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Yes, happy Women's Month as well. Thank you for having me.

So first off, tell us about yourself.

First, your dominance in Jiu-Jitsu.

Were you always into contact sports?

How did you get into this sport?

To be honest, I wasn't really always into contact sports.

Although I have been into sports since high school,

but sports like football, track and field.

And then it was only after college that I got into mixed martial arts,

then into Jiu-Jitsu.

So in the past, I wasn't the way that I was.

Now, I was much girlier as a kid.

Any inspirations as to why you got into Jiu-Jitsu in particular?

It was really just a teammate in track and field

that told me about mixed martial arts.

And I love challenges.

And it sounded so challenging.

And I really wanted to stay fit after college.

So I tried MMA.

Because I didn't really have much opponents in MMA since I'm small.

And not many small women did MMA at that time.

I had to switch to Jiu-Jitsu because there were more women doing Jiu-Jitsu.

And there were more competitions as well.

Linda, tell us about your journey so far.

And all the accolades you've received,

medals brought home to our country.

Well, so far, it's been quite a journey.

I think I've been doing Jiu-Jitsu for 10 years already.

Yeah, 10 years already.

I cannot talk about all the medals.

I mean, it's not really going to be the main topic.

But I think some of the highlights of my career have been

the World Championships.

So I won the World Championships in both the JJIF and the IBJJF

a couple of times.

And then also the Southeast Asian Games two times.

And Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games,

as well as the Asian Beach Games.

In the Asian Games, I got bronze in 2018.

But hopefully this year,

hopefully it won't be bronze this year.

Yes, let's claim that.

So that's pretty much the highlights of my career.

You know what they say about the sport, right?

It's the art of folding clothes while people are wearing them.

And how does it feel being a woman in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu?

How does the sport empower you?

Well, being a woman in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu,

well, some think now,

oh, it's a male-dominated sport where it's hard.

But honestly, I think that it's even an advantage

being a woman in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu

because I have less strength than the guys that I train with.

So I'm forced to really use technique as much as possible.

And the more you use technique in the sport,

the more you will progress.

Because if you keep just using your strength,

then you won't really absorb the depth of the sport.

Because you're just going to keep using strength.

So as a woman, given that our bodies are different from men, right?

So I think it's really an advantage for women in this kind of a sport.

There's a lot of thinking involved as well, right?

Yes, exactly.

Aside from being a champion in Jiu-Jitsu,

you're also a child rights advocate.

Since when did you start pursuing this advocacy?

Yeah, well, this particular advocacy started in 2015

just by asking a question of what is all this for,

what this whole journey is for.

And then coming across an article about child sexual violence

and researching more about it that year.

And moving into 2016 where I met certain people

that helped direct this growing burden in me.

And I started by teaching a shelter,

the sport of Jiu-Jitsu,

together with my teammates in our club.

So we just shared the sport with survivors of child sexual violence.

Actually, not all of them were survivors,

but all of them were vulnerable children.

We saw how the program grew and how it really helped the children

deal with their issues, face their fears,

even face their court hearings,

which were really traumatic experiences.

That's pretty much how it began and how it progressed.

And it just became Fight to Protect in 2018

where it grew into a movement already.

And there became an awareness-raising aspect to it.

It's a very unique way of promoting the sport.

Are you seeing progress though in the fight against child abuses

at least here in the country?

Yeah, well, yes, definitely.

Since the time that I started getting into the advocacy,

there has been a lot of progress.

The End Child Rape Campaign cost,

well, I'm not sure if that was the sole cost,

but then the revision of the law on the anti-rape law,

it was already revised, right?

The requests of that campaign were approved.

Of course, it's not because of my effort.

It's because of their effort.

There are a lot of other advocates who are really working hard

with the legislators to ensure that children are protected in our laws.

And a lot of other laws also have been revised

to become more updated because there are a lot of things like

technology that have developed, even modes of abuse.

Right now, one of the most common forms of abuse is online, right?

And even the methods have changed.

So the laws had to be updated and had to cover more bases.

And that has happened as well in the past.

And I've seen a lot more features,

even celebrities talking about these issues.

So yes, definitely there has been progress.

More progress and more awareness, right?

And what's your advice on how we should encourage more women

to go out of their comfort zones, break stereotypes,

and do more for the world, or at least for the country?

Well, my advice for women is don't put yourself in a box.

As a kid, I never would have imagined myself to become a jiu-jitsu athlete.

It's so different.

I was so different before to who I am now.

And it's always important to keep an open mind

and be willing to take risks.

Because throughout my journey,

the risk-taking factor was one of the major steps I had to take

in order for me to move forward to a major chapter.

So I guess that's pretty much my advice.

Keep an open mind and be willing to take risks.

Alright. Mabuhay ang kababayan.

Thank you so much for speaking to us this morning.

Thank you. All the best for you.

Thank you as well. Thank you.

Thank you.