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SAMAHAN ng mga Reporma at Kaunlaran (SPARK) Philippines aims to advocate and contribute to the information dissemination and training of citizens, private and public entities to be both gender-sensitive and gender-responsive. Specifically, we target improvement in access to resources and strategic participation in programs and initiatives that will lead to economically engaged and politically empowered women; we work toward inclusive policies and practices for a gender-responsive financial and political commitment to promote, protect and fulfill women’s rights; we ensure that we include men to advocate for and support women’s issues.
The gender and development (GAD) budgeting and planning is one of the key tools in addressing women’s and gender issues. We bring this tool to different government agencies, including Pag-IBIG, Commission on Filipino Overseas, Social Security System and to the outskirts of the society where we frame it in the context of the 5-percent GAD budget and the bottom-up budgeting. Empowering the citizens and implementing agencies like, the Department of Health, will give focus and to the point responses gender-based needs.
In line with this, SPARK Philippines organized a Senatorial forum on women’s and gender issues, entitled PinayVote: Talakayan Para sa Kababaihan, held on April 25 at SM Megamall. This forum was attended by seven senatorial candidates: Shariff Ibrahim Albani, Greco Belgica, Larry Gadon, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Lorna Kapunan, Susan Ople and Roman Romulo. This forum also commemorated the 79th anniversary of Filipina vote, which began on April 30, 1937.
The forum aims at making gender issues a center of discussion and legislation in the legislative assembly. The four main issues tackled in the forum were (1) Health, (2) Education, (3) Security and (4) Women and Economy.
According to the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), one in every hour a girl or a woman is raped; one woman is beaten by her husband/partner every 43 minutes; one child is battered every 80 minutes; one woman is sexually harassed every four hours; one in 10 Filipinas experienced sexual violence; 98 percent of women are sexually harassed every day. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) added the statistics that one in five Filipinas has experienced physical violence since age 15; two in every three women got abused by their alcoholic husband/partner; only 30 percent of women sought assistance after being physically or sexually abused, while 4 percent experienced violence while pregnant.
Poverty and health are twin issues. The less money, the less healthy women are and they are unhealthy, they become unproductive and dependent. For this reason, health took a center stage in the forum. All the senatorial candidates fully support Magna Carta of Women, which was specifically voiced out by Albani. Belgica, Gatchalian and Romulo focused on the budget and how the appropriated funds for health should be maximized. Gadon, on the other hand, stressed the need for an active implementation of Reproductive Health (RH) Law. Gatchalian said an increase in birthing centers will make sure a decline in maternal mortality, which is a pressing issue of the country. Romulo suggested that there should be an oversight of the Congress to ensure that the budget appropriated is spent on that purpose. Kapunan stressed the need for freedom of choice and fully informed citizens on maternal and RH issues. Hontiveros, on the other hand, highlighted the importance of having more women in legislation to guarantee the reasonable response and full implementation of health policies, such as the RH. Ople said the government should resurrect what the late Secretary of Health Juan Flavier did: bring doctors to the rural villages and mobilize our nurses to assist our doctors.
As SPARK’s executive director and a reactor of the forum, I pointed out to the senatorial candidates that despite the many laws crafted, there are gaps in legislation when it comes to women. I also asked what they would do as future legislators to bridge these gaps. Kapunan pointed out that, in her practice, the law is delayed because the Philippines lacks courts. There should be a significant increase in courts to cope with tons of cases filed every day.
For all of the senatorial candidates, full implementation of law means from barangay up, since most conflicts are from families, from houses. Barangays should have full power to make sure laws are implemented. This is the same perspective of SPARK: empowering people from the grassroots and small government agencies and institutions like Barangay Health Workers. It is necessary to match the work of legitimate non-governmental organizations with that of the government’s efforts for a more sustained and consistent growth and development that is felt even in the most rural areas.
We believe and reiterate a proverb from the African continent: “When you educate a man, you educate an individual, but when you educate a woman, you educate the whole nation.” After all, it is the women who carry and represent their whole family. Solving the issues of women is solving the root cause of the deeply rooted issues in society. She is not the problem, she is the solution.
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Jenny Lind Elmaco, Ph.D. is executive director of SPARK Philippines and a board member of Business and Professional Women (BPW) Makati.