Republic of the Philippines

Province of Camarines

MUNICIPALITY OF GAINZA

-o0o-

OFFICE OF THE SANGGUNIANG BAYAN

ORDINANCE No. 03

Series of 2010

Sponsored by: Hon. Salve A. Francisco

SB Committee Chair on GAD/Women

AN ORDINANCE PROMULGATING THE GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD) CODE OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF GAINZA, CAMARINES SUR, MANDATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, CREATING THE IMPLEMENTING MECHANISMS THEREOF, AND PROVIDING FUNDS FOR THE PURPOSE.

BE IT ORDAINED, by the Municipality of Gainza, Camarines Sur, in session assembled that;

ARTICLE – I

TITLE AND GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section I. Title. This ordinance shall be known as the “Gender and Development (GAD) Code of Gainza, Camarines Sur.

Section 2. Legal Mandate. The adoption of this GAD Code is in line with the State’s promotion of women’s empowerment, gender equality, women’s human rights and gender-responsive development, as embodied in the following;

2.1  National Laws and Policies

a.  Article II, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution, which provides that “The State recognizes the role of women in nation building, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men.”

b.  Magna Carta of Women of 2009 (Republic Act 9710) encourages local government units to develop and pass a GAD Code based on the gender issues and concerns in their respective localities. The GAD Code shall also serve as basis in identifying programs, activities and projects on GAD.

c.  Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act No. 7160) mandates LGUs to promote general welfare and provides basic services and facilities to the constituents.

d.  General Appropriations Act provides that at least 5% of the total budget of all government instrumentalities shall be the cost for implementing their GAD plans designed to address gender issues within their concerned sectors, and to implement applicable provisions in the international and national commitments on GAD.

The DBM-DILG-NCRFW Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2001-01 provides the guidelines for local government units. Local Budget Memorandum No. 28, which directs local government units to mobilize resources to mainstream and implement gender and development programs using the 5% development fund.

2.2 State Obligations and Legal Mandate, such as:

  1. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a treaty signed by the Philippines on July 15, 1980 and subsequently ratified on August 5, 1981 which makes the country legally bound to put its provisions into practice. The convention defines discrimination against women as “any distinction, exclusion or

-Page - 1

restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on the basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedom in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.”

  1. Beijing Platform of Action, an international commitment adopted during the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 which identifies twelve (12) areas of concern and strategies and actions that the world community must undertake, namely; (1) women in poverty; (2) education and training on women; (3) women and health; (4) violence against women; (5) women and armed conflict; (6) women and the economy; (7) women in power and decision-making; (8) institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; (9) human rights of women; (10) women and the media; (11) women and the environment; and (12) the girl-child. The BPA seeks to remove obstacles to women’s full and equal participation in all spheres of life, protects women’s human rights and integrates women’s concerns in all aspects for sustainable development.
  2. Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (POA-ICPD), a 20-year program of action adopted by 179 countries which stipulates that population and development are inextricably linked, and that empowering women and meeting people’s needs for education and health, including reproductive health, are necessary for both individual advancement and balanced development. The POA-ICPD provides concrete goals centered on providing universal education; reducing infant, child and maternal mortality; and ensuring universal access to reproductive health care, including family planning, assisted child birth and prevention of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.
  3. Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a global consensus reached in the year 2000 by 189 countries of the United Nations, the Millennium Declaration stimulates swift and effective actions to achieve development and poverty eradication. The MDGs include an explicit gender equality goal as well as provide a clear recognition that gender equality is important in achieving all of the goals.

Section 3. Other National Laws and policies on women are:

1.  On Labor and Employment:

a.  Act Strengthening the Prohibition and Discrimination Against Women with Respect to Terms and Conditions of Employment (Republic Act No. 6725)

b.  Act Establishing a Day Care Center in Every Barangay (Republic Act No. 6972)

c.  Order directing National Government Agencies and Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations to provide day care services for their employees’ children (Executive Order No. 340)

d.  Act Increasing the Maternity Benefits of Women in the Private Sector (Republic Act No. 7322)

e.  Act Increasing the Minimum Wage of Household Helpers (Republic Act No. 7655)

f.  Paternity Leave Act (Republic Act No. 8187)

g.  Migrant Workers Act (Republic Act No. 8042)

2.  Socio-Economic Services

a.  Act Providing Assistance to Women Engaging in Micro and Cottage Business Enterprises (Republic Act No. 7882)

b.  Magna Carta for Small Enterprises (Republic Act No. 8289)

c.  Social Reform and Policy Alleviation Act (Republic Act No. 8425)

d.  Solo Parents Act (Republic Act No. 8972)

e.  Social Security Act of 1997 (Republic Act No. 7699)

3.  Violence Against Women

a.  Anti-Mail Order Bride (Republic Act No. 6955)

b.  Anti-Sexual Harassment Act (Republic Act No. 7877)

c.  Anti-Rape Act (Republic Act No. 8353)

-Page - 2

d.  Rape Victim Assistance (Republic Act No. 8505)

e.  Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act (Republic Act No. 9262)

f.  Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (Republic Act No. 9208)

Section 4. GAD PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGIES. In the pursuit of development that is empowering, people-centered, just and sustainable Local Government Unit shall embody the principle of gender and development. As such, women’s empowerment and gender equality shall be the twin goals to all their development efforts.

