Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report
Project Number: 37402 December 2013
RETA 6143: Technical Assistance for Promoting Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (Financed by the Gender and Development Cooperation Fund)
Prepared by
LAND EQUITY INTERNATIONAL PTY, LTD. (LEI) Australia
This consultant’s report does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB or the Government concerned, and ADB and the Government cannot be held liable for its contents. (For project preparatory technical assistance: All the views expressed herein may not be incorporated into the proposed project’s design.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security in the Philippines
Brenda Batistiana Land Equity International, Pty. Ltd. (LEI), in association with the Land Equity Technology Services (LETS)
RETA 6143: Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) of the Department of Finance (DOF) through the Support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
December 2013
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... 4
ACRONYMS ...... 5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 8
I. INTRODUCTION ...... 10
1. Objectives and Focus of this Study ...... 11 2. Analytical Framework ...... 11 3. Problem Statement ...... 12
II. METHODS ...... 12
1. Participants ...... 13 2. Data Gathering Methods ...... 14 3. Data Gathering Instrument ...... 14 4. Data Analysis ...... 14
III. RESULTS ...... 15
1. Gender Assessment of the Disposition of Land Tenure Instruments ...... 15 1.1 Agrarian Lands ...... 15 1.2 Alienable and Disposable Public Lands ...... 22 1.3 Protected Areas, Watershed Areas and Forested Areas ...... 28 1.3.1 Issuance of PACBRMA in Protected Areas by the PAWB...... 28 1.3.2 Land Use Agreements Issued by the National Power Corporation in watershed areas 31 1.3.3 Bayawan City Agroforesty Management Agreement ...... 33 1.4 Fishponds ...... 35 1.5 Urban Lands for Socialized Housing ...... 39 1.5.1 Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council ...... 39 1.5.2 National Housing Authority (NHA) ...... 40 1.5.3 Bayawan City Urban Housing Development Project ...... 42
2. Gender Assessment of Procedures for Land Valuation, Taxation and Registration ...... 43 2.1 Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) ...... 43 2.2 Initiatives to Integrate Gender-related Concerns in LAM of Two LGUs ...... 44 2.3 Land Registration Authority ...... 47
IV. SUMMARY: A GENDER ASSESSMENT OF PHILIPPINE LAM ...... 48
1. Areas of Strength ...... 48 2. Areas for Improvement ...... 51
V. RECOMMENDATIONS: A NATIONAL STRATEGY TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN LAM...... 52
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 3
Tables page
1 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries from 1972-2012 by Sex 18 2 Qualifications and Requirements for Issuance of Public Land Patents 22 3 Public Land Patent Holders/Claimants 2008-2012 by Sex 24 4 Agricultural and Residential Free Patent Applications in CENRO, San Jose de 25 Buenavista from January to October 2013 5 Gender Profile of Land Titleholders in LAMP Database in Leyte as of March 25 2010 6 PACBRMA Holders 29 7 Fishpond Lease Agreement Holders in Nine Regions by Sex 38 8 Gender Profile of RPU Owners in Barangay Magcalon, San Jose de 45 Buenavista 9 Gender Profile of RPU Owners in Barangay Boyco, Bayawan City 46 10 Delinquent RPU Owners in San Jose de Buenavista by Sex of Owner, Land 46 Types, Average Assessed Values and Average Real Property Tax 11 Clients of the Municipal Treasurer‘s Office of San Jose de Buenavista by Sex 47
Annex 1 Gender Evaluation Criteria: A Framework for Assessing the Gender Responsiveness of Land Tools 2 Gender and Development Initiatives of the Department of Agrarian Reform 3 BLGF Policies, Guidelines, Manuals, Information Systems and Programs
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This gender assessment of Philippine land administration and management (LAM) as well as the development of a proposal for a national Gender and Development (GAD) strategy for LAM would not have been possible without the generous support and active participation of the following:
The National Steering Committee of the REGALA Project, led by Atty. Salvador del Castillo, the Executive Director of the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF); Philippine Commission on Women (PCW); Land Management Bureau (LMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and their Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) and Land Management Services in the two LGUs (i.e., San Jose de Buenavista, Province of Antique and Bayawan City, Negros Oriental); Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) – Central Office and in above two LGUs); Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the DENR; Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) of the Department of Agriculture; Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC); National Housing Authority (NHA); Land Registration Authority (LRA); National Power Corporation (NPC); Local Government of Tayabas City; Local Government of Legazpi City; Local Government of San Carlos City; and National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Basic Sectors (i.e., Women Sectoral Council, Small Farmers Sectoral Council; Small Fisherfolk Sectoral Council, Urban Poor Sectoral Council, and Indigenous Peoples Sectoral Council).
