in marriage between a man and a woman under the Roman Catholic Church – and there are no equal rights there! (No, there are not even equal hugs.)
Jesse and Leni's marriage lasted 25 years before the plane crash that took his life away. "(She) attributed their lasting relationship to mutual efforts to let nothing come between them and a strong desire to make the marriage work" (Jamaine Punzalan, 09 October 2015, abs-cbnnews.com).
Leni does not believe in a woman's right to her body, but she certainly believes in her husband's right to her body, and her husband's wife's right to her husband's body within marriage under the Roman Catholic Church. I'll call it mutuality. Now that her husband Jesse is gone, the principle doesn't change.
Equal rights?! When God created the Earth, he did not say, "Let Man and Woman conquer the Earth and divide the rights among themselves equally, compete against each other in every conceivable way, and may the best man win!"
Women's Lib. They are the same ladies who believe that if they want their sexual partners to use condom, they should be allowed to – in fact, the government should subsidize free sex: free of responsibilities!
Filipino movie stars are getting pregnant, and they are flaunting their middles growing. They have more sense in their beautiful heads than the Women's Lib Ladies who sees beauty only in their logic.
Instead of listening to a lady complaining about her large family, Leni will listen to a group of ladies who would like to know how they can avail of government assistance for their livelihood projects.
Instead of listening to a young mother demanding that the government teach her 12 year old daughter safe sex, Leni will listen to a group of mothers from one village who would form an association so that they can market their village's products to enjoy the chain of values from farm to market, from farm gate to mouth.
Leni does not feel complete without her husband even up to now – she consulted him before making the final decision as to whether to accept or reject the VP offer from the Liberal Party. (He would have wanted her to accept the challenge to serve her country.)
I saw her Facebook entry where she showed her husband Jesse embracing her tightly days before she made the final decision (image above) – and I just thought that her answer would be Yes. She said as caption, "I needed this." She wanted reassurance, from ideals that can withstand the test of time, from the distant past. You can't get reassurance from an equal-rights partner.
Leni Robredo already has her job cut out for her, and she doesn't know it yet either! She is going to be the guardian of family values not only for the Roman Catholic Church for the whole of her country – and the rest of the Christian world.
She can't help it even if she wants to. She's already there.
Somebody will try to court her and break the tie that binds the 4 girls with Jesse Robredo, husband and father. She will try to protect her family, incomplete as she is.
Some groups will demand that she support their advocacy for equal rights between men and women. Leni Robredo knows that there cannot be equal rights – men and women were created by God for different purposes mean to complement, not compete against each other.
They will demand from Leni "gender-sensitive" programs and concerns that run counter to the Christian ideal of man and woman belonging to each other in a society. A married man and woman is the nucleus of that society.
Some groups will demand that Leni Robredo support their campaign to limit the number of family members in the Philippines, to reduce poverty. The logic is like this:
On one hand, an income of P6,000 a month if divided equally will give each family member of four P1,000 or P 33.33 a day for food expenses, including food. On the other hand, an income of P6,000 if divided equally will give each family member of four P2,500 or P 83.33 each, which is adequate for daily food. That's the arithmetic logic of the overpopulation mongers. They are assuming that life is all about equal distribution of food!
What about the physiological and psychological effects of family planning by using contraceptive methods? Those are costs to the family.
In her speech before the annual commencement exercises of the Ateneo de Manila School of Government, Leni Robredo said about women empowerment (as quoted by Tony La Viña, 25 August 2015, manilastandardtoday.com):
Many say to be an empowered woman of our society, you have to stand out and be heard. That all must listen to your voice at every opportunity. Many say gender equality is all about being as strong as a man, as important, and as celebrated. In my life at least, it meant knowing when to let go of the limelight and when to step up. It meant knowing when to keep quiet and when to speak. Being empowered meant understanding that not all kinds of strength are visible and auditory. When you know your true value as a woman, you can sit back with secure knowledge that the man of your dreams values your judgment because you value yours, and that together, you are working on the same goals. You are not in a contest to be heard; you are working on the same team.
And about what the new Ateneo college graduates should do with their lives:
The time you have spent in here should be put to good use. Let’s not be contented with just planning. Let us start doing. Collaborate. Discuss. Find ways to work together. There is no time to lose. The country needs every bright mind. Imagine how much our nation will change if all of your bright ideas can be honed and turned into real solutions for our people’s suffering. You are in this place at this time for a purpose. Find it and make it happen.
That is why Leni Robredo is my VP for 2016!