📷 Yshi Mei Pomarejos and Rogie Ken Villarin
The West Visayas State University (WVSU) Drag Community highlighted advocacies that promote inclusivity and safe spaces during their event, “In Ko Di: Creating Inclusive Universities,” September 7.
Guest speakers forwarded different causes concerning gender inclusivity, education, and cultural awareness to promote a safe and supportive environment, as discussed during the plenary session at the University Cultural Center.
Universities as inclusive spaces
Senator Risa Hontiveros addressed the current state of the LGBTQIA+ community in spaces, like universities, and shared updates on the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality Bill’s progress.
Hontiveros revealed in her speech that the SOGIESC Equality Bill, formerly called the Anti-Discrimination Bill, “might be the longest pending legislation,” being in the process for over 20 years.
She explained how the bill is always pending at the Senate Committee on Rules,
unlike its counterpart in the House of Representatives which has a much faster pace of development.
Several speakers on the panel also addressed the lived experiences of people in
marginalized sectors, including indigenous peoples (IPs) and persons with disabilities (PWDs), at the university level.
In her speech, Anna Razel Ramirez, project leader of the Cultural Mapping of Panay and Guimaras, called for universities and public institutions’ cultural awareness in supporting the communities of IPs.
Kabataan Partylist Education and Research Officer Matthew Gonzaga also added on the struggle of the IPs for their ancestral domain.
Meanwhile, Knuehlvirn Hautea defended the right to education without discrimination against PWDs and asserted their supposed spaces in society, especially in universities.
Budget’s misallocation
With the recent controversy over Vice President Sara Duterte’s “Isang Kaibigan,” a children’s book with a hefty price of P10 million, Gonzaga stressed the government’s capacity to provide a sum that would fund the operations of the education sector.
He pointed out the "misallocation" of the government's budget, which is supposed to be directed towards education.
He also cited the Education 2030 Framework for Action of UNESCO which mandates its member-states to allocate at least 4% to 6% of GDP to education, or direct at least 15% to 20% of public expenditure to education.
Gonzaga said that inclusive education should be free and equal.
The organizing committee has revealed that it achieved more than 1,100 registered attendees from universities and organizations all over Iloilo City.
The WVSU Drag Community is the Philippines’ first university-based drag organization with an advocacy on sharing drag as an art form and the equality of gender and sexuality.