Our heartfelt thanks to all of the representatives of the above LAM stakeholder groups!
We also would like to express our special thanks to the LGUs of San Jose de Buenavista, Antique and Bayawan City, Negros Oriental, especially to Honorable Mayor Rony Molina of San Jose de Buenavista and Honorable Mayor German P. Saraña of Bayawan City, as well as to all of the staff of the LGU offices (i.e., Provincial and Municipal Assessor‘s Office, Municipal Treasurer‘s Office, Municipal Planning and Development Office, Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, Municipal Environment and Natural Resource Office, Municipal Agriculture Office) in San Jose de Buenavista led by Fe Corazon Salcedo-Tacogdoy; and to all staff of the LGU offices in Bayawan City (City Assessor‘s Office, City Treasurer‘s Office, City Planning and Development Office, CLAIMS Project, Individual Property Rights Project, City Social Welfare and Development Office) led by Marchita Tuale, who participated in the workshops and activities held for this study.
Special thanks should also be given to the Philippine Country Office of the Asian Development Bank, especially to Claudia Buentjen, Sonomi Tanaka, Agnes Navera, and Olive Rillo for their support.
Last but not the least, we also would like to thank all of our colleagues in Land Equity Technology Services (LETS) especially to Lourdes Reyes, Brian Garcia, Godie Jamper, Bon Macatangay, Joy Fortaleza and Jinky Andes, as well as to the team for this study, Regina Astilla and Mina Ortega. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 5
ACRONYMS
A&D Alienable and disposable ADB Asian Development Bank AO Administrative Order ARB Agrarian Reform Beneficiary ARC Agrarian Reform Community ASC Aquatic Stewardship Contract BARC Barangay Agrarian Reform Committee BFAR Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources BLGF Bureau of Local Government Finance BWTF Bantay Watershed Task Force CADC Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim CADT Certificate of Ancestral Doman Title CARP Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program CARPER Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension and Reform CBFMA Community-based Forest Management Agreement CBP Community-Based Program CDP Comprehensive Development Plan CELA Certificate of Entitlement to Lot Allocation CENRO Community Environment and Natural Resources CLAIMS Computer-aided Land Administration and Information Management System CLOA Certificate of Land Ownership Award CMA Co-Management Area CRMP Community Resource Management Plan DA Department of Agriculture DAO Department Administrative Order DAR Department of Agrarian Reform DBM Department of Budget and Management DENR Department of Environment and Natural Resources DOF Department of Finance DSWD Department of Social Welfare and Development ECC Environmental Compliance Certificate EMB Environment Management Bureau EO Executive Order EP Emancipation Patent ETRACS Enhanced Tax Revenue and Collection System FAAS Field Appraisal and Assessment Sheet FAO Fisheries Administrative Order FLA Fishpond Lease Agreement FLA Foreshore Lease Agreement FMB Forest Management Bureau FMU Forest Management Unit GAD Gender and Development Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 6
GBEST Gender-Based Effectiveness Skills Training GEC Gender Evaluation Criteria GLTN Global Land Tool Network GOs Government organizations GST Gender Sensitivity Training HLURB Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board HUDCC Housing and Urban Development Council IEC Information, Education and Communication IP Indigenous People IRR Implementing Rules and Regulations LAD Land Acquisition and Distribution LAM Land Administration and Management LAMP Land Administration and Management Project LAMS Land Administration and Management System LCE Local Chief Executive LEI Land Equity International Pty Ltd LETS Land Equity Technology Services LUP Land Use Permit LGU Local Government Unit LIAC Local Inter-Agency Committee LIS Land Information System LMB Land Management Bureau LMS Land Management Sector LRA Land Registration Authority LTI Land Tenure Improvement MAO Municipal Assessor‘s Office M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MCW Magna Carta of Women MDG Millennium Development Goal MOPA Memorandum of Partnership Agreement MPDO Municipal Planning and Development Office MSMEs Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises MTO Municipal Treasurer‘s Office N/GFPS National/Gender Focal Point System NAPC National Anti-Poverty Commission NAPOCOR National Power Corporation NCIP National Commission on Indigenous People NEDA National Economic and Development Authority NGA National Government Agency NGOs Non-governmental organizations NHA National Housing Authority NIPAS National Integrated Protected Areas System NPC National Power Corporation NSC National Steering Committee Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 7
PA Protected Area PACBRMA Protected Area Community-Based Resources Agreement PAMB Protected Area Management Board PAMP Protected Area Management Plan PARC Presidential Agrarian Reform Council PARCCOM Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee PASu Protected Area Superintendent PAWB Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau PAWCZMS Protected Areas, Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Service PCW Philippine Commission on Women PD Presidential Decree PIAC Provincial Inter-Agency Committee PKKK Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan PO People‘s Organization RA Republic Act RED Regional Executive Director ROD Registry of Deeds RPT Real Property Tax RPUs Real Property Units SMV Schedule of Market Value TA Technical Assistance TOTAGA Training of Trainers on Gender Analysis UDHA Urban Development and Housing Act VAWC Violence Against Women and their Children WAC Watershed Area Clearance
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 8
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This gender assessment aimed at determining the extent to which land administration and management policies, procedures and practices of national government agencies and local government units are gender responsive. With its use of the Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC) of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) of the UN-HABITAT as analytical framework and methodology, the assessment focused on six themes or criteria, namely: (1) Participation of women and men; (2) Capacity development and empowerment of women; (3) Legal and institutional considerations to ensure equality of land access and land tenure security; (4) social and cultural considerations; (5) economic considerations; and (6) scale, coordination and sustainability.
