"What appeared to be difficult then for a male-dominated society to accept is now a fact that they have to live with."
"What appeared to be difficult then for a male-dominated society to accept is now a fact that they have to live with."
The 1930s was an era of great change in the Philippines. For example, the Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed by the Congress of the United States in 1934 “to provide for the complete independence of the Philippine Islands, to provide for the adoption of the constitution and a form of government for the Philippine Islands.” In addition to this, the 1935 Constitution was adopted by the Constitutional Convention, approved by the President of the United States, and ratified by the Philippine electorate. Later that year, Manuel L. Quezon was inaugurated President of the Philippines and Secretary George H. Dern representing President Roosevelt proclaimed the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (Highlights in the History of the Philippine-American Relations, Official Gazette, September 27, 1943). A few years later, in 1937, Filipino women gained the right to vote.
Against this political and social backdrop, it was hard for Filipino women to aspire to and much less pursue an education. Naomi and Josefina Phodaca were the only children of Mariano and Bonifacia. They were born in the island province of Marinduque to parents who approved of their children’s desire to take up law in Manila. Some of their neighbors were naysayers, going so far as to say: “bakit pa pag-aaralin ng abogasiya ang kanilang mga anak na babae na sa kusina lang naman ang punta kapag nag-asawa.” The Phodaca couple supported the aspirations of their daughters and had to sell a portion of their coconut land to finance their education.
Naomi and Josefina pursued their education at the University of Manila where they obtained their Bachelor of Laws and were admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1937 and 1940, respectively. Naomi recalls being the only lady student in a class wherein she had to excuse herself every time her Professor in Criminal Law gave examples with sexual undertones. Naomi, simultaneous to her law studies pursued Christian education at the Ellinwood College of Christian Education. Josefina later received a Fulbright scholarship for her Masters of Law in Yale University. The sisters pursued different paths in the male-dominated legal profession, with Josefina pouring her time into public service while Naomi pursued trial practice, but despite this, both served in different capacities in various women’s civic organizations because of their strong sense of civic duty.
After World War II, Josefina (later married to Dominador B. Ambrosio) served as councilor and first woman majority floor leader of the City of Manila, Personal Envoy of Goodwill of President Ramon Magsaysay, Personal Envoy and Adviser on women’s work and group organization under President Carlos P. Garcia, and Secretary to Senate President Gil J. Puyat. She started civic and social work early as a student volunteer in the National Federation of Women’s Clubs, where she acted as a supervisor in the organization of local and provincial units rallying women to vote for woman’s suffrage and pioneered the literacy campaign of the Young Women’s Christian Association. She later became the organizer of the conference for Moral Crusade, was elected in 1960 as the first Asian and only Filipino President of the Federacion Internacionale de Abogadas, and became President of the Civic Assembly of Women in the Philippines (Filipino Women in Nation Building, Herminia M. Ancheta, M.A. and Michaela Beltran Gonzales, Ed. D., 1984, Phoenix Publication House, Inc. p. 56).
On the international legal stage, Josefina campaigned for the Philippines’ seat on the United Nations Commission on the status of women in 1957, and was an adviser to the Philippine delegation to the United Nations in the 23rd General Assembly in 1967 in New York. She was essential in bringing the family planning movements to the Philippines, as well as bringing international aid for the Puericulture Association of the Philippines. Before her death in 1970, she received the Presidential Award of Merit from President Ferdinand Marcos (Filipino Women in Nation Building, Herminia M. Ancheta, M.A. and Michaela Beltran Gonzales, Ed. D., 1984, Phoenix Publication House, Inc. pp. 56 and 57).
On the other hand, Naomi pursued trial practice in Manila and other parts of Luzon where she handled criminal, civil, labor, and administrative cases. She frequently recalled a public prosecutor in Manila who condescendingly challenged her to win the acquittal of her client charged of rape for a cup of coffee. Her client was successfully acquitted and she received the cup of coffee. When she later married Tranquilino Sr., they formed a husband-and-wife team who practiced law during the Japanese Occupation, at which time civil courts were open despite the war, and the post war years. Naomi the oralist and Tranquilino Sr. the writer enjoyed their court battles. It was Naomi who fought and argued in the male-dominated courtrooms up to the Supreme Court. Her civic activity was largely concentrated on the Church Women United of the Philippines as its long-standing president. It was an organization that initiated the Fellowship of the Least Coin, a worldwide ecumenical program adopted by 80 countries in the world (Rev. Henry Brillon Aguillan, History of the Fellowship of the Least Coin, haguilan.blogspot).
As a young lawyer in the 1990s, I was waiting for my case to be called at the National Labor Relations Commission when I heard someone saying “Atty. Lerum, Atty. Lerum.” The name immediately registered in my mind so I turned around and saw a small man in his early eighties wearing a white barong. I respectfully approached Eulogio R. Lerum and introduced myself as the grandson of Naomi Phodaca Salvador; I told him that he was always being described as a prominent labor leader during the Sunday lunches in my grandparent’s house. He then further elaborated that my grandmother was his law partner before she got married. He described her as a “fighter” in court and in the picket lines, standing side by side with the laborers that she represented. He also told me that they frequently asked and conversed with each other regarding their respective practices. Eulogio R. Lerum, aside from being a labor lawyer/leader, was later appointed by President Corazon Aquino as one of the Commissioners of the Philippine Constitutional Commission of 1986.
In 2006, while waiting for my turn to speak as MCLE lecturer in Ateneo School of Law, I heard a clear and authoritative voice saying, “Atty. Tranquilino Salvador, I know your Papa.” When I turned around, I saw a man in his late eighties smiling at me but looking at me sharply. Immediately my mind worked to remember who he was; he cannot be my father’s contemporary because my father was then barely 60 years old. I asked him courteously who he was, and the old man introduced himself as Atty. Felino Ampil. It rang a bell because his name had been mentioned repeatedly by my grandparents when they reminisce the years past. Atty. Ampil was a prominent lawyer and named partner of the Bausa Ampil law firm in Escolta, Manila.
Atty. Ampil told me some stories about my lola and lolo. He also mentioned his request for an exemption from the MCLE requirements as he was already old and sickly. A few weeks later, I received a copy of a letter from him addressed to the Supreme Court Chief Justice discussing some of the lecturers. He expressed in his letter his observations on the MCLE sessions and its lecturers and made this interesting comment about me; “the ebullient, volcanic Professor Salvador, far from being tranquil, a reincarnation of the fierce trial lawyer of Naomi Phodaca Salvador, his grandmother, so very possessive of her handsome lawyer-husband Tranquilino, who were both my constant company at lunch after court trials during the Japanese Occupation.”
Almost 90 years has passed, and law schools largely have a majority female population, with women graduating valedictorians, salutatorians, honor students, student leaders, and editors-in-chief of school papers; with some going on to be Presidents of Universities and Colleges, and Deans of Law Schools. I frequently tell my students in jest that there may come a time wherein there will only be a handful of male students in law school.
Times have really changed. What appeared to be difficult then for a male-dominated society to accept is now a fact that they have to live with. As sure as the sun rises, and as sure as the seasons shift, there will always be a change, not due to our wiles but as willed by our Lord.