House approves bill promoting anti-violence against women

Wednesday, 25 May 2011 08:54

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill declaring November 25 of every year as "National Consciousness Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women."

House Bill 4434 seeks to enhance the welfare of women by recognizing the need to establish a comprehensive campaign for national consciousness on violence against women (VAW).

Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan (Party-list, Gabriela), one of the proponents of the bill, said the bill mandates heads of government agencies and instrumentalities, government-owned and controlled corporations, local government units and employers in the private sector together with their employees to organize, engage or participate in activities designed to raise public awareness and elimination of VAW.

According to Ilagan, the pervasive patriarchal culture that views and treats women as objects and properties of men must be transformed into one that looks and treats women as equal partners in development and nation building.

"A massive education and reorientation on gender roles in society and the important contributions specifically of women in society must be incessantly and systematically carried out," Ilagan said.

Ilagan said a legislative measure is one of the instruments that can promote positive values towards women, uphold the dignity and human rights of every person in society and appreciate the vital contributions of women and men in national development.

The bill mandates the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Philippine Information Agency (PIA) together with the Bureau of Broadcast and other members of the government media to allocate a minimum of one hour airtime for programs exclusively raising public awareness on the problem of violence against women as well as the elimination of all forms of VAW.

The bill also provides that publishers of local newspapers and magazines shall be encouraged to highlight the problem of violence against women and the elimination of all forms of VAW.

Furthermore, the Department of Education (DepED), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), in coordination with the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) formerly the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), women non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other NGOs advocating for women's human rights shall lead public and private school communities at all levels in organizing consciousness raising activities on the problem of violence against women and the elimination of all forms of violence against women.

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City), another proponent of the bill, said the measure mandates the National Statistics Office (NSO), the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department o Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and all Philippine embassies and consulates in coordination with the PCW to undertake the data gathering and systematization of a database on all forms of violence against women, including Filipino women working and residing abroad.

"The bill creates a compliance and monitoring team composed of the PCW and the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Trafficking (IACAT), the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-violence Against women and Their Children (IACAVAWC) and the Regional Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Trafficking and VAWC (RIACAT-VAWC) on the activities outlined in the annual 18-day campaign," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the funds to be used for the campaign will be taken out of the 5 percent Gender and Development (GAD) budget allocated to all government agencies and local government units for the implementation of activities, programs and projects.

Co-authors of the measure include Reps. Emerenciana De Jesus (Party-list, Gabriela), Maximo Rodriguez, Jr. (Party-list, Abante Mindanao, Inc.), and Ma. Angelica Amante-Matba (2nd District, Agusan del Norte), Josephine Veronique Lacson-Noel (Lone District, Malabon City), Antonio Tinio (Party-list, Act Teachers), Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Party-list, Bagong Henerasyon), Lani Mercado-Revilla (2nd District, Cavite), Jane Castro (2nd District, Capiz), Maria Jocelyn Bernos (Lone District, Abra), Abigail Faye Ferriols (Party-list, Kalinga), Neri Colmenares (Party-list, Bayan Muna), Teodoro Casiño (Party-list, Bayan Muna), Rafael Mariano (Party-list, Anakpawis), Raymond Palatino (Party-list, Kabataan), Reena Concepcion Obillo (Party-list, Una ang Pamilya) and Maria Isabelle Climaco (1st District, Zamboanga City).