With the acceptance by nine LAM agencies (i.e., DAR, LMB-DENR, PAWB-DENR, NAPOCOR, NHA, HUDCC, BFAR, LRA and BLGF) of the invitation to participate, this gender assessment was able to look into the gender responsiveness of the disposition of land tenure instruments for five types of land, namely: (1) agrarian land; (2) alienable and disposable public land; (3) protected, watershed and forested land; (4) fishponds; and (5) urban lands for socialized housing. Apart from the nine LAM agencies, five National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) basic sectors (i.e., women, farmers, urban poor, indigenous people and fishers), the Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK), and five local government units (i.e., Tayabas City, Quezon Province; San Carlos City, Negros Occidental; Legazpi City, Albay; Bayawan City, Negros Oriental; and San Jose de Buenavista, Antique) that are partners of the REGALA Project, a technical assistance project of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Bureau of Local Government Finance being implemented by the Land Equity Technology Services. Representatives of these organizations attended a national forum on Gender and Development (GAD) in land administration and management (LAM) on June 26-28, 2013 for sharing of their gender assessment of their respective LAM policies, procedures and practices.
To give further depth to the gender assessment, the National Steering Committee (NSC) of the REGALA Project selected two LGUs where activities for integrating GAD in LAM that are doable in two months could be done. The results of these short-term actions were used to draw lessons on GAD mainstreaming in LAM. The two LGUs were Bayawan City, Negros Oriental and San Jose de Buenavista, Antique Province. Workshops were held in these two LGUs to do gender assessment of LAM policies, procedures and practices done by LAM agencies and LGU offices, plan GAD activities doable in two months, discuss procedures on how to make LAM gender responsive, and upwell lessons from the activities.
The gender assessment surfaced the areas of strength and areas for improvement of the LAM policies, procedures and practices of the nine LAM agencies and two LGUs with regard to their level of gender responsiveness. The areas of strength were: (i) Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability) because LAM policies, procedures and practices followed are based on national laws and guidelines – thus are nationwide in scale – and are implemented in partnership with other sectors; (ii) Criterion 1 (Participation) with the presence of GAD Focal Persons/Teams and increasing proportion of women holding land tenure instruments; and Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 9
(iii) Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations), specifically the presence of a law requiring all NGAs and LGUs to allocate at least 5% of their total budget for the implementation of their GAD Plan, and presence of alternative dispute resolution or management mechanisms.
On the other hand, the areas for improvement are: (i) lack of awareness of field personnel on GAD policies and guidelines related to the disposition of land tenures instruments and registration of land rights; (ii) the promotion of gender equality is not explicit in some national laws and guidelines (e.g., Public Land Act, Residential Free Patent Law, etc.); (iii)lack of assessment of how statutory LAM policies, systems and procedures and customary practices have differently impacted women and men; (iv) lack of measures to raise the awareness of women and men on their equal land rights; (v) presence of provisions of some laws that may discourage spouses to place their land tenure instruments in their names as co-owners; (vi) inadequate support services given to poor women- and men-recipients or claimants of land tenure instruments to make their lands productive and economically benefit from their resources; and (vii) lack of data fields on sex, civil status and birth date of applicants and holders of land tenure instruments.
