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Against traditional norms, more Filipinas opt out of motherhood

Special Against traditional norms, more Filipinas opt out of motherhood
The prevalence of childfree women in the Philippines has increased dramatically over the past few years. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 15 sec ago

Against traditional norms, more Filipinas opt out of motherhood

Against traditional norms, more Filipinas opt out of motherhood
  • Percentage of childfree women in Philippines increased from 6% in 2013 to 11% in 2022, study shows
  • Parenthood is seen as part of identity, with Constitution recognizing family as ‘foundation of the nation’

MANILA: When Jarrah Brillantes first realized she did not want children, the decision stemmed from her community development work — a mission she was unwilling to set aside. Over the years that choice only strengthened, shaped by the lifestyle she chose for herself.

A policy researcher from Iloilo City, Brillantes has been working with children in conflict zones, where she has seen how the environment affects a child’s development. Raising her own while continuing work, she felt, would not support their full potential.

“It would be unfair,” Brillantes, 38, told Arab News. “The change of residence. The change of career track. Studying again (in) my thirties. These would be challenging and probably selfish if I have a child.”

While Brillantes sometimes engages in babysitting for her family members, she never regrets her choice to be childfree.

“Having a typical Filipino family, children are raised as a tribe. Whenever I have to play the part of the temporary guardian to my niece and nephews, I see that is not the role I want to undertake,” she said.

“While some are (in) the parenting phase of their adult life, there are other things that we undertake too. We put in the work on our career, on our advocacies, our big goals. The most basic and affirming is, that my days go according to my needs and wants.”

Brillantes is one of the growing numbers of Filipino women who choose to have no children, marking a significant shift in a nation where motherhood is deeply tied to a woman’s identity.

A study published earlier this year by Dr. Anthony Luis B. Chua from the Cebu Institute of Medicine and two researchers from Michigan State University shows the prevalence of childfree women in the Philippines has increased dramatically over the past few years.

Childfree women are defined as those who “do not have children and do not want to have them in the future.”

The research, “Trends in the Prevalence of Childfree Women in the Philippines, 1993-2022,” indicates that the number of Filipinas making such a choice has jumped from nearly 4.2 percent in 2013 to 11.1 percent in 2022.

While the researchers linked the sharp rise with the passage of the 2012 Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, and provided universal access to sexual education and contraception, women say it is in the first place a matter of personal choice.

“I do believe kids need both a father and a mother. When I decided not to marry, I knew I also preferred to remain childfree,” said Jeamma Claire Sabate, a 56-year-old government employee from Cainta, Rizal.

“In the 21st century, people recognize that women have the right to make choices that align with their preferences.”

In the deeply Catholic Philippines, the Constitution prohibits abortion and recognizes “the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation.”

Dr. Diana Veloso, associate professor at the Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences of De La Salle University, argues that this dominant cultural linking of womanhood to motherhood is a result of the colonial past that brought patriarchy to the Philippines.

“Precolonial culture was more egalitarian and gender inclusive. The increasing choice in favor of being childfree is a welcome change in that it is reversing the impact of such patriarchal gender norms that were brought about by colonialism. This is also a way of reclaiming our culture’s more inclusive gender norms in precolonial times,” she said.

“This also illustrates that parenthood is more intentional, rather than something that simply happens due to conformity to traditional gender norms.”

The visible social change does not mean, however, that women no longer face pressure to get married and have children.

“That is still the case in Philippine society. However, women have more options and people recognize that there are multiple avenues to fulfillment in this day and age — and that having children is not meant for everyone,” Veloso told Arab News.

Farah Decano, a law school dean from Pangasinan province, remembers experiencing pressure on motherhood from those around her.

“But I didn’t mind. I am cool about it,” she said, adding she prefers channeling her nurturing instincts elsewhere — looking after her nephews, nieces, and aging mother.

“It is fun because I can spoil them without having to worry about shaping their behavior,” she said. “And I get to enjoy a limited authority similar to a mother, too. I am already living the life. I cannot ask for more.”


