[Partner] ALLICE at 20: Two decades of giving hope, saving lives
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As CORA FilAm Task Force, Kumares & Kumpares received the 2006 Philippine Presidential Award for Overseas Filipinos & Individuals. (Photo by Voltaire Yap)
She was not the first or the last person to be killed by a current or former spouse or partner, but her fate, tragic that it was, woke and inspired a group of Filipino Americans to organize ALLICE Alliance for Community Empowerment, an all-volunteer team to educate the community about the dynamics of family and intimate partner abuse.
It’s been two decades since I invited my friends - from church, Bettina Santos Yap; from journalism, Yumi Querubin and Nerissa Fernandez; and from community service, lawyer Jojo Liangco and health advocate Teresa Ferrer Guingona, to form a project task force to evaluate media collateral for the FilAm community for CORA, the San Mateo County domestic violence service agency that hired me as bilingual educator/outreach coordinator during my sabbatical from journalism. Little did I know how tight our bond would hold and where it would take us.
After the project was completed, we preserved the team to fan out and seek opportunities to conduct education activities in Filipino and underserved areas. Our work prospered due to thirst for knowledge about the issue and despite the stigma attached to it. Our task was to unpack the matter and challenge assumptions. All of us had some kind of experience with abuse as witnesses, survivors or as clinicians working with parties on either side of the dynamic.
Managing the editorial department of Philippine News taught me the importance of diversity of voices behind a unity of purpose in building a vibrant and productive team. Hence my invitation to CORA co-workers psychologist Dr. Jei Africa and LMFT Jennifer Jimenez Wong, lawyer and JUHSD trustee Rachel Puno - Juliana, health educator Kristine Zafrani Averilla, paralegal Nellie Hizon, congressional aide Christine Padilla, florist Lina Susbilla and her co-San Mateo County Commissioner on Status of Women Alice Bulos, who brought in Daly City library trustee Erlinda Galeon.
Our vision: A community sharing resources to prevent abuse through education.
Our mission: To provide abuse-prevention education - at twice-yearly presentations and resource fairs on family and intimate partner violence, on our website and on our resource guide.
Our core belief: Education, the greatest weapon against oppression, should be accessible. Thus all of our activities are free and open to the public.
When Filipina Women’s Network CEO Marily Mondejar gifted us a grant from a performance of their Vagina Monologues, we drew the interest of FWN members businesswoman Sarah Jane Ilumin and Alameda County worker Edna Murray. Our sisterhood blossomed beautifully when TVM director Giovannie Espiritu agreed to give testimony of her experience with abuse at the premier event we staged as CORA Kumares & Kumpares in 2005 at the Philippine consulate, with support from then Consul General Rowena Mendoza Sanchez.
Filmmaker-actor Giovannie Espiritu’s testimony demystifies intimate partner violence. (Photo by Voltaire Yap)
Broadcast journalists Lloyd LaCuesta and Frances Dinglasan volunteer their time to co-emcee ALLICE events. (Photo by Voltaire Yap)
SFPD Lt. Randy Caturay, Colma City Council Member Joanne del Rosario, lawyers Robert Uy, Maria Segarra and law student Karina Layugan, congressional aide Mark Nagales, nurses Malou Aclan, Lorrain Canaya, Elsa Agasid and Jeannette Trajano, and LMFT Paulita Lasola Malay joined us soon after.
In 2009 we became an independent organization sponsored by Thomasians USA. We named ourselves after Alice Bulos, whom we elevated as honorary chair for modeling Community collaboration and service. She declined at first but consented when I gently reminded her of her maxim about humility as acceptance of one’s own accomplishments.
We stayed solid and celebrated our 10th anniversary at Colma Community Center with a gala reception to honor our survivor speakers. Lt. Gov. Mona Pasquil gave a riveting keynote pointing to empowerment as first emanating from the home. With Monica Yap, daughter of our founding president Santos Yap, we produced a video tribute to the brave women who have shared their stories to give hope to people suffering in the shadows. Without their testimony - unlocked by trust - family and intimate partner violence would remain a persistent myth.