Given the above gender assessment, this study proposes a national GAD strategy for LAM that is encapsulated in mnemonic, ENGENDER LAMP. In sum, this stands for: Explicit mention of gender equality principles and objectives in LAM policies and procedural guidelines; Network all GAD Focal Persons of LAM agencies, NAPC basic sectors and LGUs through the Leagues of Provinces/Cities/Municipalities; Gather and analyze sex-disaggregated data on applicants, registrants and holders of land tenure instruments by incorporating data fields on sex, civil status and birth date in all LAM related forms; and assess how LAM have differently impacted women and men; Ensure the inclusion and implementation of concrete responses to the results of gender analysis of LAM; Nudge men to support women‘s empowerment and the pursuit of gender equality in land access and land tenure security; Develop attitudes, knowledge and capabilities of LAM personnel at the national, local and field levels on gender sensitivity and gender mainstreaming; Ensure representation and participation of both women and men in land governance structures from the national to the local levels; set a participation quota for both women and men; Raise the awareness of LAM duty bearers and land rights holders on the importance of gender equality in land access and land tenure security, and on how to protect this.
Link LAM with other support services needed to help secure land tenure; Allocate adequate resources for the implementation of GAD strategy; Make models and champions of gender responsive LAM. Begin with the five LGUs that participated in this study Partner with the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) in the pursuit of this national GAD strategy. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 10
I. INTRODUCTION
Because land is essential for human survival, its scarcity drives human beings to compete for its acquisition. Whoever has access to land gets the opportunity to use it for shelter, income generation, food production and security, health promotion and healing, relaxation and rejuvenation. The extent of access to land however depends on one‘s land tenure security, which is the enjoyment of formal or informal or customary right to land through possession of proofs of ownership or leasehold contract or usufruct certificate or attestation of community leaders or other forms of land tenure instrument. If land tenure is unstable or insecure, then access to land can be arbitrarily interrupted or contested. The more secure one‘s tenure to land, the more difficult a person‘s arbitrary land dispossession or land access interruption will be; and the greater the certainty that one‘s land rights will be recognized by others and be protected from forced evictions. To ensure uninterrupted and incontestable access to land as a vital resource for survival, one‘s aim thus is to make her or his land tenure secure.
In many parts of the world, given the long years of dominance of men in land governance, women in general have had less access to land and insecure land tenure. In the Philippines, in particular, for almost 66 years (from 1936 to 2002) a woman was allowed to apply for a homestead patent only if her husband is incapacitated by death, disease, or mental illness, or is imprisoned. This was in pursuant to Paragraph 8 of Land Administrative Order No. 7-1 dated April 30, 1936, entitled ―Rules and Regulations Governing the Filing and Disposition of Application for Alienable lands of the Public domain or for Real Properties of Commonwealth of the Philippines.‖ This old law was repealed only in 2002 by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order 2002-13, entitled ―Removal of Gender Bias in the Acceptance and Processing of Homestead Patent Applications and Other Public Land Application. The length of effectivity of the old law must have ingrained in the subconscious of the Filipino people the cultural practice of discrimination against women in land rights, and therefore, the dependence of women on the land resources of their male relatives. This calls for a special attention on women‘s empowerment towards the correction of their unjust historical exclusion which is a prerequisite to the achievement of their equality with men.
The promotion of equality between men and women in land access and land tenure security through the provision of special attention to the needs of women as the long-excluded sector explains the importance of differentiating the terms, gender equality and gender equity. Whereas gender equality refers to the condition wherein women and men enjoy the same rights stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, gender equity is the condition wherein the treatment of women and men is based on their respective empowerment needs. More attention is given to the excluded and disadvantaged. Gender equity is thus a means to achieve gender equality. Gender equity can be pursued through the employment of gender affirmative actions. This means increasing the visibility and participation of women in areas where they have been historically excluded or discriminated, such as in land governance systems and structures, including being equally represented in land tenure instruments.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 11
1. Objectives and Focus of this Study
To promote gender equitable land access and land tenure security, this present study examined the gender responsiveness of policies and procedures for the disposition and registration of land tenure instruments for five types of land: (1) agrarian land; (2) alienable and disposable public land; (3) protected, watershed and forested areas; (4) fishponds; and (5) urban lands proclaimed for socialized housing, as well as on the gender sensitivity of land valuation and taxation processes. The results served as the basis of recommendations for a national strategy in promoting, securing and protecting equality of land rights of women and men. The intended audience and users are land administration and management (LAM) duty bearers (e.g., policy makers, managers and implementers of land administration projects and services at the national and local levels – both line agencies and local government units) and land rights claimants, especially the women of the basic sectors (e.g., farmers, urban poor dwellers, indigenous people, and fishers).
