I am proud to say that this is my third term as President of FIDA. In all the six years that I was at the helm of this very prestigious organization of lady lawyers, I would like to boast a little of the small accomplishments I, together with my Board, have done in pursuit of FIDA’s goals and objectives. Allow me to mention the most recent ones and summarize the rest.
PROJECT ON MIGRANT WOMEN WORKERS
Following a dream of reaching out to migrant women workers deployed all over the world, we thought of Hong Kong as a pilot site for the project. We were able to contact Ms. Elsie Leung, a founding member and former president of FIDA Hong Kong, who was so gracious to host a breakfast meeting at the Grand Hyatt hotel with three other former presidents, namely Sylvia W. Y. Siu, Angela Man-Kay Ho and Janice W. K. Choi. The current president was not able to make it to the meeting as she was in China then, but we were given her email address. Initially discussed in the meeting were mutual issues regarding FIDA, like the need to organize a FIDA international conference, at least for Asian countries. We believe that this will be a good jumpstart for this project.
The Philippine delegation presented our concerns with the plight of the more than a hundred thousand female Filipino migrant workers based in Hong Kong. We also discussed with them our plan to provide legal aid to these female Filipino OFWs by tapping our FIDA counterpart in Hong Kong. This will include legal advice, legal consultation and legal representation on a pro-bono arrangement or on a subsidized/discounted legal fees.
The project would likewise include the holding of seminars/lectures to the OFWs on their rights, work-related matters and value formation. For this, we are tapping other government agencies, such as the DFA, DOLE, OWWA and POEA. As a matter of fact in that initial meeting in Hong Kong, we were ably assisted by Hong Kong Labor Attache Leonida V. Romulo.
As a follow through on this project, we have exchanged email communications with Ms. Sandy Wong, the current president of FIDA Hong Kong, relative to the case of OFW Preslyn Catacutan, who was criminally charged for theft of photos and a letter belonging to Hong Kong pop star Jacky Cheung. We have likewise, emailed a letter to Ms. Puan Sri Datin Seri N. Saraswathey Devi, President, International Federation of Women Lawyers, requesting for an update on the international organization and on the possibility of us making contacts with other FIDAN counterparts in Asia and the Middle East counties where there are lots of female Filipino migrant workers, as well.
This project was part of those planned for in the Planning Workshop, which project was aptly called "BRIDGES," a project for Migrant Women Workers.
The name "bridges" was conjured by the images of thousand of women workers now crossing the seas from the Philippines and forming what seems like bridges of service and friendship between the societies of the Philippines and other countries.
If we will not get the cooperation of Hong Kong FIDA, we will try Singapore as the first pilot site for our overseas project.
FIDA WEB PAGE PROJECT
Early on, I have floated the idea of putting up a FIDAN web page for us to be able to post our on-going activities and accomplishments, and of course to be able to connect to all our members and our counterpart FIDANs in different countries.
This will be a big help in our networking with our counterpart FIDANs in pursuing our project for migrant women workers. A volunteer group is now working on creating one and very soon we will have our very own web page.
At present there is a FIDAN group email put up by another volunteer lawyer. I am told that it is very active and has given us access to everyone in the group, especially the younger members of FIDA. This group email posts legal matters/concerns, as well as matters of general interests, such as health, financial, spiritual/other concerns. I enjoin everyone to join this group mail to keep us in touch with each other and to also learn from one another.
This was another project planned for in the Planning Workshop.
FIDANs ON AIR
The radio program aired every Saturday, 10-11 in the morning over DWBL, 1242 khz, has been on the air since 1983 and is manned by volunteer lawyers who happily give up their Saturday rest to be able to reach out to and empower the public of their rights and give them some knowledge of the law. This program features a specific topic for the day and invites legal luminaries to a free flowing discussion and entertains phone in questions from the public. We are indeed grateful to the management and staff of DWBL for the support.
We intend to continue with this project with some innovations, improvements and whatever is needed to make it more accessible to the public and become a tool for an extended legal aid.
LEGAL CENTER
This project is the be all and end all of the existence of FIDA. We have carried on with this project all these years. With regular volunteers, we have catered to various cases brought to our attention, from referrals, from friends, from NGOs, from government agencies, and walk-ins as well.
We cannot discount the fact that somehow our FIDA volunteers have made an impact on the lives of these people who come to pour their sentiments, their fears, their legal problems, problems of daily living. Sometimes, just to have someone to listen to them, means a lot to people who are desperate, lost, anxious and troubled. If only for these, we shall endeavor to be there for everyone who will need us.
FIDA PROPERTY
The past management has somehow endeavored to work out an arrangement for this property, where we have the present FIDA office, to be awarded to us. The present management has likewise met several times with the Manila City Mayor and members of the Sanggunian but all we got are promises and plans.
I personally feel that we should go beyond this and dream big. What I dream is for us to be able to get a lot of our own and construct in it a building we can call our very own. I will task a group to make this dream into reality.
We will go on a massive fund raising, tap our connections, enjoin every FIDAN lawyer to do her share in making this dream come true.
This will be my legacy to FIDA. This will be our legacy to the Filipino women.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
The following were also part of our activities, ongoing and in the recent past:
CONCLUSION
As we come together today for our general assembly, allow me to thank the Board of Directors and the Officers who have been very supportive. They put in their valuable time, lend their talents and even their treasures, to dream with me and make things happen. To one and all, Mabuhay tayo.
Also to fellow FIDANs, may I enjoin you to continue to participate and support our collective endeavors. We are open to suggestions and recommendations on how to better accomplish things and for new advocacy or projects to further pursue our mandated task.
Again, thank you.
