Maya Tamayo

Maya is successfully organizing women to get elected into public office. Her organization, Bayi, Inc., recruits women in politics, both elected and professionals, into a network of transformative and values-driven feminist leaders who create a ripple effect of policies and practices that challenge the dangerous pattern of dynastic-driven and patriarchal politics.

As a feminist social entrepreneur, Maya founded Bayi, Inc, a non-profit that presents a new cultivation pattern of transformative leadership in politics through feminist values such as consultation, inclusion, accountability, and care, to counteract the values espoused by the political norm of dynasties and patriarchies such as elitism, top-down/strongman leadership, and male-dominance. Through a network of networks approach, she spreads the new pattern as she 1) creates a strategic and influential early adopter network composed of elected female public officials in local governments (mayors, vice mayors, city councilors, and board members) called the Angat Bayi Political Empowerment Fellowship where they enhance their skills and knowledge on transformative, values-driven feminist leadership, 2) requires Fellows to live out their values as transformative feminist leaders by collaborating on projects in their local governments, mentoring local youth leaders, and partnering with values-aligned organizations to deliver projects that are innovative, needs-based, and consultative, 3) recruits more leaders and allies who will champion transformative feminist leadership by partnering with the National Civil Service Commission and other values-aligned organizations, within and outside the government.

As a result of Angat Bayi’s work in transforming the political landscape, a watershed moment occurred with an unprecedented number of 14 cities, 16 municipalities, and 6 provinces writing and passing ordinances aligned with transformative feminist leadership values, in a matter of six months, when traditionally, it would take years for one to pass. This meant filling in the gaps of national laws that have failed to pass due to the slow movement of policies in congress as local mandates of Fellows spurred local access to reproductive healthcare, provisions for anti-discrimination and safe spaces, prevention of online sexual exploitation of children in places where there was none. A number of Angat Bayi Fellows have also been able to secure seats in local governments as independents where dynasties have traditionally ruled and have done so by building out network power by empowering youth, collaborating with other Fellows in nearby cities, and leveraging access to other feminist leaders and professionals within the Bayi, Inc circle.

Democracy in the Philippines is declining from its lack of diversity in the most important positions of power and leadership. Despite being considered one of the most gender-progressive countries in the world, ranking 17th globally in closing the gender gap, Filipinos still have a dominant preference for male and macho leaders when it comes to electing officials. This preference has greatly limited the pool of potential leaders in the country—with only one in every five of the electorate being women and 70% of the Congress being dynastical. In Dr. Rolando U. Mendoza’s study of Inequality, Oligarchy, and Dynasty in the Philippines, his research found that 80% of governors, 67% of Congressmen, and 53% of Mayors are from fat dynasties, meaning they have 2 or more family members in office at the same time. His study also correlates dynasties to high levels of inequality have weakened democracy as they further corruption, nepotism, and cronyism. Dr. Rolando elaborated possible cures for dynasties as 1) introducing competition in elections or through democratic checks and balances by local stakeholders, 2) creating an appetite for innovation to avoid rent-seeking models, and 3) deconcentrating power from a few families. Creating more diversity, in candidates and actual leadership, will become a powerful tool to change the Philippines dominant political and civic culture.

Two of the biggest barriers hampering diversity in political leadership and participation are: 1) the large campaign funding needed to run and 2) the expansive electoral network or political capital needed to succeed. The first barrier favors candidates from political dynasties who have the effective machinery to clinch election victories. These dynasties, however, have shipped the negative notion of women candidates as "benchwarmers" or officials who only take office while their male relatives wait to become eligible again after a one-term break. The second barrier, political capital, is difficult to come by for women because the male-dominated political sphere reflects the negative social-cultural perceptions of women leaders. Traditionally, the Filipino leadership model is one that is macho or favors traits such as "strong", "authoritative" and "decisive." Even if women candidates win elections, their political capital is always threatened through sexualized attacks that are only potent when hurled at women. These two barriers work together to hamper the aspirations of women politicians and young women leaders. As the cons to running outweigh the pros, these barriers reinforce the vicious cycle of dynastic macho politics by limiting the pool of candidates.

The lack of diversity in the country’s key leadership positions threatens any progress made toward justice and equity. For Maya, there needs to be a new contingent of leaders championing values-driven leadership who will shake up the pattern of political dynasties and change the course of a declining democracy. She hypothesizes that one of the most effective shared compasses towards this better future is through mainstreaming transformative feminist leadership. With the Mandanas Ruling in 2020, an act that decentralizes government power and resources from the national government and gives more budget and autonomy to local governments, there is a window of opportunity to setup local governance to become more equitable and inclusive. On the other hand, inequality can deepen and spread if municipal governments aren’t equipped and don’t hold themselves accountable to their constituents for the bigger budgets, increasing need for services and infrastructure, and competent leadership.