There are two modes of disposing land tenure instruments or land titles in the Philippines. These are the judicial land titling and administrative land titling modes. Judicial land titling is done through the judicial courts, whereas administrative land titling is done by government line agencies. This study focused solely on the administrative mode. In addition to administrative land titling (for alienable and disposable lands), the study also looked into the disposition of land use agreements in non-alienable and non-disposable lands, such as in protected, watershed and forested areas.
This study did not cover some types of land tenure instruments issued by government line agencies, such as the foreshore lease agreements because the Land Management Bureau (LMB) did not include this in their presentations, and certificates of stewardship contracts and certificate of ancestral domain claim or title or CADC or CADT because of the non-participation of the Forest Management Bureau (FMB) and the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), respectively, in this study.
2. Analytical Framework
For a systematic gender assessment, this study used the Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC), which is a tested gender assessment framework and methodology developed by the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) of the UNHABITAT. The GEC is a set of 6 criteria and 22 questions for analyzing the gender responsiveness of land tools. By land tools, GLTN refers to ―laws, policies, governance structures, plans, guidelines, operational manuals, training modules, land tenure instruments, land records database, monitoring and evaluation instruments, and all others that influence the state and management of land tenure, land use and land values‖ (Sait et al, 2011. p. 10). The six criteria or themes are the following (p. 51):
2.1 Equal participation of women and men, and gender responsive governance, which ―refers to the extent to which women and men were involved in the identification of issues to be addressed by the land tool and in the development and implementation of Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 12
the tool, as well as to the extent to which the needs and concerns of both women and men were considered in the designing of the tool‖.
2.2 Capacity development, organization, and empowerment of women and men to use, access and benefit from the tool, which ―refers to the provision of mechanisms, including allocation of resources, to inform and educate both women and men on how to use, access and benefit from the land tool‖.
2.3 Legal and institutional considerations in regard to women and men’s access to land, which “refers to the outcome or impact of the land tool on the protection and promotion of equal rights of women and men to land use, land access and land tenure security‖.
2.4 Social and cultural considerations in regard to women’s and men’s access to land, which ―refers to the contributions of the land tool to the elimination of prejudices and discriminating practices against women in land use, land access and land tenure, and therefore to the enhancement or strengthening of the status of women in families, communities and society‖.
2.5 Economic considerations in regard to women and men’s access to land, which ―refers to the contributions of the land tool to the increase in women‘s access to economic resources, such as income, credit, land market, land production technologies, and other support services‖.
2.6 Scale, coordination and sustainability to reach more women and men, which refers to the extent to which a tool can reach a wider set of beneficiaries, and to the presence of ways to sustain this impact.
3. Problem Statement
In line with the above six criteria of the GEC, the general research question asked was: How do land tools (i.e., policies, systems and procedures) of national land administration and management government agencies and local government units promote, secure and protect the equality of rights of women and men to land access and land tenure security? Specific questions asked are in line with the six criteria or themes of the GEC.
II. METHODS
This gender assessment employed a mixed methods design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected in one data collection phase (Creswell et al., 2003). The predominant method was qualitative (i.e., areas of strengths and areas for improvement); and the quantitative method (i.e., rating from a scale of 1 to 5 of each criterion of the GEC) was nested to provide data to enrich the qualitative results. The data from the two methods were mixed during analysis. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 13
1. Participants
The participants of this study were representatives of: (i) nine national government agencies (NGAs); (ii) five basic sectors of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (i.e., women, farmers, fishers, indigenous people and urban) plus the Pambansang Koalisyong ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK); and (iii) five local government units (LGUs). The participants from the NGAs shared their gender assessment of their respective land administration and management (LAM) policies and procedures in a national forum held last June 26-28, 2013. The representatives from the NAPC basic sectors and PKKK gave their own gender assessment of LAM policies and procedures affecting their respective sectors in the same forum.
The nine national government agencies were the: (i) Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR); (ii) Land Management Bureau (LMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); (iii) Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of DENR; (iv) National Power Corporation (NPC); (v) Bureau of Aquatic and Fisheries Resources (BFAR); (vi) National Housing Authority (NHA); (vii) Housing and Urban Development Council (HUDCC); (viii) Land Registration Authority (LRA); and (ix) Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF). The five LGUs were: (i) Tayabas City, Quezon Province; (i) San Carlos City, Negros Occidental; (iii) Legazpi City, Albay; (iv) Bayawan City, Negros Oriental; and (v) San Jose de Buenavista, Province of Antique.
