Women dominate the headlines

By Joshua Corcuera

         Interestingly, several female icons have dominated news content, headlines, and social media content this year. From Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz to Nobel laureate Maria Ressa to Vice President Leni Robredo, women who caught the attention of the nation are growing in numbers.

Recently though, Ressa winning the highly coveted Nobel and Robredo’s announcement of gunning for the presidency dominated social media sites.

In the Facebook page of ABS-CBN, Robredo’s announcement to run for president had more than 7.1 million views as of writing and almost 219,000 unique reactions—more than two-thirds of which were positive (heart and like). Throughout the first week of October, Robredo was mentioned more than half a million times in social media, according to a data gathered by a news station—which if my mind serves me right came from News5. She had more mentions than that of Marcos, Domagoso, Pacquiao, Dela Rosa, and Lacson. Of course, not all these mentions were positive, but this sense of name recall will be good news to the opposition campaign. After all, where there is interest, there is intent.

As of writing, Robredo is also the only female presidentiable. It remains to be seen, however, whether Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will really run since substitution may still occur until the middle of November. Assuming Duterte-Carpio does not run for president, Robredo will be the only lawyer gunning for the highest office in the land for the 2022 presidential elections. The Vice President took economics at the University of the Philippines-Diliman as her pre-law course.

Just recently as well, Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of Rappler, won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The journalist won the accolade with a fellow journalist from Russia, Dmitry Mugatov, “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace,” said the Nobel Committee.

With journalists winning the Nobel, it is imperative to note that journalism has played a huge role in achieving peace. In a time where disinformation is pervasive and lies are beating facts, journalists seek the whole truth and spread them far and wide for all of society to know. Journalists expose white-collar crime, reveal abuses and corruption in government, and track those involved in war crimes—a dangerous task that may potentially cut their lives short. It is, therefore, a good thing to recognize the contributions of journalists in attaining social peace.

Obviously, Robredo and Ressa have their share of criticisms. As a matter of fact, Ressa was subject to intimidation throughout her 35-year career as a journalist. Last June 2020, she was convicted of cyber libel though the case is being appealed to a higher court. The conviction was slammed by many as an attack on press freedom that have chilling effects on the country’s democracy, rule of law, and peace. She still faces several cases ranging from libel to tax evasion.

Meanwhile, Robredo’s office suffered from having a low budget for the past five years, yet she managed to contribute to countryside development with many labeling her as an icon of efficiency and competence. This pandemic, her office has been active in vaccinating those in rural areas through Vaccine Express, testing thousands through Swab Cab, and continuing her Angat Buhay program—which was initiated even before the pandemic—to lift the marginalized.

Regardless of one’s opinion of them, whether good or bad, it cannot be denied that women are making headlines in Philippine society—a sign that women can change society just as their male counterparts.