Women Against Marcos

Stories of Filipino and Filipino American Women Who Fought a Dictator
BY MILA DE GUZMAN

Based on interviews with Mila Aguilar, Geline Avila,  Aurora “Oyie” Javate De Dios, Cindy Domingo, Sister Mary John Mananzan, and Aida Santos.

“Martial law was declared ostensibly to quell subversion and build a new society.   With one stroke Marcos imprisoned thousands of people he considered his opponents.   By the end of his inglorious reign, close to 50,000 had been detained.  Among them  were prominent opposition leaders like Ninoy Aquino, Jose Diokno, and hundreds of  women activist leaders.”
“Participation of Women’s Groups in the Anti-Dictatorship Struggle,” Aurora J. De Dios, Women’s Role in Philippine History: Selected Essays)  READ MORE

Women Against Marcos is available at:
  • In the US: Arkipelago Books, 1010 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103 (415-795-3382)
  • In the Philippines: Popular Book Store, 305 Tomas Morato Avenue2nd Floor, FLP Building, Diliman, Quezon City, 1100 Metro Manila Tel. 63-2-8372-2162
  • Cindy Domingo – Email: cindydomingo@gmail.com

Melinda Paras

Note from author Mila De Guzman:
This first person account of Fil-Am activist Melinda Paras, published in Inquirer.net on March 8, 2021 in celebration of International Women’s Day, is an addition to the narratives in Women Against Marcos: Stories of Filipino and Filipino American Women Who Fought a Dictator. 

A Fil-Am activist’s transnational search for home

Melinda Paras / As told to Mila De Guzman

About the Author

Mila De Guzman

Author/Writer

Mila De Guzman is the author of Women Against Marcos: Stories of Filipino and Filipino American Women Who Fought a Dictator. She was a member of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) that organized the Filipino-American community to support democracy in the Philippines and defend the democratic rights of Filipinos in the U.S. Mila worked for twenty years at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. She received her M.A. and M.F.A. in Writing from the University of San Francisco and has been awarded writing residencies at Hedgebrook on Whidbey Island, Washington and Mesa Refuge in Marin County, California. Mila is a member of the Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. (PAWA) and Bamboo Shoots, a Bay Area writing group of Asian-American women.

More articles by Mila DeGuzman