SPONSORSHIP SPEECH OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS ON GENDER RESPONSIVE COVID PROTOCOLS
September 01, 2021

Mr. President, dear colleagues, I rise today to sponsor Senate Bill No. 2372, under Committee Report No. 295, or the Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Pandemic and Disaster Management Act.

Mr. President, mahigit isang taon na din tayong nasasadlak sa pandemya. Sa panahong iyon napakadami ko na din nadinig na mga kwento ng iba't ibang mga kabaro.

Unahin na natin si Rhea, isang kasambahay na nagka-COVID matapos mahawa sa employer na namatay. Siya daw ay pinag-alaga sa matandang employer habang nakaquarantine ng hiwalay ang pamilyang pinagtatrabahuan. Noong nag positive, dinala siya sa isang public quarantine facility ngunit nung gumaling, di na siya pinabalik sa bahay ng employer. Wala na din siyang mahanap na trabaho sa Maynila kaya ginamit ang huling pera para makabalik sa probinsya. Pagbalik naman doon, pinagbubugbog ng asawa dahil bakit daw nawalan siya ng trabaho?

Nakilala ko rin si Marita, overseas Filipino worker na nag expire ang contract sa pinagtratrabahuhan at hindi na nirenew. Dapat na siyang nakauwi sa Pilipinas, pero dahil panay ang mga cancellation ng flights, hindi makatyempo ng byahe pauwi. Nagpapatintero tuloy sa mga pulis sa Kuala Lumpur, para hindi maaresto for overstaying, kahit hindi naman niya nais na mag overstay.

Pang huli po, ang teenager na si Ellen, 16 years old at nasa liblib na lugar. Mahina ang signal sa kanila kaya doon siya nag-iinternet sa isang partikular na area kung saan malakas-lakas ang hagip ng signal. Doon din nagsisipuntahan ang marami pang mga kabataan na kaedad niya para mag online schooling. Makalipas ang ilang buwan, nabuntis si Ellen. Ang balita ay dumami ang kaso ng teenage pregnancy sa area nila. Tila kinukumpirma ang projection ng UP Population Institute na sisirit pataas ang mga kaso ng adolescent pregnancies dahil sa pandemic.

These stories are the driving force behind the Gender Responsive and Inclusive Pandemic and Disaster Management Act - filed by all the women Senators of the eighteenth Congress on International Women's Day. In a study published by Nature, one of the most prestigious journals in the world, women are affected more than men by the social and economic effects of infectious-disease outbreaks. We bear the brunt of care responsibilities as schools close and family members fall ill. They are at greater risk of domestic violence and are disproportionately disadvantaged by reduced access to sexual- and reproductive-health services. Because women are more likely than men to have fewer hours of employed work and be on insecure or zero-hour contracts, we are more affected by job losses in times of economic instability.

The bill on hand therefore seeks to respond to the differentiated impacts on women and girls of pandemics and disasters, drawing from the lessons of the COVID-19 experience. Some of the highlights are as follows:

First, mandating that gender based violence services, especially temporary shelters, remain functional and accessible notwithstanding emergencies, pandemics, and disasters, and that mechanisms for the processing and issuance of protection orders under RA 9262 remain operative;

Second, providing for the specific health needs of women inside quarantine facilities;

Third, requiring agencies to craft protocols for alternative work arrangements that take into account the gender-differentiated needs of female employees;

Fourth, ensuring the continuity and availability of ante and post-natal care and services during lockdowns as well as prompt access of pregnant women to the same, with corresponding precautions to protect them from risks;

Fifth, prioritizing gender alongside disability, age and other overlapping vulnerabilities in the assessment of needs and decisions on targeting;

Sixth, institutionalizing protections for female migrant workers in situations of distress and female locally-stranded individuals;

And last but not the least, mandating the creation of a Gender-Responsive National Preparedness and Response Plan to be integrated into the national strategy to manage the pandemic or disaster, and cascaded to the local government units to guide local efforts.

Mr. President, napakarami pong pasakit ang dinulot ng COVID-19 sa ating bayan at sa ating mundo. But if there is one good thing that can come out of it, it is perhaps the opportunity to cast a light on the existing inequities that cleave society and from this, chart a better course forward. And in this better course forward, women and girls are not left behind.

Salamat po.