Ninotchka Rosca

By Gayle Gupit-Mayor
NW Asian Weekly

The large stage at Seattle University's Pigott Auditorium seemed to swallow the diminutive stature of Ninotchka Rosca. But the intent eyes and attentive ears of young and eager activists absorbed her every word and movement.

Critically acclaimed novelist and well-known Filipino activist Rosca was a keynote speaker at the recently concluded North American Consultation for Women of Philippine Ancestry. The weekend-long symposium drew a crowd of Filipino women from all over the United States and Canada to Seattle, where they discussed issues concerning Filipino women.

Rosca, the international spokesperson of the Purple Rose Campaign and the founding chair of GABRIELA Network U.S.A., spoke against the sex trafficking of Filipino women.

She believes that prostitution in the Philippines, the sex trafficking of women and the ongoing mail-order bride situation are the responsibility of numerous governments, as well as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization.

"The Philippines is constantly adjudged credit-worthy - having good credit - and the simple reason for that is because we mortgage our population. We send our workers overseas, and the money that comes back is used to pay the interest on the loans," she said. Rosca explained that the root of this problem is the subservience of the Philippines to the IMF, World Bank and the WTO.

"The IMF/World Bank has been lending money to Philippine presidents, beginning with Marcos, even though it knows full well that a large percentage of that loan is being pocketed - stolen - by government officials. And as we see today, despite $45 billion of loans, the Philippines is still poor. It hasn't advanced an inch!"

Rosca had previously criticized the Ramos administration for encouraging the commodification of Filipino women by tying in a beauty pageant with the Philippine centennial celebration. She is glad that the Philippines is rid of Estrada, but doesn't feel positive about the current Arroyo administration. "From my distant vantage point, I actually see certain government decisions which are extremely dangerous to women. Very notably, the decision of the Arroyo government to allow the United States military to use Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base," said Rosca.

She believes that allowing the U.S. military to come back to use the Philippine bases is extremely perilous because " . . . it took us nearly half a century of struggle to get the United States military out of the country . . . and history and experience have shown us that it is almost impossible to get the U.S. military out once they are in there . . . and now, just on the say-so of one woman president, the U.S. military is going to be back in the Philippines."

According to Rosca, prostitution was de facto legalized while the U.S. military was in the Philippines. "What they did was they invented euphemisms - labels - different names for prostitutes. They called them hospitality girls, entertainment whatever, you know, to hide the fact that there is prostitution going on."

"Now here in the United States," she continued, "if you look at the military bases, they're all rimmed by brothel houses, nightclubs, bars, etc., and you check out who the women are . . . they are women of color: black Americans or Koreans or Filipinas. In fact, 25,000 women from the Philippines and South Korea have been brought to the United States for this particular purpose!"

Rosca is quick to note that the second-most common occupation of women who leave the Philippines is the sex industry.

Since the inception of Gabnet and the Purple Rose Campaign, which educates the world about the sex trafficking of women and children, Rosca's voice has been heard all over the world.

The Purple Rose Campaign is active in 11 countries. "These countries are combating their own Purple Rose Campaign. So this is, for us, a great indication of our position," said Rosca.

She is a much sought-after speaker and tours extensively all over the world to share her insights and expertise. Since 1982, home for Rosca has been New York City, where she has been writing and working closely with the human-rights community.

Someday, she would like to return to the Philippines and live there. She fervently hopes that someone else can take over her work at GABRIELA Network.

Born and raised in the Philippines, Rosca has authored five books and was the recipient of the 1993 American Book Award for Excellence in Literature for her novel Twice Blessed. She writes about the lives of ordinary people and how they manage to defend and develop their humanity under difficult circumstances. It was this perspective that naturally brought Rosca to activism and politics. A political prisoner under the Marcos regime, Rosca left the Philippines to live in exile in the United States after being threatened with a second arrest.

Rosca cannot remember a time when she wasn't writing. "I've been writing since I was 7 years old. I was actually very shy . . . so my medium of expression was writing." Rosca learned to read and write very early in life, and she is fluent in three languages.

When she was younger, she used to earn money by reading. "The servants in our neighborhood discovered that I could read - and quite a number of them couldn't - so they would buy the magazines, Liwayway (a popular tabloid in the Philippines) and comic books, then they would make me read these aloud."

The old men and women would sit in a semi-circle while 7-year-old Ninotchka read aloud to them. "Each would pay me money - centavos. I had so much money that I had no cash flow problem. I then came to the conclusion that reading and writing was profitable - very wrong conclusion!" she said, laughing.

Rosca is currently working on a novel and another book about the life of Jose Maria Sison, the founding chair of the communist party of the Philippines.

Where does she see herself five years from now? "I would like to have at least two more books, maybe more. I would like to see solid women's leadership - women of Philippine ancestry leadership in the United States - solid, self-reliant and really militant."

She adds, "If there is anything I would like to be known for, I would like to be known as a storyteller, a good classical storyteller, in the tradition of the epic poets who went around reciting poetry."

Indeed, the twin themes of writing and activism have dominated Ninotchka Rosca's life. And that suits her just fine.

For more information about the GABRIELA Network and the Purple Rose Campaign, visit www.gabnet.org.