Transgender women’s rights group GANDA Filipinas joined a One Billion Rising (OBR), a day of protest calling for an end to violence against women, at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, Metro Manila yesterday.

‘Transgender women are no stranger to violence as the yearly statistics of the Transgender Day of Remembrance demonstrate,’ said Naomi Fontanos co-founder of GANDA Filipinas.

‘The number of transwomen around the world who have been brutally murdered has been steadily increasing in the last decade. It is the view of GANDA Filipinas that violence directed to a transgender woman is borne out of a combination of machismo, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia.’

The gathering at the University of the Philippines was organized by the department for women’s studies and Gabriela, the Filipino women’s rights group and political party.

Yesterday’s One Billion Rising, with events in 203 countries, was the largest day of mass action to stop violence against women and girls ever.

The campaign was started by Vagina Monologues creator Eve Ensler. She said:

‘We are rising together because it is in our connectedness, in our stomping feet and uncontrollable hips that the path and energy will be created to bring in a new world. We will galvanize the will and the passion of everyone rising around the world to create change.’

Fontanos added:

‘Many transgender people’s lives have been lost to a culture of violence shaped by a patriarchal society, a situation shared by many women around the world. We joined OBR to show that transwomen’s issues are women’s issues.’