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Proudly Pinay presents Janette Toral

Proudly Pinay

presents

Janette Toral

PROUDLY PINAY recognizes all the Filipino women who, symbolically, walk their talk in heels and skirts. These are women who have made valuable contribution to society. They are the ones who make us truly proud to be Pinoys.

The second Pinay who makes it to Proudly Pinay is the woman behind the recently concluded Filipina Writing Contest. She is also involved in various internet-related policies, businesses and advocacies. Now let me present to you,

Ms. JANETTE TORAL.

The void of a blackhole, the depth of an abyss--if there is just one place in the whole wide universe that the Filipino can get lost in, it is nowhere in the map. The address does not start with a number that's followed by a street's name, rather, the address starts with http:// and is followed by 3Ws. It's the cyberspace.

Now that the digital age is no longer an exclusive privilege for developed countries and for those who belong to the wealthier social strata, it is a relief that Filipino have taken a step forward to counter naivete, misconceptions and fears arising from those whose idea of typing results into kalyos and usage of liquid and carbon papers (both are not clean, white sheets). (Side comment: I can't believe that some people actually thought of the Y2K bug as something as a deadly epidemic.) One of them--I'm proud to say that I have met her, is Janette Toral.

As a writer, Janette shares her opinions as a columnist of Sun Star Cebu. Aside from this, she has authored and co-authored two books, respectively, DigitalFilipino.Com E-Commerce Workshop E-Book and Philippine Internet Review: 10 Years of Internet History (1994-2004). She has also conducted researches on the electronic field: IT, online banking, mobile phone usage, outsourcing, etc.

As an advocate, among Janette's most successful efforts are lobbying for RA8792: The Y2K and E-Commerce Law.; founding the Philippine Internet Commerce Society; and other projects which include the Filipina Writing Project and the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs Project.

She owns the DigitalFilipino.Com Club and the Philippine Software Process Improvement Network, which are both professional online communities. She does consultancy work and also conducts training on various internet and multimedia-related topics.

With all of these and so much more at her hand, Janette has empowered the lives of the digital Filipinos and Filipinas. Hence, we name Ms. Janette Toral as our second Proudly Pinay in the list.

Info based from her personal website.

More info available at JanetteToral.Com

Lady in Red has the permission to post her photo.

Proudly Pinay: The Filipina Who Strut On Her Heels

Forget about the stilettos by Louboutin, Blahnik and Jimmy Choo. For now, let us put the limelight on the high heels from Mendrez, Janylin, Sapato and all those that hail from Marikina—the modern Filipina stands tall and proud on them.

Knowing her worth, she struts what she has got in those heels.

Domestically, she has moved on from being a housewife to a homemaker who is capable of making and implementing decisions for her family. Out in the bigger world, she has walked through places to find her niche; her passion that opens even more horizons for her.

In politics.

Oh. A lot of firsts and hall of famers. There's Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino who is the first Filipina president. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, inspite of being vertically challenged, stands tall among the other women leaders over the world as she was named one of Time's Most Powerful Women in the World.

In culture and the arts.

A coined word is finding itself in dictionaries worldwide: Imeldiffic. Coming from Imelda Marcos' many affinities, which include shoes for one, Imeldiffic is associated to those who share with the former first lady the same passion for culture and arts.

Again, there are countless Filipinas who take the role of leaders in this field. As of writing, the directors for National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the National Museum are both women. Lisa Macuja, Lea Salonga, Monique Wilson and Lani Misalucha have also garnered respect and round of applauses for the Filipina talent.

In the environment.

Chin-Chin Gutierrez' advocacies for the environment made her become one of Time magazine's Heroes of Asia. She has used her talent and influence as an actress in promoting for this cause. Other women are also taking the lead in green movements. For instance, there's Chit Juan, Figaro's CEO and League of Corporate Foundations' President, walk her talk in promoting various causes, which now include the environment.

In the corporate world.

Many Filipinas have climbed through the corporate ladder; gaining the respect of men and recognition from people all over the world. Some hold key positions like managers,vice presidents and CEOs in the Philippines and there are also those like Loida Nicolas-Lewis and Gina Alexander, who are in command at big companies in other countries.

It is impossible to cite every successful Filipina in this write-up. This just goes to show that the modern Pinay is multi-faceted. Getting to know her is similar to the experience of entering a Janylin outlet where the shelves are filled with shoes of different colors, styles and sizes.

Thanks to all those who have advocated for the rights of the Filipino women—the modern Pinay gets to exercise her rights. Try to suppress them and expect a heel cut through your face—of course, figuratively. These days, it is harder to get away with chauvinism in the Philippines. Gabriela and other women's groups are vigilant.

