Beauteous, creative, determined, and quiet, writer, editor, poet, and journalist Marra Lanot-Lacaba has fulfilled six decades of self-imposed marching orders: feminism, the fight for freedom through a feminist perspective, and the promotion of gender equality across all forms of development.
Joining women from various groups since the 1980s, Lanot-Lacaba has fiercely articulated this kind of searing consciousness on street rallies, in organizational work, through book projects, and within all possible personal spaces.
Lanot-Lacaba passed away on August 16, at 82. Tributes centered on her ‘creative, intrepid, and surprising approaches’ to achieve liberation for all contemporary Filipinas, one step at a time, measure for measure, while she lived happily as the wife of writer-poet Pete Lacaba. They were married in 1975.
Praises for Lanot-Lacaba at her wake became bridges that brought back the spirit of the Asociación Feminista Filipina. It was founded in 1905 by Concepcion Felix de Calderon, Trinidad Rizal, Clemencia Lopez, Bonifacio Delgado De Barretto, Maria Arevalo, Sofia Reyes, Helen Wilson, Paz Natividad, Vda. Zuluetam Naria De Villamor, Teresa Solis, and Agueda and Jacoba Paterno.
Lanot-Lacaba’s passing offered a platform to analyze the achievement, depth, and uniqueness of fighting for gender-equality in the Philippines.
‘I met Marra when I came home from Australia in mid-1980s,’ recalled Princess Nemenzo, wife of the late University of the Philippines President Francisco Nemenzo,
‘Inanyayahan niya ako sa [She invited me to] CAP (Concerned Artist of the Philippines). Pero hindi naman ako artist. Sabi niya [But I am not an artist, (I said). She replied]: ‘You have the soul of an artist. Halika, halika, sama tayo [Come, come, let us join].’ So I became a recruit of Marra,” Nemenzo recalled.
Former President Ferdinand Marcos called for snap elections in late 1985. The campaign began when Corazon Cojuangco Aquino rose as a presidential candidate, in preparation for the polls in early 1986.
Cojuangco-Aquino was very popular then. Her husband, former Senator Benigno Aquino, was assassinated in 1983 at the service stairway of the China Airlines plane at the then the Manila International Airport (now named the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, or NAIA).
‘When Cory decided to push through and challenge him (Marcos), sabi niya [she said], ‘These women should just confine themselves in the bedroom. Syempre galit na galit ang mga women [Of course, the women were very mad],” recalled Nemenzo.
‘So, the women organized-na (maging) pangatlo kami sa (programa sa) loob ng [and worked, so we can be the third number in the program at the] Kapihan sa Manila Hotel. About 10 to 12 of us organized. We were all dressed in our fine clothes, (in our) Sunday best, hindi na yung mga jeans [no longer in jeans]. We all made placards which we put in gift boxes inside our bags. So, we were decent looking people, women, when we entered Manila Hotel. Lahat (ng dala namin) dapat nasa [All our things were in] boxes. Hindi [Not] knapsack,’ she narrated.
‘We had a long banner. Hindi pa [It was not yet] tarpaulin, at the time. Cloth pa yun. Na ni-roll up [We rolled up cloth]. We put it inside our shopping bags. And our slogans, placards, ginawa namin ito sa bahay ni Marra. Kami, kami [we made them at Marra’s house. We did it]. We really made some of the placards,’ boasted Nemenzo.
‘I was asked to speak. Karina David was assigned to give a signal-when to go inside (the Kapihan), sit down, and listen to the discussions. At a certain point, Karina would give a signal, when all of us would stand up and unfurl our big banner and the placards. Wala ngang kahoy (yung placards), naka rolyo lang [There were no wooden placards. It was all rolled up cloth]. So, we all stood up. Then we unfurled this long banner that said, ‘No to sexism! No to dictatorship!’ Pinag-kaguluhan kami [They swarmed us]. All the media people took photos. Nagulat sila [They were surprised]. Tapos, tumingin si Blas Ople, campaign manager ni Marcos, na kaibigan ni Dodong Nemenzo. Pag-tingin niya sa akin, sabi niya, ‘(Aba), si Princess pala eto ah.’ [Then, Blas Ople-campaign manager of Marcos and my husband’s friend, looked at me and said, Oh, it’s Princess].’ (For me), it was a way to make our protest against that sexist remark of Marcos-that women should confine themselves to the bedroom,’ Nemenzo explained.
‘After a while, lumabas na kami [we went out]. We continued to march with our unfurled banner outside of the Manila Hotel. Para ipakita sa mga tao sa labas [To show people outside] -that we have these slogans,’ Nemenzo said, recalling the birth of women protesting on their own, against sexism.
‘The most important thing that Marra did for us was convening the Concerned Artists of the Philippines’ Women’s Desk,’ said anthropologist and Gota de Leche Executive Director Ana Leah Sarabia.