Maya’s first course of action is to build out the transformation journey for leaders through the Angat Bayi Political Empowerment Fellowship. By first recruiting and training elected women leaders in local government, she can build out immediate power for the network and also leaders with influence in local matters. With the Fellowship network that now has 70 elected women leaders in all 17 regions of the country, 41 provinces, 24 cities, and 37 municipalities in just 5 years, she has been able to spin out other programs with the goal of building out a more diverse and values-driven pipeline of next generation leaders in public service.

For example, in collaboration with Fellows from the Ilocos Sur region, a region known to be majority-controlled by political dynasties, Maya collaborated with a Fellow to launch the Young Bayi (Young Women) Fellowship. The program seeks to empower young leaders to run programs for social development in their city and explore a career in public service. This model has now been replicated in 4 other regions and has now reached 63 youth leaders and is spreading fast since local government leaders have provisional budgets to spend for programs like Young Bayi. The Bayi, Inc., framework for transformative leadership is now also being adopted through other partnerships—with the COMELEC for aspiring candidates running for office, with the National Civil Service Commission for career civil servants/LGU workers, and Indigenous and Muslim Women Leaders in the Cordillera and Bangsamoro Autonomous Muslim. As of 2023, Maya and Bayi, Inc have already grown the network to 15 COMELEC officials who will train 1500 potential candidates for Barangay (local village) elections, and 80 career civil servants from 17 different government departments like the Department of Education, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

To further political empowerment towards a future with more equality, Maya is also leveraging the current network to affect a shift in government procurement policies. By empowering local ordinances and governments, she is also working with the Civil Service Commission to 1) make procurement processes more efficient, transparent, and accountable, 2) widen the pool of suppliers and contractors in order to break monopolies on contracts that furthers equality in local cities, and 3) acts as a preventive measure to new dynasties emerging bankrolled by wealthy business families seeking monopolies on contracts. She is also looking to break silos in government by connecting the different actors. By acting as a coordinator, she can match elected leaders with policy experts, media professionals or journalists, women entrepreneurs, and sectoral experts. For example, the watershed moment of 16 ordinances being passed for women’s rights occurred as a concerted effort by Maya and Bayi, Inc to connect the Angat Bayi Fellows to legal experts from the Feminist Legal Network, another organization Maya co-founded, who helped craft and review the ordinances. This was a pioneering and inclusive approach locally to policy or ordinance-making which could bring more participatory and collaborative approaches to local governance.

When Maya was 16, she became the first female Corps Commander of the Citizen Army Training program in her high school, a position that was largely male-dominated. This was the start of what became a lifelong conviction to challenge norms and expectations of what women can do. In college, Maya grew up to become a leader in different advocacy organizations, where she found her roots as an activist. After college, she discovered feminism when she joined the Freedom from Debt Coalition and began her journey in being a champion for women’s rights as she lobbied for policy reforms and counseled women in crisis. In 2003, Maya left the Philippines to become a full-time mother as her husband took up his further studies at New York University. It is during this time that she discovered EMILY’s List founded by Ellen Malcolm. As a political action committee that raised funds for women to support their candidacy, Maya became inspired by how it was able to advance abortion rights through the goal of electing Democratic female candidates.

Returning to the Philippines, Maya began working with political leaders to push for basic human rights and further women’s rights. Through this work, she became acquainted with women leaders and the difficult and limited pathways for women in political leadership. She also saw that more women leaders being elected didn’t translate to decisions being made in favor of women. It was at this time that Maya realized that aside from getting more women elected, the leaders also had to carry feminist values and a women’s agenda. In 2016, the election of a populist administration incited Maya to formulate the seeds of an idea called Angat Bayi. In 2018, the first Angat Bayi Fellowship was launched as she landed the support of the University of the Philippines Center for Women’s and Gender Studies and funding of the Canadian Funds for Local Initiatives.

Because of the relationships and network that Maya forged within the gender empowerment space, her strategies towards women’s political empowerment are being picked up by other groups. Her approach to Bayi, Inc, of recruiting leaders and forming an empowering network is now being studied for replication by her co-fellows in the Vital Voices Fellowship in countries like Mongolia, Mexico, and Pakistan.