Trump’s travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect early Monday

Updated 19 sec ago

Trump’s travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect early Monday

Trump’s travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect early Monday
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the US a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the US
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”

Leo, the first US pope, criticizes nationalist politics at Sunday Mass

Leo, the first US pope, criticizes nationalist politics at Sunday Mass
Updated 6 min 14 sec ago

Leo, the first US pope, criticizes nationalist politics at Sunday Mass

Leo, the first US pope, criticizes nationalist politics at Sunday Mass

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo criticized the emergence of nationalist political movements on Sunday, calling them unfortunate, without naming a specific country or national leader.
Leo, the first pope from the US, asked during a Mass with a crowd of tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square that God would “open borders, break down walls (and) dispel hatred.”
“There is no room for prejudice, for ‘security’ zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, unfortunately, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms,” said the pontiff.
Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected on May 8 to succeed the late Pope Francis as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church.
Before becoming pontiff, Prevost was not shy about criticizing US President Donald Trump, sharing numerous disapproving posts about Trump and Vice President JD Vance on X in recent years.
The Vatican has not confirmed the new pope’s ownership of the X account, which had the handle @drprevost, and was deactivated after Leo’s election.
Francis, pope for 12 years, was a sharp critic of Trump. The late pope said in January that the president’s plan to deport millions of migrants in the US during his second term was a “disgrace.”
Earlier, Francis said Trump was “not Christian” because of his views on immigration.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis said when asked about Trump in 2016.
Leo was celebrating a Mass for Pentecost, one of the Church’s most important holidays.


Chad announces suspension of visas to US citizens in response to Trump travel ban

Chad announces suspension of visas to US citizens in response to Trump travel ban
Updated 31 min 47 sec ago

Chad announces suspension of visas to US citizens in response to Trump travel ban

Chad announces suspension of visas to US citizens in response to Trump travel ban
  • Chad’s president on Thursday said he is directing his government to suspend visas to US citizens “in accordance with the principles of reciprocity"

N’DJAMENA: Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby has announced that his country will suspend the issuing of visas to US citizens in response to the Trump administration’s decision to ban Chadians from visiting the United States.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term when he announced the visa ban on 12 countries including Chad, accusing them of having “deficient” screening and vetting, and historically refusing to take back their own citizens who overstay in the United States.
The new ban targets Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
There will also be heightened restrictions on visitors from seven others in the new travel policy, which takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m.
In a Facebook post, Chad’s president on Thursday said he is directing his government to suspend visas to US citizens “in accordance with the principles of reciprocity.”
“Chad has no planes to offer, no billions of dollars to give but Chad has his dignity and pride,” Deby said, referring to the $400 million luxury plane offered to his administration as a gift by the ruling family of Qatar.
Republic of Congo calls the ban a mistake
The new travel policy has triggered varied reactions from Africa, whose countries make up seven of the 12 countries affected by Trump’s outright visa ban with some exemptions.
In the Republic of Congo, government spokesperson Thierry Moungalla said he believes the country was among those affected because of a “misunderstanding” over an armed attack in the US with the perpetrators “mistaken” to be from the Republic of Congo.
“Obviously, Congo is not a terrorist country, is not home to any terrorist, is not known to have a terrorist vocation. So we think that this is a misunderstanding and I believe that in the coming hours, the competent diplomatic services of the government will contact the American authorities here,” he said in the capital of Brazzaville.
In Sierra Leone, among countries with heightened travel restrictions, Information Minister Chernor Bah said the country is committed to addressing the concerns that prompted the ban.
“We will work with US authorities to ensure progress,” he added.


Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region

Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region
Updated 08 June 2025

Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region

Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region
  • A tank unit had ‘reached the western border of the Donetsk People’s Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region’

MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday it was pushing into Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region in a significant territorial escalation of its three-year military campaign.

The defense ministry said forces from a tank unit had “reached the western border of the Donetsk People’s Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region.”


