Press Release
August 17, 2009

Passing Women's Magna Carta is just half the battle won - Loren

Senator Loren Legarda urged today all Filipino women to know and fully exercise their rights under the recently passed Magna Carta of Women (Republic Act 9710) in order to fight all forms of gender-based discrimination and violence.

"Passing the Magna Carta is a victory in itself as we lawmakers had to unearth it from the dustbin of the 12th Congress. Having incorporated the best provisions of our respective pro-women bills, what we have now is a truly remarkable law," said Loren.

"There is always the danger of the Magna Carta joining the long list of laws that had not been fully implemented. Filipino women must guard against this if gender-based inequality is to be a thing of the past," she said.

Loren's SB 7192 incorporated into the Magna Carta the provision of comprehensive health services for women, the upholding of the rights of women in marginalized sectors, ensuring women's access to livelihood, credit, capital and technology, and the strengthening of the role of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women which had been renamed the Philippine Women's Commission.

It was also Loren's bill which caused the creation by the Magna Carta of a special Ombudsman for the protection of women's rights within the Commission on Human Rights, and the establishment of an incentives and rewards system for deserving entities, government agencies and local government units for their outstanding performance in upholding the rights of women.

In authoring the bill, Loren lamented that while RAs 6725 and 7192 had been passed in 1989 and 1992, respectively to recognize women's role in national development and to prohibit discrimination against women in the workplace, the labor inequality experienced by Filipino women had continued despite the fact that the International Labor Organization had identified the Philippines in 2006 as having the world's highest ratio of women to men in executive positions.

Aside from co-authoring the Magna Carta, Loren also played a major role in the passage of RA 9260, the law that protects women and their children from domestic violence.

She said many physically, emotionally and psychologically battered women had used RA 9260 to free themselves from abusive relationships through the seeking of protection orders from courts.

"There was a time when a woman had to have himself beaten black and blue first before the police would entertain any domestic violence complaint. Not anymore as RA 9260 made it possible for anyone to intervene even in what used to be referred to as away mag-asawa lang," she said.

The Magna Carta granted women equal weight in all decision making process such as the number and spacing of children. In the military, it accorded the same promotional privileges and opportunities as men, including pay increases and awards based on competence.

In the workplace, the new law provided women with a special leave benefit of two months with full pay after undergoing surgery caused by gynecological disorders.

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