JP/Dina IndrasafitriThe video available on YouTube is called Tungkol Kay Olivia, or Olivia’s Story.

However, the Olivia in the movie is unable to tell the story in her own words, because she is one of the many Philippines women who died during childbirth.

Instead, Philippines film director and activist Maricar “Chi” Laigo Vallido recorded words from those close to Olivia such as her mother and one of her 10 children. 

Olivia’s mother tells how her daughter bled profusely during those fatal moments. “Too much blood,” she said, balancing a lively baby, likely Olivia’s, on her lap amid the chaotic surroundings of their seemingly cramped home.

Olivia’s daughter, Abigail, who was 13 at the time the film was made, also recalled, in tears, her mother’s last moments. “I bought my mom food but she didn’t eat. I asked if she was still hungry and she said no. After that, she was already saying goodbye to me and was telling me to take care of my brothers and sisters.” 

“Ma, we would be very happy if you were still with us,” she sobbed. 

According to the movie, which was uploaded in 2010, Olivia’s older children have all dropped out of school since her death and several of the 10 might be considered for adoption. 

The film is one of the methods Chi employs in her fight for women’s rights and reproductive health. Despite the many challenges she faces, she remains determined to intervene for women in the Philippines.  

“The bottom line of the story is that it’s not unique or special. Eleven mothers die every day in the Philippines. That’s 11 Abigails. Eleven stories.  Eleven families. That is what should anger us. If it was just some unique story of this girl, we would be fascinated. But if it’s an issue that is happening every day, that should really anger us as a country. That is my motivation,” she said in an interview with The Jakarta Post a few months back. 

The movie featured other women who had given birth to 11 and even 12 children, and quoted data from the Guttmacher Institute, which works for reproductive and sexual health and rights, about the Philippines population and maternal mortality rates. 

According to the CIA World Factbook, the Philippines’ population is estimated to be over 103 million in July this year, making it the 12th most populated country in the world. 

A document titled “Meeting Women’s Contraceptive Needs in the Philippines” on the Guttmacher Institute website mentioned that in 2008, “births and miscarriages resulted in about 3,700 women’s deaths. Some 1,600 of these women had not wanted to become pregnant.” 

Some groups are pressing the government to pass the Reproductive Health Bill, which might help solve population problems through methods such as the provision of birth control and sex education for students, an article published on Philippine’s daily The Inquirer website on April 14 said. 

Yet, according to Tungkol Kay Olivia, some “Catholic church leaders and conservative legislators fought against policies that require government to provide reproductive health and family planning services.” 

Chi’s efforts to prevent more stories like that of Olivia’s extend beyond making movies. She formed a group called Catholics for Reproductive Health, which, she said was met with disagreement by several parties in the country.

“There were seven of us friends. We were just having coffee in front of the oldest church in the Philippines, and we just started [the group]. It was 2008 and now we have members all over the Philippines,” She said.

According to Chi, the members of that group ended up being called “fake Catholics” and “demons” . 

“In interviews, I was just telling them ‘You know what, I still have my baptismo certificate. Unless that is fake then,” Chi said, laughing.  

But she continued in a more serious tone, “Who you are you to judge? What is being a Catholic and a fake Catholic anyway?”

Chi is also an Advocacy Specialist for the Forum for Family Planning and Development (FFPD), which calls for the adoption of a national policy on population management, health and family welfare.

Her work with the forum since 2000 includes training media workers, including filmmakers, on issues such as gender sensitivities, reproductive health and human rights. Some of the trainings she conducted for moviemakers have been eye-openers, Chi said. . 

“Some of the filmmakers have this concept of poverty. But when we did an immersion and walked them to the communities we were working with, they were so shocked ... It gave them different view. They were able to interview people living under bridges. They know there were poor people living near the railway station. You see that on the news but its different when you get to really talk to these people,” she said. 

The FPPD’s current project focuses on advocacy at universities and colleges for sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

The NGO is working with school leaders and student councils to 

discern and challenge policies that are discriminatory to women and LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender/sexuals), as well 

as helping create policies that protect them.

“Examples of discriminatory policies are pregnant students getting kicked out of schools while the male partner gets to finish his studies,” Chi said. 

The friendly and enthusiastic woman said that even though her formal education was in filmmaking, her interest has always been more inclined toward social issues rather than those involving entertainment, thus in college she did volunteer work for NGOs, and it eventually became her career. 

“When I was in film school I was more interested in scriptwriting, but not so much in directing … That’s why by the time I graduated from film school I also took some independent film studies in the US. I think I am more inclined to do documentaries because I think those are the kind of stories I would like to know,” Chi said. 

She said that when she was growing up she was not immune to the realities, such as poverty, portrayed in her documentary.

“My parents were very realistic, even though we grew up in a  middle class family ... My mom was a teacher so I think she has a more realistic grasp about things because that’s what she teaches and that in a way helps. 

When I was in college I got involved in theater … But that theater group was not the Shakespearean type. They were more the activist type. So that also facilitated more awareness for me,” Chi recalled. 

The theater group, called Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), also provided her with skills such as acting, even though again she was more interested in playwriting. 

When she was organizing the independent movie event Cine-Indie competition, she became acquainted with a member of the South to South (SToS) film festival, which has been held every two years in Indonesia since 2006 to boost public awareness about environmental concerns. 

The meeting led to Chi coming to Indonesia this year and participating in the festival’s regional forum along with filmmakers from various countries. She is still working closely with the people she met during the festival to help strengthen Southeast Asian filmmakers dealing with development issues. 

In the future, she said that she might consider making a full-length movie, which will of course include the element of love, because “You have to consider what really drives people to watch a movie.”

And, in spreading the messages she wants to spread, the movies may or may not work, but Chi acknowledges that movies touch people in different ways. 

“Whatever it is we show, some will go immediately into action. Some will be more reflective. Some will have no reaction at all. They just want to do something for that period of time — watch something. 

But the challenge I think for filmmakers we have to keep on talking. We have to keep on sharing our stories,” she said.

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