Iris is a teacher, a feminist, a consumer activist, a school administrator & director of various social development organizations. As one of the founding leaders of PILIPINA - Davao, she has inspired and mentored many young women in the women’s movement.
Most of all, Iris has been the political head & heart of PILIPINA Legal Resources Center, Inc., as she serves as our center’s Chair of the Board of Trustees for decades now & gratis et amore.
In 2023, she was awarded the 2023 Catholic Education Association of the
Philippines (CEAP) Catholic School Heroes Award. Iris is also a Datu Bago
Awardee.
& PILIPINA Legal Resources Center, Inc.
Iris, as we fondly call her, has been an educator for about
50 years now.
She worked in schools that to her would best fit her ideology like Assumption
College of Davao and the Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC). She is also very
passionate about her involvements with select NGOs, the cultural arts, feminist
and consumer movements.
At Assumption College of Davao, she embarked into alternative education or
education for social transformation, which was informed by the basic tenet of
the Vatican II Papal encyclical which is “integral evangelization.” Iris thinks
a bug bit her that has since then directed her life. Assumption College of
Davao and Iris just synchronized together in the beautiful discovery that real
Christianity and real Christian education should be an education that addresses
both spiritual and temporal needs.
Iris thinks every human being deserves to live a dignified
life and that is what the phrase “integral evangelization” means to her.
Integral evangelization by Iris radiates to all groups that she belongs to,
starting with her family, with her workplace, with involvement with her sisters
and brothers in the parish, in the school, wherever she is.
Iris is happy that Assumption College of Davao is still one of the few schools
which has really committed itself to education for social transformation. With
this trailblazing work in the academe, it was not difficult for her successors
and the congregation to consider feminist education as feminism was already in
the curriculum.
This feminism in academe gave way to a funding grant from the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) for a project of making modules that
focus on human rights especially on feminism & integrating it in the
curriculum for the Sunday school. Iris would say that blessed is the Sunday
school of Assumption College of Davao and until now she has not yet heard of
any other Sunday school whose curriculum is as feminist and as oriented to
human rights as that of Assumption College of Davao.
When she came to Holy Cross of Davao College, her
appointment’s mandate is to bring accreditation to Holy Cross which is an
indicator of what a good academic institution should be. Since then, Iris has
been in the roster of accrediting institutions. Archbishop Mabutas during the
appointment said “Bring development as well as the integral evangelization
aspect of Assumption College to Holy Cross of Davao College.”
Iris has brought feminism to the academe through various
projects.
During her stint as President, HCDC was in consortium with the Mindanao Working
Group at the Ateneo de Davao University on reproductive health rights program.
It was an integration program using modules to integrate feminism in the college
curriculum.
Through Iris, HCDC is one of the first schools which complied with the
requirement of drafting school guidelines for the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act as
required by law.
They have addressed sexual harassment cases already according to the spirit of
the law. Another project by Iris in HCDC was the BEAM project, an Australian
funded project for basic education in the pre-service component.
The BEAM project much like the Ateneo consortium project also involved the
integration of feminism in the school curriculum. The College has orientation
for students on feminism under the HCDC guidance program which is given to all
students of Holy Cross of Davao College.
The latest passion of Iris is with the Culture and the Arts.
She has been the Vice-chair of the National Committee on Museum and has been
the President of Mindanao Associations of Museums. Through Iris, Holy Cross of
Davao College has its own museum now.
This new endeavor for the Arts and Culture is towards peace, harmony and for
blending with nature.
The art by Iris is inspired by her concern for Mindanao.
Iris says “If we truly believe that there should be pluralism of cultures, then
we have to live it in anything we do, in any group where we are in and in the
consciousness that plurality can thrive with harmony and unity of purpose.”
Her life has come to a level where she thinks she seems to
blend with all quietly. Her passion for human rights and women’s rights is
evolving towards harmonizing groups. At this juncture in her life, Iris is
reflecting on the highlights of her life.
Her empathy for others springs from having lived in a small town, close to
nature & simple lifestyle and having had originated from a lower - middle -
class family with some deprivations and limitations. Life has given her
passions which are very positive drives for her to continue to live simply and
not to be enslaved by wants.
Over the years, Iris says her needs are becoming fewer and
fewer. Iris is happier with meeting fewer needs knowing the limitations and the
deprivations of a large number of our people. She attributes her formation to
pre-Vatican II & the Christian Perfection in the early 70’s which was a
kind of renaissance: to work for the dignity of people.
Catholic
education, then, meant conflating learning outcomes with the goals of the 2nd Vatican
Council which were to address the connection of the Church & the post -
modern world.
Iris shares that all these have now evolved to Synodality (communion,
partnership & mission).
And now, she is going into another level: blending activism with the culture
and arts because of the belief that there is unity in diversity. On earth, Iris
says, one can reach Christian perfection by harmonizing, by unifying, and by
building and not destroying.
Iris has two wonderful children, Jojo who works in the corporate world in Manila &
Riza who is with the Teresian Association of Lay Missionaries which runs
POVEDA, a private, Roman Catholic co-educational school in the heart of Metro
Manila's Ortigas Business District in Quezon City.
Finally, without any hesitation, she would say that the crowning glory of her
life is being a grandmother because she thinks she did her best in her
parenting but now she knows this new cycle & phase in her life can be
lovely by grand parenting her grandchildren.
Iris is also so glad to note that if kids are brought well at home, they can
have good manners, they can be very sensitive, they can love nature, they can
avoid junk food, and they have graceful language.
Iris is discovering all of these grandparenting again in her grandchildren.
And how she wishes they would continue to be such a lovable human beings and
persons as they grow up. Iris says, “It’s really learning from my mistakes as a
parent and then doing better parenting to my grandchildren. I have three boys
and one girl, all very lovable.”
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