Maita Gomez

Margarita "Maita" Favis Gomez (May 23, 1947 – July 12, 2012) was a Filipino scholar, activist, and beauty queen.

Biography

In 1967 she won the Miss Philippines–World beauty pageant and went on to represent the country in the Miss World contest. She later became a political, economic, and women's rights advocate, and was active in the Makabayan political movement in the 1980s.^[1][2][3]

Maita was born in 1947 to Jose C. Gomez and Cecilia Favis Gomez and was one of 7 children Cita, (Patty died July 11, 2013), (Ditas died May 16, 2012), Joe, Naty and Migui. Maita is survived by her children Melissa Perez-Rubio Ugarte, Jose Luis Decena, Kris and Antares Bartolome, and Michael Phillip Beltran, as well as their children and spouses.

She was crowned as Miss Philippines in 1967 and was admired by many Filipinos. Yet, as years passed, the Filipino community was surprised at the work she brought forward regarding women’s emancipation. In addition to her title as Miss Philippines, Maita was a well known for her political advocacy work. She fought for the liberation of women in the Philippines and worked hard to fix injustices there. Her advocacy timeline began when she first became involved in an underground movement created to overthrow the dictator of the Philippines at the time, Marco. Co-founder of GABRIELA, a democratic alliance for women, Maita also helped establish another alliance group known as WOMB (Women for the Ouster of Marcos and Boycott) which raised awareness of and fought for freedom for women. GABRIELA and WOMB were both organized after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. Eventually, Marcos was overthrown in 1986 and KAIBA (Kababaihan para sa Inangbayan), an all-women political party was created.

After Marcos’ ouster, she went back to school. She finished her BS in Sociology (through the non-traditional mode) at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila. She also worked as a manager in a private company. Later, she earned her MA in Development Economics at the UP School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman.

Maita was part of the National Council of SELDA (Samahan ng mga Ex-detainee Laban sa Detensyon at pata sa Amnestiya), which fought for the freedom of political prisoners. After martial law was created Gomez decision to join an underground movement resulted in her imprisonment in 1973 in Baguio. She later escaped prison and later found a home in the Bicol mountains for three years and then moved to Central Luzon for three years as well. One day, she was discovered and forced to be under house arrest. She continued to help others in need throughout her life and her activist work continued later on. In 2012, Maita helped the growth of a foundation called Work Well Foundation, which worked to help women in the Philippines find well-paying jobs. On July 12, 2012, Maita died of a heart attack. One of her children found her dead in her home in Quezon City and realized that she had died of a heart attack in her sleep. ^[4][5][6]

References