Kagalingan Para Kay Flora,  Kagalingan Para sa Kababaihan – Mga Himig at Tula Para Kay Flora

6 March 2012

Dear Friends:

Warm greetings.

Sarilaya, FIND and Sulong CARHIHL appeals for your assistance in keeping Flora Umali, a dedicated human rights defender and one of SARILAYA’s more dedicated community organizers, healthy and well.  Flora, who has been a SARILAYA member –organizer for more than seven years, has recently been diagnosed with cancer of the thyroid gland stage 4.

To struggle is nothing new to Flora. When the Marcos regime declared martial law in 1972, Flora and her husband were among the first batch of students who made the hard decision to leave school and their families to help build the peasant movement in the countryside – a commitment that lasted for two decades.

From 1993 to 2004, Flora devoted herself to helping advance the human rights movement. She became an organizer and later an officer of KAPATID, a human rights organization that provides services to political detainees and their families. In 1996, her work in the human rights movement took a much more personal turn when her own husband disappeared, reportedly killed by security forces. Flora joined FIND, a human rights organization assisting victims of enforced disappearance and their families. She also volunteered her time to Claimants 1081 and the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation to help get justice and recognition for the heroes who fought against martial law.

In 2004, Sarilaya was fortunate to have Flora become one of its members. With her experience in organizing and education, she helped set up local chapters in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite and assisted SARILAYA chapters in Sitio Kalakad, Antipolo and Sapang Palay, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija.  It is largely through Flora’s dedication that GMA has become a showcase of Sarilaya’s projects in health, livelihood, and environment, empowering community women to assert their rights.

Today, Flora finds herself in the toughest challenge of her life. SARILAYA, FIND and Sulong CARHIHL hopes to raise at least P250,000 for her treatment and wellness . We thus hope you can join us on March 29, 2012 to a night of songs and poetry at the Conspiracy Resto Bar along Visayas Avenue from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Tickets for the event dubbed as Kagalingan Para Kay Flora,  Kagalingan Para sa Kababaihan – Mga Himig at Tula Para Kay Flora at P500 each (with free lugaw and juice) are available at the FIND office.   For inquires and ticket reservations, please contact FIND through Erlinda Malicdem or the undersigned at phone numbers 9210069 and 2182138. Thank you.

For human rights and sisterhood,

Wilma Q. Tizon
Deputy Secretary-General
Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
4-D Maningning St., Sikatuna Village, Quezon City
Philippines 1101
Phone no. (63-2) 2182138