FINDING ANSWERS
The death of former Senator Santanina “Nina” Tillah Rasul last Thursday has sparked accolades attesting to her distinguished life as a champion of women empowerment, adult literacy, peace, and development.
There’s no doubt she was a great and outstanding Filipino whose kindness, humility, integrity, and compassion for the people are worth emulating. That’s how I fondly remember her as my colleague in the 8th and 9th Congress.
She was truly a trailblazer, being the first ever (and still the only) Muslim woman to be elected and reelected to the Philippine Senate. Such an achievement is certainly no mean feat considering that senators are elected nationally in this country where Muslims comprise only around seven percent of the population.
Landmark laws have been credited to her, especially RA 7192 or the Women in Development and Nation Building Act that opened the Philippine Military Academy to women and aimed to remove all vestiges of gender discrimination.
The law she authored and sponsored mandated allocation of a substantial portion of public funds to support programs and activities for women, and ensure full participation and involvement of women in national development.
She was also responsible for RA 6949 declaring March 8 of every year as National Women’s Day in the Philippines, as well as RA 7165 creating the Literacy Coordinating Council tasked to “encourage and nationalize the formulation of policies and the implementation of programs on non-formal, informal, and indigenous learning systems, as well as self-learning, independent, and out-of-school study programs.”
During the administration of then President Cory Aquino, Sen. Nina also made sure she was a senator for all Filipinos including the civil servants who complained of being eased out from their positions “because they were appointed during the Marcos years and seen as sympathizers.”
After public hearings on their grievances, she came up with RA 6850 “to grant civil service eligibility under certain conditions to government employees appointed under provisional or temporary status who have rendered a total of seven years of efficient service.”
In pursuit of her advocacy for peace and development, she also became a member of the government peace panel that successfully negotiated peace talks with Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front during the administration of then President Fidel Ramos.
But beyond her sterling accomplishments as senator, she shall be remembered for her pioneering efforts as founding chair of the Magbassa Kita Foundation Inc., which is committed to eradicating illiteracy especially among adults in Mindanao.
“What propelled her to embark on what she would call ‘a journey of love’ was the humbling realization way back in 1966 that her home province of Sulu had the lowest literacy rate in the country,” an article posted in the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy website said. “She developed the phono-syllabic approach to teaching reading and writing, known as the Magbassa Kita method. The innovative phono-syllabic method employed in teaching enables a non-literate to acquire basic reading and writing literacy within three to four months.”
Her daughter, Amina Rasul, also writes: “Senator Rasul was mother not only to the six Rasul siblings, but also to the Philippines’ adult illiterates. Recognizing the low literacy rates in Muslim Mindanao and working in her own capacity in civil society — long before civil society was established in Muslim Mindanao — she rose to the challenge of teaching adult illiterates in underserved communities how to read and write. With our help, she developed the Magbassa Kita reading manual which employed the phono syllabic method of teaching adults to read. As word of her effective method spread, organizations began reaching out to ask her to teach in their communities.”
There’s no doubt that the inspiring efforts of the remarkable Sen. Nina Rasul have transformed lives and opened doors for Filipinos who have been left behind. My deepest condolences to all her loved ones who may find solace in knowing that her light will shine in the countless lives she touched. Indeed, she was a legendary trailblazer. ([email protected])