By J. C. Laquiores-Burgos This March, let’s celebrate National Women’s Month with these sublime Filipinas and their excellent works, admirable advocacies, and inspiring stories that prove to the country—and to the male-dominated world—that women can rule in different fields and will never be pushed to the margins of society anymore. Joanna Ampil A veteran of musical theater, actress Joanna Ampil shared her talent to the Filipinos from the international stage to the local silver screen through her very first film lead role. Based on the 1997 stage play and on the 1950 literary play A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino by National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, Ang Larawan introduced Ampil’s breakout performance to a wider audience at the Metro Manila Film Festival 2017. The character of Candida Marasigan garnered her Best Actress trophy in the said festival, and the New Movie Actress of the Year award at the 34th Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) Star Awards for Movies. F.H. Batacan Maria Felisa H. Batacan, or more commonly known as F.H. Batacan in the literary world, has had her name imprinted in Philippine literature as the writer of the Philippines’ first crime novel. Smaller and Smaller Circles was published in 2002 by the University of the Philippines Press after winning the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature Grand Prize for the English Novel in 1999, and in 2015 as a new, expanded edition by the Soho Press of New York. But Batacan’s name resurfaced on the mainstream media when her book was adapted into the 2017 film of the same name directed by Raya Martin, and the film created a buzz across the social media for its timely plot and setting. Bai Bibyaon Ligkayan Bigkay From Talaingod, Davao del Norte, Bai Bibyaon Ligkayan Bigkay is the only female Manobo chieftain in her tribe’s history, and has been bravely defending the Manobo ancestral land since 1994 from a destructive logging company. Her struggle with the Lumads and indigenous women in protecting the Pantaron Mountain Range was recognized with the 2017 University of the Philippines (UP) Gawad Tandang Sora. Held by the College of Social Work and Community Development of UP Diliman, it is given to “outstanding academics, practitioners, or organizations that rendered excellent service in the fields of social work, community development, women, and development and social development.” Iza Calzado There’s a bliss, or rather a rainbow after the rain for Iza Calzado whose 2017 psychological thriller film Bliss received critical acclaim despite garnering the X rating from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). But director Jerrold Tarog confirmed its reevaluation to R18 later on, and Calzado’s character Jane Ciego became a widespread internet sensation through social media memes. She even won the Yakushi Pearl Award for Best Performer at the 12th Osaka Asian Film Festival, and just recently the Best Actress trophy at the 34th PMPC Star Awards for Movie, and the Ani ng Dangal Award. Hidilyn Diaz Hidilyn Diaz’s name will forever be etched in the field of Philippine sports after she ended the 20-year drought of the Philippines in the Olympic stage. The whole nation rejoiced when the determined weightlifter successfully bagged the silver medal in the women’s 53-kilogram weightlifting category at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And last January, she was chosen as one of the Ten OutstandingYoung Men (TOYM) Awardees by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Philippines Foundation for her great efforts in the field of sports. Gina Lopez Gina Lopez may have been rejected by the Commission on Appointments (CA) as the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in May last year, but she won the hearts of many environmentalists and anti-mining groups for her undaunted stance against illegal, destructive, and large-scale mining in the country. In October last year, she won the 2017 Seacology Prize in California for her courageous environmental advocacy. Lopez currently hosts her own environmental show entitled G Diaries on ABS-CBN. Whang-od Oggay Whang-od Oggay is popularly known as the oldest mambabatok or traditional hand-poke Kalinga tattooist in the Philippines. Apo Whang-od, as she is fondly called, became a media sensation sometime in 2015 when netizens began campaigning for her to become a National Artist of the Philippines and a National Living Treasure. Recently this February, she has been nominated by the Senate through a resolution for the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) or the National Living Treasures Award for nurturing and preserving the traditional tattoo art of Kalinga. Iah Seraspi It’s been two years since Iah Seraspi became a media darling in 2016 when she topped the Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET) in second place in September 2015. This is because of her amazing and admirable perseverance to finish her studies and achieve her vocation and mission to be a teacher despite her family’s poverty. The cum laude graduate of Romblon State University has been portrayed by actress Anna Luna in the 2017 advocacy film Maestra produced by Dr. Carl Balita, and it further stretches Seraspi’s good influence as an inspiration to the struggling but hardworking Filipino students. Chiara Zambrano If you have been following the 2017 Marawi Siege, then chances are you know Chiara Zambrano, the steadfast television correspondent who covered the gruesome and violent attack on Marawi City, Lanao del Sur by Maute group, a local terrorist group in Mindanao. She hosted the documentary ‘Di Ka Pasisiil with Jeff Canoy that brings viewers inside the embattled city and into the lives of the soldiers, displaced and victimized locals, and even former members of the rebellious group. Like Diaz, Zambrano was also named as one of the TOYM Awardees by the JCI Philippines Foundation this year for her excellent work as a journalist.