Manila: Filipina Monique Wilson, a former lead actress in the Broadway production of Ms Saigon in London and in New York when she was a teenager in the mid 80s, has turned militant and is now urging women to rise up against injustices such as rape and domestic abuse.

“The Philippines will be one of the 207 countries where protest-dance against beating and raping of women will be done on all streets nationwide,” said Wilson, director of the protest rally called, “One Billion Rising in the Philippines,” part of a global event for the empowerment of women.

With events being held across the country simultaneously on February 14, the Philippines will be the third country to be featured initially in a live streaming worldwide coverage, after New Zealand and Australia, said Wilson.

From these three countries, the worldwide documentation will be done sequentially in Bangladesh, Indonesia, other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), European countries, the Middle East, Latin America, the United States, and Canada, said Wilson.

Hundreds of thousands of Filipino women have vowed to join the protest dance in their call for freedom from abuse and harassment, said Wilson, adding the programme will include dancing to the tune of protest song, “Bangon Rise Up”.

There will be gatherings in Manila’s Mendiola Park, near the presidential palace; in Quezon Memorial Circle, suburban Quezon City; at the University of the Philippines also in suburban Quezon City; in Baguio City, northern Luzon; in Naga and Legazpi cities, southern Luzon; in Iloilo and Tacloban cities in central Philippines; and in Davao City, southern Philippines.

The number of Filipino women participating in the street dance-protest is expected to further rise with the participation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in countries where they are based, said Wilson, adding the focus of this year’s protest rally in the Philippines is on poor and underprivileged women, local and international domestic workers, who are susceptible to abuse and harassment.

“I will persuade Filipino women in Hong Kong to join the protest-dance — for the sake of Filipino women [everywhere],” said Wilson, adding her trip to Hong Kong starting on Sunday will not include a shopping spree as often done by Filipino tourists.

“Last year, around 40,000 people joined us in Quezon City alone. We expect this number to rise several times,” vowed Wilson.

The project’s participants include militant Gabriela; May One Movement, a labour group; and Migrante, a migrant workers watchdog.

By February 14 this year, more than one billion people in 207 countries would have been raped or beaten in their lifetime, said the United Nations, based on statistics that one in three women worldwide will be beaten or raped during her lifetime.

Police records in the Philippines showed that 4,234 children were victims of rape in 2013.

“That means one in 10 women is a rape victim,” said Joms Salvador, secretary general of Gabriela.

Of the 5,000 Filipinos who leave daily to work abroad, 70 per cent are women. Many Filipina domestic workers abroad are also rape victims, records said.

“There should be a very big mass action in human history — in reaction to these data,” said Wilson.