Travel ban may shut door for Afghan family to bring niece to US for better life

Travel ban may shut door for Afghan family to bring niece to US for better life
Updated 08 June 2025

Travel ban may shut door for Afghan family to bring niece to US for better life

Travel ban may shut door for Afghan family to bring niece to US for better life
  • President Donald Trump signed the ban Wednesday, similar to one in place during his first administration but covers more countries
  • Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen also banned along with Afghanistan

IRMO, S.C.: Mohammad Sharafoddin, his wife and young son walked at times for 36 hours in a row over mountain passes as they left Afghanistan as refugees to end up less than a decade later talking about their journey on a plush love seat in the family’s three-bedroom suburban American home.

He and his wife dreamed of bringing her niece to the US to share in that bounty. Maybe she could study to become a doctor and then decide her own path.

But that door slams shut on Monday as America put in place a travel ban for people from Afghanistan and a dozen other countries.

“It’s kind of shock for us when we hear about Afghanistan, especially right now for ladies who are affected more than others with the new government,” Mohammad Sharafoddin said. “We didn’t think about this travel ban.”

President Donald Trump signed the ban Wednesday. It is similar to one in place during his first administration but covers more countries. Along with Afghanistan, travel to the US is banned from Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Trump said visitors who overstay visas, like the man charged in an attack that injured dozens of demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month, are a danger to the country. The suspect in the attack is from Egypt, which isn’t included in the ban.

The countries chosen for the ban have deficient screening of their citizens, often refuse to take them back and have a high percentage of people who stay in the US after their visas expire, Trump said.

The ban makes exceptions for people from Afghanistan on Special Immigrant Visas who generally worked most closely with the US government during the two-decade war there.
Thousands of refugees came from Afghanistan

Afghanistan was also one of the largest sources of resettled refugees, with about 14,000 arrivals in a 12-month period through September 2024. Trump suspended refugee resettlement on his first day in office.

It is a path Sharafoddin took with his wife and son out of Afghanistan walking on those mountain roads in the dark then through Pakistan, Iran and into Turkiye. He worked in a factory for years in Turkiye, listening to

YouTube videos on headphones to learn English before he was resettled in Irmo, South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia.

His son is now 11, and he and his wife had a daughter in the US who is now 3. There is a job at a jewelry maker that allows him to afford a two-story, three-bedroom house. Food was laid out on two tables Saturday for a celebration of the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday.

Sharafoddin’s wife, Nuriya, said she is learning English and driving — two things she couldn’t do in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

“I’m very happy to be here now, because my son is very good at school and my daughter also. I think after 18 years they are going to work, and my daughter is going to be able to go to college,” she said.

Family wants to help niece

It is a life she wanted for her niece too. The couple show videos from their cellphones of her drawing and painting. When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, their niece could no longer study. So they started to plan to get her to the US at least to further her education.

Nuriya Sharafoddin doesn’t know if her niece has heard the news from America yet. She hasn’t had the heart to call and tell her.

“I’m not ready to call her. This is not good news. This is very sad news because she is worried and wants to come,” Nuriya Sharafoddin said.

While the couple spoke, Jim Ray came by. He has helped a number of refugee families settle in Columbia and helped the Sharafoddins navigate questions in their second language.

Ray said Afghans in Columbia know the return of the Taliban changed how the US deals with their native country.

But while the ban allows spouses, children or parents to travel to America, other family members aren’t included. Many Afghans know their extended families are starving or suffering, and suddenly a path to help is closed, Ray said.

“We’ll have to wait and see how the travel ban and the specifics of it actually play out,” Ray said. “This kind of thing that they’re experiencing where family cannot be reunited is actually where it hurts the most.”

Taliban criticize travel ban

The Taliban criticized Trump for the ban, with leader Hibatullah Akhundzada saying the US was now the oppressor of the world.

“Citizens from 12 countries are barred from entering their land — and Afghans are not allowed either,” he said on a recording shared on social media. “Why? Because they claim the Afghan government has no control over its people and that people are leaving the country. So, oppressor! Is this what you call friendship with humanity?”