Thread by @indiohistorian

#TodayinHistory in 1920, 100 yrs ago, Eva Estrada Kalaw, #Filipina senator, assemblywoman & democracy advocate, is born in Murcia (now Concepcion), #Tarlac, #PH. She was the 1st Filipina senator to win reelection (1971). Kalaw was known for her independent voice. (THREAD) 🇵🇭

Kalaw was acknowledged as one of the few women to have enrolled in @upsystem during the Commonwealth period, going against the grain of Filipina students trained in the Catholic secondary schools that saw UP as too secular for an educational institution.

In 1944, she married Teodoro Kalaw Jr., son of Teodoro & Pura V. Kalaw, known advocates of education and women's rights. She decided to run for politics, supported by her husband. Kalaw clinched a surprising win in the Senate in 1965, under the Nacionalista Party ticket.

Kalaw won her Senate seat, as did her other partymates, including Ferdinand Marcos who was President. While the two were of the same political party, it would soon be made clear that her independent voice would drive a wedge bet. her and Marcos.

In 1966, Marcos, in support of the U.S. intervention in the controversial Vietnam War, urged both chambers of Congress (& Kalaw personally) to grant budget to PHILCAG, but Kalaw instead supported the call to send medical professionals and engineers instead of soldiers.

In her 1st term as Senator, she was able to author consequential laws: (1) elevation of Social Welfare Administration to an Executive dept (now DSWD), (2) requiring student & faculty representatives in the ruling bodies of state universities & colleges to amplify representation..

(3) increased & standardized public school teacher salaries, (4) initiated "barrio high schools" in the regions ensuring that education was accessible even to the Filipino youth in the most remote places from the urban centers.

Having been dropped by the Nacionalista for her contrary views, Kalaw was invited as guest candidate for the Liberal Party. On 21 Aug 1971, she was there in LP's meeting-de-avance at Plaza Miranda, when 2 grenades exploded, wounding the candidates. tmblr.co/ZtGCUx2CI2cwP

Marcos immediately suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus nationwide. Kalaw spoke the following day (despite her wounds) in the Senate saying that the suspension of the Writ nationwide was “uncalled for” because the bombing was just in the plaza in Quiapo. tmblr.co/ZtGCUx2CI2cwP

Kalaw warns that incidents like this would be a means to declare Martial Law. From then on, she became more vocal vs. the growing authoritarian ways of the Marcos admin. She was also red-tagged, together w/ other LP candidates, and yet still got reelected in the 1971 elections.

With the declaration of Martial Law in September 1972, the padlocking of Congress in January, and the dubious ratification of the 1973 Constitution (via viva voce at the pt of the gun), Kalaw persistently opposed Marcos, having been imprisoned twice. tmblr.co/ZtGCUx2D0rVu5

Even after EDSA 1986, Kalaw joined the opposition vs. Aquino to hold the administration to account. She attempted to run as Senator in 1987, and as Vice President in 1992 but lost. But her track record as stateswoman remains legendary to this day. We commemorate her legacy.

END

*All photos from Presidential Museum and Library (2010-2016)
*Editorial cartoon of the wounded senatorial candidates (1971) by E.Z. Izon of the Philippines Free Press

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