‘Nung nag me-meeting kasi kami nuong 80s, duon pa sa Heritage Arts Center ni Odette Alcantara sa Cubao (Quezon City), kokonti lang kaming kababaihan [There were so few of us women when we had our meetings during the 80s at Odette Alcantara’s Heritage Arts Center in Cubao, Quezon City].
I was hoping, dahil medyo siga naman yung pangalan ng mga kababaihan duon (sa CAP), papakinggan kami [since the women at CAP were known, they would listen to us. But we were not really paid attention to. Some of the women with us also were not agreeing that feminism should be part of the CAP,’ Sarabia said about the growing up pains of feminism in CAP.
When Heritage burned down, CAP held a big meeting at (Manila’s) National Press Club. ‘Duon sa [At the] fourth floor. Sa kainan ng [at the dining area of the] bar,’ recalled Sarabia.
‘It was 1984. Nung umakyat ako (sa NPC), nanduon si Marra sa tabi ng pintuan [When I went up the NPC, Marra was near the door]. She was saying, ‘Halika, halika [Come, come]. I have something important to say.’ Sabi niya, ‘Basta, we just listen. And I hope you all agree..’ Towards the end of the meeting (when questions were asked), Marra stood up and said, ‘We need a women’s desk. We need to have a women’s desk among the artists of this group because the voices and opinions of women and feminists are not really being incorporated into the discussions,” Sarabia quoted Lanot-Lacaba as saying.
‘So Marra said, ‘We need to have a women’s desk separate from the other committees. (in CAP).’ Kasi may committee on film, literature. The whole lot. And then Sylvia Mayuga said, ‘Why do we need a separate women’s desk? There are women in literature, women in film.’ Marra argued (against that and said), ‘The feminist perspective must be.. must have its own… integrity,” said Sarabia, showing how Lanot-Lacaba got what she wanted.
‘In 2005, women’s groups from the 80s and the 70s decided to celebrate the Centennial of the feminist movement in the Philippines, With Senator Leticia Shahani at the helm, we thought it was time to celebrate the 100 years of the Asociación Feminista Filipina. We held centennial meetings, to prepare a whole year of celebration. We had a big dinner in Gota de Leche in Sampaloc and we gave awards to the different women’s groups that fought for the women’s movement from 1905 up to 2005,’ narrated Sarabia.
‘I asked Marra to write something about the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) Women’s Desk. It was written on Feb 14, 2005. (This was done) just to remind people that there was such a thing as the CAP’s women’s desk. And Marra was the organizer,’ said Sarabia.
Lanot-Lacaba’s wrote: ‘The Concerned Artists of the Philippines Women’s Desk from 1984 to 1994, was deeply entrenched in the women’s movement. It actively worked for women in the arts; (for them to) explore, expose, and critique the oppression and exploitation of women; help raise the consciousness of artists and lovers of art through fora, in schools, radio, newspapers, and television; and mobilize women for concrete and committed actions towards gender equality and national liberation,’ the article said.
‘It also incessantly espoused the principles of, among others, responsible exercise of freedom of expression, without prejudice to truth, justice, and the Filipinos’ interest,’ the Lanot-Lacaba stated.
‘Thank you Marra. We had 10 years of that,’ said Sarabia.
Reacting to the Lanot-Lacaba treatise, Sarabia said, ‘You could see that Marra very strongly believed that the women’s movement should be an active, but an independent part of the national liberation movement. A lot of people forget that.’
‘I don’t know what the CAP looks like now; whether CAP has a women’s desk; or whether CAP has a feminist perspective that is different from the national liberation perspective,’ Sarabia said.
Noting the impact of the Women’s Desk in CAP, Sarabia said various representatives of women’s groups in the Philippines attended the (feminist) Beijing Conference in 1995. ‘By that time, there must have been a thousand women’s NGOs all over the country, but none was so distinct as the women’s desk of the CAP.’ Sarabia estimated.
Nemenzo, however, disagreed with the estimated number of these groups, as of 2026. She did not give details.
CAP NOW
In reaction to Sarabia’s question, artist Lisa Ito of CAP, said, ‘We can only presume that the Women’s Desk (in CAP) was coterminous with its most active proponents, many of whom were affected after the passing of film director Lino Brocka in 1991.’
‘The Women’s Desk may have been dissolved (in CAP in 1995), but we have always upheld the principle of making women and queer voices, (their) images, and stories visible; responding to systemic harassment and violence against vulnerable groups; and ensuring women’s representation in organizational leadership and production,’ said Ito.
Recalling what she and Lanot-Lacaba discussed in a meeting before the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), Ito said, ‘We tried our best to revive the Women’s Desk (though we have a different organizational structure today.’ She did not give details.
CAP is 43 years old. It was led by its founder, Lino Brocka (1983 to 1991. Its succeeding chairs included: National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera (1992 to 2018); artist Neil Doloricon, (2019 to 2024); and writer-actress Bibeth Orteza Siguion-Reyna (2024 to present).