Part of this study was the conduct of short-term actions, doable in two months, in mainstreaming gender in land administration and management policies and practices in two local government units (LGUs). The National Steering Committee of the REGALA Project under which this study was undertaken selected the two LGUs based on criteria set during the national forum. The criteria for the selection of the two LGUs were: (1) one city and one municipality; and (2) extent of LAM initiatives. The purpose of the short-term actions in the two LGUs was to draw lessons on gender mainstreaming in LAM policies and practices at the LGU level.
The two selected LGUs were Bayawan City in Negros Oriental and Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista in Antique Province. In both areas, workshops were held to assess the gender responsiveness of land administration policies and operations of government line agencies and local government offices. The DAR and DENR also participated in the workshops held in the two LGUs. With this participation of DAR and DENR in both national forum and workshops in the two LGUs, the gender assessment of their land tools was more in-depth compared to that of the other government agencies. Local government offices in the two localities represented were the City/Municipal Assessors Office, City/Municipal Treasurers Office, City/Municipal Planning and Development Office, and the City/Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, which serves as the Gender Focal Point of both LGUs. In San Jose de Buenavista, other LGU offices that participated were the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office, Municipal Agriculture Office, and Municipal Tourism Office. In Bayawan City, the staff of the Individual Property Rights Project and of the Computer-aided Land Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 14
Administration and Information Management System (CLAIMS) Project of the Bayawan City Government also participated.
During the national forum, the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) attended to orient the participants on the concept of Gender and Development and its relevance to land administration and management, as well as to manifest their support for this study.
2. Data Gathering Methods
Four methods for collecting data were used, namely: (1) presentations by representatives of national government agencies and basic sectors of their gender assessment of land administration policies, systems and procedures in a national forum and similar presentations in workshops held in the two local government units; (2) focus group discussions regarding actual procedures and practices; (3) interviews; and (4) review of documents and secondary data, specifically land laws and available sex-disaggregated data.
3. Data Gathering Instrument
Specific indicators to answer the 22 questions of the Gender Evaluation Criteria were developed. These indicators represent factors that need to be present for a land administration and management policy or procedure to be gender responsive. Many of the questions have multiple indicators. To assess each indicator, both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. The quantitative data were ratings on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 as the highest rating corresponding to ―fully yes‖ or ―fully present‖, and 1 as the lowest rating corresponding to ―none or no‖. To get the answer to a question, the average rating for all indicators under such question was computed. The qualitative data were the reasons and supporting data for the rating. See Annex 1 for the instrument.
In keeping with the participatory nature of the gender assessment and the flexibility of the data gathering instrument, the representatives of the national government agencies and local government units were instructed to choose only the GEC themes, questions and indicators that they deemed to be applicable to their respective land tools. Thus, not all of them answered all questions in the instrument.
4. Data Analysis
Using their answers to the GEC data gathering instrument, the participants assessed the areas of strengths and areas for improvement of their respective land administration and management policies, systems and procedures with respect to their gender responsiveness. To tap these strengths and address the areas for improvement, some shared their plans of actions.
In addition to the analysis of answers to the GEC instrument, this study also analyzed those mentioned during the discussions in the national forum and in the workshops held in the two local government units. I wove together these analyses to give a coherent analysis of the Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 15
facilitators and barriers to achieving gender equality in land access and land tenure security in the Philippines. In weaving together their analyses, I provided my own analysis of the factors that facilitate and hinder gender equality in land access and land tenure security.
III. RESULTS
The gender assessment of land administration and management policies and procedures is presented in this section in two parts. The first part is focused on the policies and procedures for disposing land tenure instruments for five types of lands, namely: (1) agrarian land; (2) alienable and disposable public land; (3) protected areas, watershed areas and forested areas; (4) fishponds; and (5) urban lands proclaimed for socialized housing. The second part is the gender assessment of policies and procedures related to land valuation, land taxation and land registration.
1. Gender Assessment of the Disposition of Land Tenure Instruments
1.1 Agrarian Lands
Agrarian lands are agricultural lands subjected to agrarian reform. Agrarian reform refers to measures to improve, secure and protect the land tenure of poor landless tillers through land redistribution and the provision of support services. In the Philippines, agrarian reform is governed by Presidential Decree 27 for rice and corn lands, and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 or Republic Act 6657 as amended by Republic Act 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) of 2009 for all other covered lands. Under these laws, the Department of Agrarian Reform administers the disposition of Emancipation Patents (EPs) to poor landless tillers of rice and corn lands, and Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) to poor landless tillers of other types of land covered by the land acquisition and distribution (LAD) component of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. By virtue of these laws, a qualified farmer-beneficiary can acquire a maximum of 3 hectares of land. For lands not covered by LAD, the DAR facilitates the forging of a leasehold contract between the landowner and the tenant or leaseholder, in which the lease to be paid by the tiller should not exceed 25% of the average harvest to be computed in accordance with the rules and procedures of the law.
