MANILA – In the northern part of the Philippines, in the province of Cagayan, a girl born to a peasant family dreamed of completing her education. Her determination to pursue her studies not only shaped her future but also transformed her into a staunch advocate for peasants. 

“We are a peasant family. We do not have our own land because my father was only a tenant although we had farm animals and tools. I experienced how difficult the lives of peasant farmers were. We really did not have enough even to cover the basic necessities. I wanted to change that,” Cathy Estavillo, a longtime activist and secretary general of Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, said in an interview with Bulatlat. 

Estavillo has been in the mass movement for years advocating for genuine land reform. She is the second nominee of Gabriela Women’s Party. Beyond being a leader, she is a caring mother who loves to cook.

Self-supporting student 

Estavillo is the third in a brood of six. Her parents were both farmers whose livelihood solely relied on agriculture. Because her father was only a tenant, the rent to the landlord was deducted from their harvest, leaving only enough to put food on the table. 

After graduating from elementary school, she was forced to stop schooling because her parents could no longer afford the expenses. “They asked me to stop from schooling because of lack of resources. So I thought, why not find a job so I can save for my school and my needs,” she told Bulatlat in an interview. 

Estavillo searched for jobs in her province and found work as a household helper, which she did for a year. After saving enough to cover her educational needs, she enrolled in a public school and completed high school. 

For Estavillo, staying stuck in provincial life was never an option. “In the province, when you’re born into a family of farmers, you’re expected to follow the same path. Even as children, we were involved in the production. I remember that when the sun rose, the whole family would be out in the field harvesting,” she recalled.

Acknowledging that her parents could no longer support her studies, she became even more determined to find ways to continue her education. Fortunately, she found an opportunity and worked as a house helper in Alabang, Muntinlupa. She was just 17 years old then. Her employer offered to help her in her studies and she was able to finish a two-year course. 

The person who helped her was also part of the peasant support group in Cagayan, the Taripnong Cagayan Valley, and was also instrumental on how she got involved in activism. 

“They are deeply involved in the church. After I graduated from that two-year course, they got me involved in a peasant institution which is based in the National Church Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), and it was there that I became more aware of the situation of peasants,” she said. 

From technical work, Estavillo later became an organizer after a year in the same institution under its rural women’s program.  “I was a member of the staff there when the Mendiola Massacre happened in 1987,” she said. 

She resigned from the peasant institution when she had her second child in 1993. In 1994, Estavillo became a member of Amihan. “The decades-old problem of landlessness is still there as well as other problems like lack of irrigation among others. This is not far from our experience,” she said. 

She organized fishing and peasant areas in Silang, Cavite, Pampanga and Montalban, Rizal. She said it was part of their work in Amihan to integrate with the peasant communities to have a grasp and better understanding of the situation of peasant women. 

In 2009, she became Amihan’s secretary general. 

Now, Estavillo is also the spokesperson of Bantay Bigas as well as secretary general of the Asian Peasant Coalition. She is also the current legislative consultant for peasant women’s affairs of Gabriela Women’s Party and also its second nominee. 

As a mother

Her work in Amihan requires her to go to many places. This means that she is not frequently at home to be with her children. But this has not been an issue in the family, she said, as she is supported by her husband who is alo a peasant advocate. 

Her daughter Liw remembers that her mother is not always physically in the house. Still, Estavillo sees to it that she attends to her children’s needs before she leaves the house to go to another schedule in the community.  

“Even if she is not in the house, she still does things like making sure that we have food. She’s the one who goes to the market to buy our food. She’s also in charge of the household budget. She also sees to it that we have all we need in school,” Liw told Bulatlat in an interview. 

On special days like graduation, recognition and birthdays, Liw said her mother sees to it that she is present. 

When she was about three to four years old, she was often tagged along by her mother to her meetings in the office and visits in the communities. One particular experience she remembers was their frequent visits to Pampanga. This is why, she said, it was not difficult for her to understand the work of her mother. Later on in grade school, Liw joined the Children’s Collective, a progressive organization of children, which also helped her in understanding the work of her mother. 

Because her mother grew up in a simple life, she said they too also follow the same. “Whenever we go out, for example we go to the grocery, my father would ask us where we want to eat. Of course we want to eat in a fast food restaurant. But nanay would disagree and would say ‘no, we will eat in the house,’” Liw said. 

Liw said her mother cooks known Cagayan delicacies like papaitan and pakbet. “I don’t eat papaitan, but many would attest that she cooks it really well.” 

Her mother is also a thrifter. “She has her ukay ukay era. She can score nice shoes at a very low price,” Liw said. She added that most of her clothes were from thrift stores. “There was a time that every night, she had plastic bags with her with clothes from ukay ukay. Even our clothes, she bought from ukay ukay,” said Liw. 

“I think it’s because she wants to spend the limited resources of the family wisely. She would put priority on our basic needs,” Liw said. 

On being a second nominee of Gabriela Women’s Partylist

For the 2025 midterms elections, Estavillo has been chosen to be the second nominee of Gabriela Women’s Party. 

During the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, Amihan was one of the organizations labeled as a communist front. Their bank accounts were frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council over allegations of financing terrorism. These accusations have never been proven but the risks of physical harm are real.

Her husband later gave in, as he also understands the need for fielding a peasant advocate in the parliamentary. She also found an ally in her daughter Liw, who is currently working in Gabriela under its advocacy program. Even their family members in Cagayan and Isabela in Liw’s father side of the family also supported Estavillo. 

Despite the challenges, Estavillo is fueled by the desire to serve the ordinary people, especially the peasant women. “We see that the situation of the Filipino people is not progressing. It’s becoming worse. People are still being evicted from the land that they possess for many years. They cannot count on the government to act on their grievances because the government is part of the problem. It is really enraging,” she said. 

She said that many of their members and people they organize continue the struggle for a just society. “Yes there are attacks, but many still choose to stay. This is our inspiration to continue,” she said. (RVO)