Protection from discrimination

Women with the intent of removing discrimination, advancing substantive equality and strengthening state obligations to promote, protect and fulfill women’s human rights.

Special laws

Protection from discrimination

The Magna Carta of Women is the framework law on women’s human rights. It is a source of implementable rights; it is also a policy document from where many other laws may be derived. However, since its passage in 2009, only one out of the six identified discriminatory laws has been repealed. Furthermore, there are specific provisions that need to be amended, such as specifying a timeframe for completion of repeal and amendment of discriminatory laws or a target quota in relation to women’s representation and participation in all spheres of society, particularly in the decisionmaking and policymaking processes in government and private entities.

1. Republic Act No. 9710 (Magna Carta of Women)

In 2006, one of the observations in the Concluding Comments to the Combined 5th and 6th Periodic Report of the Philippines to the CEDAW Committee25 was the absence of a law defining antidiscrimination, despite the country’s ratification of CEDAW in 1981. A consultative body led by a non-governmental organization was formed, and a gender equality law was drafted, which contains the provisions of CEDAW and other relevant principles on gender equality.

On 14 August 2009, Republic Act No. 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women was passed, defining discrimination against women in accordance with Article I of CEDAW, substantive equality as well as the obligations of the State as the primary duty-bearer in protecting, promoting and fulfilling women’s human rights and gender equality. The Magna Carta is considered as the domestic translation of CEDAW, bringing CEDAW into the nation’s legal system as a source of enforceable rights.

The law affirms landmark principles such as women’s human rights, the role of women in nation-building, empowerment of women and the integration of women’s concerns in the mainstream of development. It enumerates the rights and empowerment of all women, with special attention to women in the marginalized sectors. It also sets up the institutional mechanisms necessary to realize women’s equality: the concept of gender mainstreaming, the focal point system, the gender and development budget, and strengthening of the national women’s machinery. Institutional mechanisms for women’s equality include the Philippine Commission on Women, formerly the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, and establishment of the Gender Ombud through the Commission on Human Rights. The law also has implementing rules and regulations, which provide more detail to the law. According to the Philippine Commission on Women,26 some of the salient features of the Magna Carta of Women are:

• Increasing the number of women in senior positions in government to achieve a fiftyfifty gender balance within the next five years while the composition of women at all levels of development planning and program implementation will be at least 40 percent. • Leave benefits of two months with full pay based on gross monthly compensation for women employees who undergo surgery caused by gynecological disorders, provided that they have rendered continuous aggregate employment service of at least six months for the last 12 months.

• Non-discrimination in employment in the field of military, police and other similar services which includes according the same promotional privileges and opportunities as their male counterparts, including pay increases, additional benefits and awards, based on competency and quality of performance. • Provision for equal access and elimination of discrimination in education, scholarships and training. Thus, expulsion, non-readmission, prohibiting enrollment and other related discrimination against women students and faculty due to pregnancy out of marriage shall be outlawed.

• Non-discriminatory and non-derogatory portrayal of women in media and film to raise the consciousness of the general public in recognizing the dignity of women and the role and contribution of women in the family, community and society through the strategic use of mass media.

• Equal status given to men and women on the titling of land and issuance of stewardship contracts and patents. Under Section 3, in its Principles of Human Rights of Women, it is stipulated that “All individuals are equal as human beings by virtue of the inherent dignity of each human person. No one, therefore, should suffer discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, gender, age, language, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, political, or other opinion, national, social, or geographical origin, disability, property, birth, or other status as established by human rights standards.” This is a sound legal basis to specify in detail the rights of LGBTQI people. However, a new specific law providing for protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity would be more responsive to the needs of LGBTQI people.

While the Magna Carta of Women has implementing rules and regulations, some provisions do not have a time frame for implementation. Laws for which it is notably crucial to have a specified time of implementation are:

• The establishment of Violence Against Women

Desks in all barangays (villages) under Article IV,

Section 12.

• The participation of women in all levels of decision-making in local government units under

Article IV Section 14.

• The quota for admission as mentioned in Article

IV, Section 18 on women in the military, police and other similar services, stipulating that no qualified enlisted personnel shall be denied promotion to the highest non-commissioned officer position solely on the basis of sex and sexual orientation. Under Article IV, Section 12, the State is mandated to take steps to review, amend and/or repeal existing laws that are discriminatory to women within three years from the effectivity (entry into force) of the law. Section 15 of the implementing rules of the law stipulates that the executive-legislative body shall prioritize bills that amend or repeal the following laws due to discriminatory provisions:

• Family Code of the Philippines:

(a) Article 14 on the provision on giving preference to the father’s consent to the marriage of children between the ages of 18 and 21. (b) Articles 96 and 124 on the provision on giving preference to the husband’s decision, in case of disagreement with the wife, on the administration and enjoyment of community and conjugal properties.

(c) Article 211 on the provision on giving preference to the husband’s decision, in case of disagreement with the wife, over the persons of their common children.

(d) Article 225 on the provision on giving preference to the husband’s decision, in case of disagreement with the wife, on the exercise of legal guardianship over the property of unemancipated common child.

(e) Article 55, No.1 on the requirement for repeated physical abuse and grossly abusive conduct as grounds for legal separation.

• Revised Penal Code:

(a) Articles 333 and 334 on adultery and concubinage.

(b) Article 202 on the definition of vagrants and prostitution.

(c ) Article 351 on premature marriages.

(d) Article 247 on death inflicted under exceptional circumstances.

• Labor Code Article 130, on night work prohibition. • Rules of Court Rule 131 Section 3 (jj), on disputable presumptions. • Code of Muslim Personal Laws.

• Republic Act No. 8353, on removal of criminal liability of a rapist when his victim marries him.

The Magna Carta of Women was enacted in 2009, which means that the review, amendment and repeal of discriminatory laws should have been accomplished by 2012. However, the abovementioned laws are yet to be acted upon and remain part of the legislative agenda for women. Considering the laborious process of amending or repealing these national laws, local government units, with participation of women’s groups, “shall take steps to review and, when necessary, amend and/or repeal existing laws that are discriminatory to women within three (3) years from the effectivity of this Act”.27