In 2001, at the cusp of EDSA 2, Joey signed up with militant feminist group Gabriela upon the recommendation of a friend. She joined in providing counseling services to battered women in Antipolo. Despite this, she says that she doesn’t feel that she really does very much as a member, not being the type to be in the forefront of conflict and confrontation. Her evolving concept of feminism is a function of her now matured sense of self-expression, which may not sit well with all sorts of “isms” that play along with radical forms of feminism.

She’s since deactivated her membership from the organization. As a token of appreciation, though, and in recognition of the logistical problems cause-oriented groups like Gabriela constantly face, she bequeathed a good part of her home furnishings to the women’s org office. Isang mapagpalayang pagaalay, Kasamang Joanne Del Pilar Angeles!

But she did imbibe the essence of the activism that Gabriela promotes. Embracing environmentalism, she would gladly lend her name and face—and the public interest they generate—to any campaign to stop the rape of our environment.

Her passion for women’s rights is undimmed though she’s chosen a less militant vehicle for it.

“I’m always fighting the stereotype,” she says, pointing out that this includes the options a woman has as well as being comfortable in her own skin. For this, she wants to rally other friends in the industry like Marc Nelson and Project Runway Philippines host Teresa Herrera, to name a few. “I asked my friends to come together with a plan to produce short, one-week workshops,” she says. “I want to eradicate the old school ‘martyr’ reasoning with short classes on healthy living, relationship roller-coasters of the do’s and don’ts.” She says she even plans on taking them on an organic food shopping trip to show them where and, more importantly, why they should incorporate this green way of living. Summing it up, she declares: “Improve the nation, enhance and excel the Filipina . . . That’s my mission.

I must admit it’s nice indulging in visions of Joey as Gabriela Silang, her heroic forefather’s likely comrade-in-arms, the drop-dead gorgeous reincarnation of the Ilocana freedom fighter.

“But I don’t want it to be showbiz,” adds Joey.

“I want it to go to colleges and get discussions going,” she says, pointing out that girls usually can do more than just “school-gimik-career” or marriage.

“I want to show them the left-hand side of things.”

Admittedly, that last sentence makes me smile.

However, no matter how incongruous, I must admit it’s nice indulging in visions of Joey as Gabriela Silang, her heroic forefather’s likely comrade-in-arms, the drop-dead gorgeous reincarnation of the Ilocana freedom fighter. Nelia Sancho, Lorena Barros, and Maita Gomez she ain’t—but Joey’s not one who’d stand idly by at any form of violence against any woman, anywhere in the world. Indeed, the mesmerizing mantra of the Manila Pen revolt resonates in her thoughts: Dissent without action is consent.

THE FLAG BEARER
Still an advocate of public transportation, Joey says she learns a lot from talking to cab drivers. “In Singapore, they’re very vocal about governance and critical about how other governments run their countries,” she says. She admits some can be very bigoted with racial slurs against Filipinos, branding our OFW’s as “mongrels.”

“That’s usually the time I tell them I’m Filipina,” says Joey, smiling.

“People don’t immediately guess I’m a Filipina,” she tells me. “But I am. I was born here, and I will probably die here.” There’s no contesting that Joey sacrificed a lot in choosing to remain here, but she says she never regretted it. “No matter where or who I’m with, I always make it a point to say that I’m from the Philippines.”

C’mon, how many other patriots out there wear the colors of the national flag as brazenly? Or proudly? Despite differences, it’s clear that the woman does whole-heartedly embrace the country of her birth.
Now, 16 times two, she’s twice stronger, twice wiser, and twice the woman she was. She has learned from experience all right—and what a circumnavigational learning curve that was. She has gone through emotional valleys and peaks, but thinks, eats, and bathes organic these days and swears that the gentle tropics is conducive to a simple life which she is growing to like. And, of course, she wants to be part of the process of any positive movement for change, “and see how things could rock a certain way for the betterment of the country.”

So, c’mon . . . stand at attention, and let’s all rally behind the flag!

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