Community support is vital to healing, Clara Tempongko and Janine Bersabe reiterate at ALLICE presentation. (Photo by Voltaire Yap)
ALLICE Alliance for Community Empowerment Kumares and Kumpares, as we call ourselves, have come and gone since then, some staying longer than others. Accountant Susan Roxas and older adults counselor Ofie Albrecht came aboard. Catholic Rev. Mark Reburiano and Episcopal Rev. Leonard Oakes brought faith-based perspective. Banker Jose Antonio linked us to the corporate world and is our fiscal director today. Pharmacovigilance executive Flor Nicolas, the first FilAm woman elected to the South San Francisco City Council, joined us, welcoming ALLICE as a partner in fulfilling her city’s family-focused agenda, as co-president this year.
Through life’s transitions, a core team emerged, steadfast in our vision. In nationwide crises and the pandemic, we pivoted to virtual activities under the leadership of venture capital EA Allen Capalla (2020), LMFT Nan Santiago (2021) and recovery service program director Junior Flores (2022).
In June 2021 we staged our first virtual elder care and abuse prevention presentation “Our Family, Our Future” made possible by Dr. Africa during his stint as Marin County BHRS director. Over 150 joined the call from four continents. That same year, longtime friend and Philippine International Aid founder Mona Lisa Yuchengco offered to be our fiscal sponsor, a natural collaboration for our two organizations dedicated to education and healing toward empowerment.
As 2013 president, Rob Uy had launched us into the digital era with, giving access to resources and vital information to survivors and their loved ones. This year we are ushering in www.ALLICE kk.org to keep us connected to succeeding generations.
Former Assembly Member now Attorney General Rob Bonta recites Pledge to End Domestic Violence. (Photo by Voltaire Yap)
In 2014 we introduced our ALLICE directory of services familiarly called the “A List,” of agencies vetted for cultural and linguistic capacity to help immigrant and LGBTQIA populations. This no-cost A-List is accessible on our website and at community fairs.
In this our 20th anniversary, we return to Colma in what is a homecoming on the representation of 5-time Colma Mayor Joanne del Rosario, whose lived experience with IPV proves the transformative power of empathy and trust, encouragement and understanding that she has received and pays forward.
The Colma leader 11 years ago had accepted our invitation to give testimony of her IPV experience at our annual DVAM presentation, breaking her own 50-year silence, as evidence that anyone can become abused regardless of background, heal and live a full life after. “I found my safe place here,” she often compliments the team for boosting her courage and confidence.
Where would Claire Joyce be today had she not been robbed of the future she dreamed for herself, Justin and Janine?
A single mother to a young son and daughter living in San Francisco, she longed for a happy life with an intimate partner who would share her interests and her devotion to family. She thought she had found that someone, but she feared his violent outbursts - yelling and cursing, slapping and punching her. And then he would apologize, charm her, saying he would never hurt her again. Only to break that promise over and over.
Claire Joyce sought and got counseling from San Francisco agencies and learned why some people abuse and why some people take abuse.
Someone in an abusive behavior can free herself from her situation if she is assured she can count on her circle of love and care for help. After several failed attempts at working out their differences, Claire Joyce understood that her ex-partner, not she, was responsible for his behavior. Once and for all, she told him she was done, their relationship was over. But her ex would not let her leave and live, taking the matter in his hands - before the eyes of her two children.
The Tempongko case compelled the City and County of San Francisco to review and correct its procedures for responding to similar complex situations that involve different agencies. Had responding officers known in a previous attack that the assailant had violated a restraining order, he would have been taken in custody and unable to carry out his lethal plan.
ALLICE keeps the memory of Claire Joyce Tempongko alive to remind each member of the community that we can help prevent abuse by learning as much as we can about the issue. We can model healthy behaviors and engage in outreach activities, share our resources to spread the word, and not least, hold authorities accountable for developing and enforcing policies to make homes and communities safe. Because the community is our responsibility, intimate partner abuse is everyone’s business.
ALLICE is honoring its survivor speakers and allies at a private reception Oct. 24. Philippine International Aid, Philippine News Today and San Mateo County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services will be conferred the 20th Anniversary Hall of Fame Honorees. Attorney General Rob Bonta will keynote. Consul General Neil Ferrer and San Mateo Supervisor David Canepa will be guest speakers.
PF Correspondent Cherie Querol Moreno founded ALLICE in 2003 and serves as executive director. For more information, visit www.allicekumares.com.
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