What makes a Filipina proudly Pinay is her resilience. No, it's not about stifling sobs and crying behind closed doors; It's about her ability to endure being on stilettos and still sashay through her roles in life inspite of all the agonies of being a woman.

At the end of the day, the Pinay takes her stilettos off to perform a more noble role, which is to be a woman for others.

With all of these in mind, having the Pinay as the female face of the Philippines, makes us all truly proud.


Join the Filipina Writing Project:
http://w3o.blogspot.com/2007/07/filipina-seo-keyword-campaign.html

Proudly Pinay presents Chin-chin Gutierrez

Proudly Pinay

presents

Chin-chin Gutierrez

PROUDLY PINAY recognizes all the Filipino women who, symbolically, walk their talk in heels and skirts. These are women who have made valuable contribution to society. They are the ones who make us truly proud to be Pinoys.

The first Pinay who makes it to Proudly Pinay is one who chose to take her heels off (now in a literal sense) to be able to advocate for environmental and cultural causes. A celebrated international actress; in fact, one of Asia's finest, beautiful and artistic, let me present to you, Ms. CHIN-CHIN GUTIERREZ.

Sustainable Dreams

Onscreen, Chin-Chin Gutierrez, one of the Philippines’ most celebrated film stars, has recently played a sophisticated villain in a popular national soap opera. In real life, she spends a third of her time campaigning for sustainable development – from warning against climate change to digging holes and composting rubbish – and has been hailed by TIME magazine as a hero for it.

The winner of both ‘best actress’ and ‘best supporting actress’ in the Asian Television awards, among other prizes – and with an extraordinary versatility of roles, including heroines and dramatic leads – she doubles as a leading activist of the Mother Earth Foundation, a Filipino non-governmental organization which has successfully campaigned for a national Clean Air Act and waste legislation. Earlier this year she appeared on the cover of the international news magazine as a ‘hero of Asia’, for ‘using her fame to spread a message often ignored ... that there are natural resources aside from beauty and talent’.

‘I am an actress and I traffic in dreams,’ says the 29-year-old Gutierrez, who broke new ground by playing her first anti-hero in the soap, Habang Kapiling Ka. ‘A dream can be a vision of tomorrow’s reality. I think it is the duty of every citizen of the Earth to dream of a sustainable future for their country.’

She was, in a sense, born into environmental concern. Her father was a botanist. Her paternal grandfather, a pharmacologist, used to walk in the fields in his bare feet, so as not to disturb wildlife. And one of the first modern environmental books – Our Plundered Planet by Fairfield Osborn, published in 1948 – was dedicated by the author to her maternal grandfather, Solomon Arnaldo, an early director of UNESCO’s office in New York.

But it was a typhoon that first sparked her activism. Six years ago she went to a sacred mountain, Mount Banahaw, south of Manila, to research a role before playing the head of a religious sect that lived there. The typhoon delayed the arrival of the television crew and the week she spent there changed her life.

She returned to the mountain again and again – eventually spending every weekend there – to work with the local people, planting trees and cleaning up the rubbish left by tourists, ‘reminding people of the sacredness of the mountain by protecting and restoring its ecological balance’. It became a focus for the Mother Earth Foundation, where she serves as chairperson for projects.

Earlier this year she took part in a UNEP workshop on sustainable development in Bangkok. ‘It really helped me a lot,’ she says. ‘It clarified and strengthened my ideas and beliefs on sustainable development.’ And she draws extensively on UNEP’s GEO3 report for educational work, visiting local communities to explain the concept of ecological footprints.

Global warming

For example she uses facts on the shrinking of the world’s glaciers to introduce climate change. ‘The indicators of climate change tell us that we human beings have no choice but to grow up. The Earth can live another one and a half billion years, but maybe the human species will not survive global warming. We have enough information, but do we have enough will to do what is needed?

‘I dream of the curse of poverty being lifted from the majority of Filipinos. Poverty is the biggest obstacle to sustainable development. The tragedy of environmental deterioration in the Philippines is compounded by the realization that it is the majority of the population that lives below the poverty line that depends on biodiversity for food and shelter. Thus – to adapt a thought by Paul Hawken, one of the writers who has most influenced me – the environmental movement in the Philippines must transform itself from a struggle to save the Earth to a struggle to defend human rights: the right to food, the right to livelihood, the rights to culture, community and self-sufficiency’

Article copied from the United Nations Environment Programme website. Click to see the article: http://www.unep.org/ourplanet/imgversn/143/gutierrez.html.

Photo by Olivier Laude.

More about Chin-Chin on http://www.chinchingutierrez.com.ph