As defined and declared in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UN-CEDAW), the municipality hereby adopts the following rights of women, to wit:

  1. The right to good and quality education;
  2. The right to comprehensive health services;
  3. The right to access loans and other forms of financial credit;
  4. The right to join leisure, sports and cultural activities;
  5. The right to decide on the number of children and on the number of years between pregnancies, in accordance with the constitution;
  6. The right to share in parenting activities;
  7. The right to have equal access to jobs, benefits and social security;
  8. The right to be paid equally on the job they do;
  9. The right to be free from all forms of physical, sexual, emotional, mental and economic violence;
  10. The right to be free from all forms of slavery and prostitution;
  11. The right to vote, run for election and hold public office;
  12. The right to represent the country internationally; and
  13. The right to acquire, change or retain nationality and citizenship.

To attain the foregoing policy, all offices, departments, institutions, and other organizations and barangays in this municipality, shall:

  1. Mainstream gender and development in their respective plans, programs, policies, services and activities in order to address gender issues;
  2. Integrate gender perspective in planning processes and plans through the conduct of gender analysis using sex-disaggregated data, including gender in project management and design, and ensuring women’s participation in the processes, such as through consultations;
  3. Utilize their GAD budget for their gender mainstreaming undertaking;
  4. Ensure that women and men equally contribute to and benefit from all their programs, projects and services by integrating the gender perspective in all the development cycle processes;
  5. Institute Affirmative actions for women as a critical necessary strategy to enhance the participation of women, especially the marginalized;
  6. Monitor and evaluate the gender and responsiveness of programs and projects;
  7. Eliminate gender biases in all their policies, systems and procedures, and maintain these to be non-discriminatory and non-sexist; and
  8. Develop and strengthen mechanisms for oversight, technical support, consultation and coordination on GAD.

Section 5. DEFINITION OF TERMS:

a.  Gender – is a socially constructed difference between men and women. Differences are created artificially, partly through socialization and partly through positive and negative discrimination in the various institutions and structures of society;

b.  Development is the improvement of the equality of life of all regardless of age, sex, gender, tribe, race, creed and religion;

c.  Gender Equality – refers to the principle of asserting the equality of men and women and their full human potentials to contribute to and benefit from the results of development, and with the State recognizing that all human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights;

-Page - 3

d.  Women Empowerment – refers to the provision, availability and accessibility of opportunities, services, and observance of human rights which enable women to actively participate and contribute to the political, economic, social, and cultural development of the nations as well as those which shall provide them access to ownership, management, and control of production, and or material and informational resources and benefits in the family, community and society;

e.  Gender and Development (GAD) – refers to the development perspective and processes that are participatory and empowering, equitable, sustainable, free from violence, respectful of human rights, supportive of self-determination, and actualization of human potentials. It seeks to achieve gender equality as a fundamental value that should be reflected in the development choices, seeks to transform society’s social, economic and political structures and questions the validity of the gender roles they ascribed to women and men, contends that women are active agents of development assistance and not just passive recipients of development assistance; and stresses the need of women to organize themselves and participate in political processes to strengthen their legal rights;

f.  GAD Perspective – ability to analyze the socio-economic, political, cultural and psychological implications of an issue to understand how the difference between the sexes affects and is affected by policies, programs and projects. It assesses how these factors relate to discrimination based on sex and how they impose obstacles to a person’s opportunities and self-development;

g.  Gender Analysis – a systematic way of analyzing and comparing: (1) the differential perspectives, roles, needs and interests of women and men in a project area or institution; (2) the relations between women and men pertaining to their access to and control over resources, benefits, and decision making processes; (3) the potential differential impact of program or project intervention on women and men, girls and boys; and (4) the social and cultural constraints, opportunities and entry points for reducing gender inequalities and promoting more equal relations between women and men;

h.  Gender Stereotyping – unexamined images, ideas or beliefs associated with a particular group that have become fixed in a person’s mind and are not open to change (e.g. women are perceived as weak, dependent, subordinate, indecisive, emotional submissive and their roles, functions and abilities are seen primarily tied to the home);

i.  Gender Subordination – submission sometimes due to force or violence or being under the authority of one sex, often resulting in women having no control over available resources and having no personal autonomy;

j.  Multiple Burden – a situation referring to the heavy work load of women and the many, overlapping tasks involved in consisting of unpaid reproductive work, paid productive work, community management and all other work necessary for the survival of the family;

k.  Discrimination against women - refers to any gender-based distinction, exclusion, or restriction which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field;

l.  Gender Mainstreaming – refers to the strategy for making women’s as we; as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. It is the process of accessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies, or programs in all areas and at all levels;

m.  Violence Against Women – refers to any act of gender–based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life;

-Page - 4

n.  Social Protection – refers to policies and programs that seek to reduce poverty and vulnerability to risks and enhance social status and rights of all women, especially the marginalized by promoting and protecting livelihood and employment, protecting against hazards and sudden loss of income, and improving people’s capacity to manage risks. Its components are labor market programs, social insurance, social welfare, and social safety nets;

o.  Reproductive Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its function and process;

p.  Reproductive Health Care – the constellation of methods, techniques and services that conribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health related problems. The elements of reproductive health care accroding to the Department Health inlcude: (1) Maternal, infant and child health and nutrition; (2) family planning services, counseling and information; (3) prevention and control of abortion and its complications; (4) adolescent reproductive health; (5) treatment of reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and sexually transmittable infections (STIs) including HIV infection; (6) services to victims/survivors of violence against women; (7) information, education and communication on human sexuality, reproductive health and responsible parenthood; (8) management and treatment of reproductive cancers; (9) prevention and treatment of infertility;