FOR eight decades, a rare breed of Fipino women passed the torch of enlightenment and empowerment to cast away the darkness of social despair, economic inequity, and political incapacity, which centuries of colonial masters brought in this part of the world. Slivers of light gave hope to indigenous women struck down from their lofty place in tribes, to señoras and señoritas hobbled from pursuing university education, and to all women displaced in the electoral process.
This book chronicles the passing of the torch held above the shoulders of the leaders and members of the National Filipino Women's Club of the Philippines. This book shines the light on the lives, loves, losses and liberation the clubwomen as they searched in every nook and cranny for their rightful place in history.
Such women are Josefa Llanes Escoda and Mrs. Trinidad Legarda, shown in this book's cover photo marching with the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, a platform for women's development they helped organize and lead.
Pepa, as Mrs. Escoda wanted people to call her, embodied the clubwomen's quintessential leadership: having the humility to serve even at the cost of having the light of life flicker away. Legarda, the first woman president of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, personified the power of music to heal and bring forth a country from the ashes of war.
Both, like the Girl Scouts marching behind them, had chins up, heads held high, confident of their future and at peace with their past. Still, they mirror the sophisticated bearing of leaders.
There are many of them in this book; women who were confident of their self and their multi-faceted roles when the times called for bravery and selflessness, in times of struggle against servitude and self-determination.
Their images and their roles are scattered across this book, divided into significant points of Philippine history.
Part One bares the seed of hope and its planting on soil drenched by the blood of heroes. Part Two reveals the clubwomen's quest for servant leadership. Part Three covers the triumphs and travails of clubwomen as history marched on.
Media Wise Communications Inc./MUSE Books is recognized for its expertise and professionalism in publishing for more than thirty years through arts, travel, and culture Muse Magazine.
Led by impressionist painter Ramoncito Ocampo Cruz, Media Wise also shared with readers the sophistication and elegance of Philippine culture and arts through "150: The Ateneo Way," a coffee table book celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Ateneo de Manila University.
This seminal book gave Media Wise its latest in a string of awards,
Flagship product Muse magazine also reaped a special citation from the Catholic Mass Media Awards in 2008.
That same year, the magazine was recognized by the International Association of Business Communicators during the Philippine Quill Awards under the communication creative division-publication design category.
Pursuits, a magazine created, designed and published for the Insular Life Group of Companies by Media Wise was also given a Philippine Quill Award under the communication skills division-publications category.
Media Wise Communications Inc./MUSE Books also won the 2001 Anvil Award of Merit for best annual report for the De La Salle University System's President's Report. In 2005, Media Wise Communications Inc./MUSE Books won another Anvil Award of Merit (Institutional and Corporate Programs Category -Public Affairs Management & Communications, Arts & Culture) for its work on the Department of Tourism's Biyaheng Sinko-Sinko.
For leading Media Wise Communications Inc./MUSE Books, chief executive Ramoncito Ocampo Cruz was recognized in 2003 by the Consumer League of the Philippines Foundation (CONPHIL) as Filipino Role Model of the Year for Arts and Culture.
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