The Philippine Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, in conformity with the 1987 Philippine Constitution, promotes equal opportunity of men and women to become farmer- beneficiaries and be represented in agrarian reform governing structures. Key related provisions of the agrarian reform laws and policies include the following:
RA 6657, Chapter X, Section 40, Special Areas of Concern:
―(5) Rural Women. — All qualified women members of the agricultural labor force must be guaranteed and assured equal right to ownership of the land, equal shares Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 16
of the farm's produce, and representation in advisory or appropriate decision-making bodies.‖
RA 9700, Section 1, amending Section 2 of RA 6657:
"The State shall recognize and enforce, consistent with existing laws, the rights of rural women to own and control land, taking into consideration the substantive equality between men and women as qualified beneficiaries, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof, and to be represented in advisory or appropriate decision- making bodies. These rights shall be independent of their male relatives and of their civil status.‖
RA 9700, Section 2 amending Section 3 of RA 6657:
"(1) Rural women refer to women who are engaged directly or indirectly in farming and/or fishing as their source of livelihood, whether paid or unpaid, regular or seasonal, or in food preparation, managing the household, caring for the children, and other similar activities."
RA 9700, SEC. 37-A. Equal Support Services for Rural Women. - Support services shall be extended equally to women and men agrarian reform beneficiaries.
"The PARC shall ensure that these support services, as provided for in this Act, integrate the specific needs and well-being of women farmer- beneficiaries taking into account the specific requirements of female family members of farmer- beneficiaries.
The PARC shall also ensure that rural women will be able to participate in all community activities. To this effect, rural women are entitled to self-organization in order to obtain equal access to economic opportunities and to have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities and technology, and other support services, and equal treatment in land reform and resettlement schemes.
The DAR shall establish and maintain a women's desk, which will be primarily responsible for formulating and implementing programs and activities related to the protection and promotion of women's rights, as well as providing an avenue where women can register their complaints and grievances principally related t o their rural activities."
RA 9700 Section 17, amending Section 41 of RA. 6657:
"SEC. 41. The Presidential Agrarian Reform Council. - The Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) shall be composed of the President of the Philippines as Chairperson, the Secretary of Agrarian Reform as Vice-Chairperson… and… six (6) representatives of agrarian reform beneficiaries, two (2) each from Luzon, Visayas Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 17
and Mindanao: Provided, That at least one (1) of them shall be from the indigenous peoples: Provided, further, That at least one (1)of them shall come from a duly recognized national organization of rural women or a national organization of agrarian reform beneficiaries with a substantial number of women members: Provided, finally, That at least twenty percent (20%) of the members of the PARC shall be women but in no case shall they be less than two."
DAR Administrative Order 02, Series of 2009, Rules and Procedures Governing the Acquisition and Distribution of Agricultural Lands under RA 6657 as amended by RA 9700
For landowners related to their retained land:
―8. For marriages covered by the New Civil Code, in the absence of an agreement for the judicial separation of property, spouses whose agricultural land properties are all conjugal may retain a total of not more than five (5) hectares of such properties. However, if either or both of them are landowners in their respective rights (capital and/or paraphernal), they may each retain not more than five (5) hectares of their respective landholdings. In no case shall the total retention of such couple exceed ten (10) hectares.
9. For marriages covered by the Family Code, which took effect on August 03, 1988, a husband owning capital property and/or a wife owning paraphernal property may retain not more than five (5) hectares each, provided they executed a judicial separation of properties prior to entering into such marriage. In the absence of such an agreement, all properties (capital, paraphernal and conjugal) shall be considered to be held in absolute community, i.e., the ownership relationship is one, and therefore, only a total of five (5) hectares may be retained by each couple.‖
For farmer-beneficiaries:
―13. Agricultural lessees and tenants, regular farmworkers and other qualified beneficiaries such as seasonal farmworkers, other farmworkers, actual tillers/occupants of public lands, members of collectives or cooperatives of the above beneficiaries, and others directly working on the land who are husband and wife may be entitled to three (3) hectares each provided that they qualify as ARBs in their own individual rights and that their respective vested rights to the land have been duly established. A separate CLOA shall be issued to each spouse in such cases.
