Lawmakers: Pinays still poor, abused

MANILA, Philippines - Women lawmakers yesterday called on fellow Filipino women to assert their rights, saying many of them remain hungry, poor and abused under the Aquino administration.

Gabriela party-list Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmerenciana de Jesus issued the statement as their group marked International Women’s Day with protests nationwide to decry what they said was the unabated attacks on women’s economic and political rights.

“The situation of Filipino women has never been more burdened with poverty. The assault on our rights has gone from bad to worse under the policy direction of the Aquino administration,” Ilagan said.

“More women are going hungry, are without jobs or livelihood and are being deprived of much needed healthcare services,” she said. “Women do not feel even a pinch of the economic growth that President Aquino claims to have achieved for this country.”

She said surveys conducted on hunger incidence in the country indicate that 21 percent of the population or at least 4.3 million households experience severe to moderate hunger.

This means more than 10 million Filipino women experienced having nothing to eat for a day, she added.

She said prices of food and basic commodities have increased while wages remain low.

Labor statistics also indicate that 37 percent of women workers have incomes lower than the government’s poverty threshold.

“Worse, an even bigger number of women remain unemployed,” Ilagan said.

She said the situation of abject poverty “is bound to get worse with President Aquino’s policy direction of plunder and privatization.”

De Jesus said Aquino’s policy of bringing in big business and multinational involvement in health care through corporatization and various privatization schemes has resulted in increases in hospital and laboratory services, contributing further to the inaccessibility of health care for Filipino women and children.

Administration senatorial candidate and Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara urged the government yesterday to fully implement Republic Act 9710, or the Magna Carta of Women, particularly the provision that guarantees equal employment opportunities for women in the country.

“We don’t want the Magna Carta of Women added to the bonfire of dead laws,” he said.

“We want it to be a living, breathing law, meaning well-implemented and fully operationalized. It should be a true testament to the power and talent of Filipinas.”

Angara is the principal author of the comprehensive women’s rights law that seeks to eliminate discrimination against women by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling and promoting the rights of Filipino women in all spheres of society.

“Despite the enactment of the Magna Carta of Women to address sexual discrimination in the workplace, the gender gap in employment rates and economic participation persists,” he said.

Programs for young Pinays

Partylist-group Akap Bata yesterday called on the government to implement more programs and policies that would protect girls, particularly in conflict-hit areas, from all types of abuse.

Proclamation No. 759 also declares the month of March as the month of young women, the group said.

The child welfare group said “children carry half the burden of the current worsening crisis.”

“This chronic poverty resulted in 12.4 million starving children, five million child laborers and two million street children,” Lean Flores, Akap Bata party-list spokesperson, said.

Citing a recent United Nations report, Akap Bata said more girls are being hired as domestic helpers, thus living away from home.

The report said this makes the girls highly vulnerable to physical or psychological abuse and interrupted schooling.

“This study clearly shows that this social context is not the kind of society that will protect our children. We dare the present administration to make clear policies and programs that will truly ensure the wellness and future of girls and children in general,” Flores said.

Significant progress

But Senators Loren Legarda and Pia Cayetano pointed out yesterday that Congress has made significant progress in pushing for women’s agenda through legislation.

Cayetano, however, recognized that much work needs to be done to push the women’s agenda throughout the country.

Cayetano said it will take some time to address tradition and practices that are anti-women. 

“So we must take advantage of every opportunity to educate our people on the importance of bridging the gender gap in every aspect of our lives,” she said.

For her part, Legarda reminded Filipino women that there are adequate laws for the protection of the rights and well-being of women.

She said among these are the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act, the Magna Carta of Women, and the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

Cayetano also cited the Reproductive Health Act and the repeal of an antiquated Labor Code provision prohibiting night work for women.

Non-working holiday

Davao City Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano expressed hope that her proposal to declare March 8 a non-working holiday in the country will ultimately become a law in the next Congress to allow Filipino women to fully enjoy their special day through a one-day break from work.

Albano, a vice chair of the House committee on women and gender equality and one of the 60 co-authors of House Bill 3962 seeking to declare March 8 every year a non-working holiday, said the one day off work “is a great means of paying tribute to Filipino women for their massive contribution to nation building through their various roles and tasks in society.” With Helen Flores, Christina Mendez