14. For legally married spouses, the names of both husband and wife shall appear in the CLOA and shall be preceded by the word ―spouses‖. Should the couple qualify as individual ARBs, their names shall be registered in the title, to wit: Juan married to Maria or Maria married to Juan to indicate that the first name is the awardee. In the case of common-law relationship, the names of both parties shall likewise appear in the CLOA with conjunctive word ―and‖ between their names. Should they likewise Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 18
qualify as individual ARBs, their names shall be registered without the other. The same provisions shall apply in cases where the married ARBs or ARBs in a common-law relationship are covered by a collective/co-ownership CLOA and their names annotated at the back of the said CLOA.
For purposes of ARB inventory and reporting, spouses or parties whose names appear in a single CLOA shall be counted as one ARB.‖
In reiteration of their promotion of gender equality in the implementation of CARP, DAR also issued Administrative Order 01, Series 2011, entitled ―Guidelines Governing Gender Equality in the Implementation of Agrarian Reform Laws and Mainstreaming Gender and Development in the Department of Agrarian Reform‖. According to Director Erlinda M. Manluctao of the Department of Agrarian Reform Public Assistance and Media Relations Service, this DAR AO 01, series 2011 has amended the provision of AO 02, series of 2009 regarding the registration of a CLOA and EP for married and common law spouses. With this more recent administrative order, according to Director Manluctao, all CLOAs and EPs issued to married farmer-beneficiaries are now placed in the names of both spouses (their names are preceded with ‗spouses‘), whether both spouses have one tillage or have separate tillages if both of them are individually qualified as farmer beneficiary of CARP. CLOAs and EPs issued to farmer-beneficiaries with common law spouses are placed in the names of both as co-owners (with ―and‖ in between their names). This amendment of DAR AO 2, series of 2009 is, however, not clear in DAR AO 1, series 2011.
Given all of these laws, the DAR is regarded, as expressed by other government agencies during the national forum held for this study last June 26-28, 2013, as a model of gender mainstreaming in land administration. During this forum, DAR Assistant Director James Ponce shared the initiatives undertaken by DAR to promote gender equality in agrarian reform. He started with the first CLOA issued in the names of both spouses way back in 1990 under then Secretary Florencio Abad to the present. Boxes 1, 2 and 3 in Annex 2 chronicle all of these efforts.
The results of these initiatives of DAR appear to be reflected in the increasing proportion of women, though still far from equal with men, in their database of agrarian reform beneficiaries, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries from 1972-2012 by Sex Presidents & Years Covered Male % Female % Total by Data
Marcos Administration 14,584 92% 1,291 8% 15,875 (1972 - Dec 1986)
Cory Aquino Administration 340,385 83% 68,354 17% 408,739 (Jan 1987 – June 1992)
Ramos Administration 633,351 71% 264,774 29% 898,125 (July 1992 – June 1998) (table continues) Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 19
Table 1. Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries from 1972-2012 by Sex (continued) Presidents & Years Covered Male % Female % Total by Data
Estrada Administration 163,329 70% 70,465 30% 233,794 (July 1998 – Dec 2000)
Arroyo Administration 418,005 64% 230,971 36% 648,976 (Jan 2001 – June 2010)
Noynoy Aquino 59,334 61% 38,631 39% 97,965 Administration (July 2010 – Dec 2012)
Total 1,628,988 71% 674,486 29% 2,303,474 * Source: Department of Agrarian Reform Central Office
Still, DAR assessed their gender mainstreaming work to be not perfect in all aspects. Using the Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC), they rated the gender responsiveness of CARP in Criterion 5 (economic considerations) and Criterion 6 (scale, coordination and sustainability) as perfect 5 because guidelines have been established for Program Beneficiaries Development (PBD) and CARP is implemented consistently nationwide. In Criterion 1 (equal participation), rating was almost perfect at 4.75 because of presence of guidelines for ensuring equal opportunity of women and men to participate and benefit from CARP, but there is a need to comparatively assess the impact of CARP on women and men and collect more sex- disaggregated data on participation. Criterion 2 (capacity development) and Criterion 4 (social and cultural consideration) were rated 4 each because of the presence of budget for the development of capabilities of CARP managers and implementers in GAD mainstreaming, and clear policies and guidelines in ensuring equality of opportunity of women and men to participate and benefit from CARP. Criterion 3 (legal and institutional considerations) was rated 3.8 because though CARP promotes equality of rights, women and men in communities are yet to know their rights and responsibilities under CARP.
Given their assessment, representatives from DAR listed the following actions as needed to strengthen the gender responsiveness of CARP: Criterion 1 (Participation): Comparative assessment of the impact of CARP on women and men; and development of a tool that will fully capture sex-disaggregated data on participation and benefits from CARP; Criterion 2 (Capacity development) and Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations): Strengthening of efforts to disseminate information to farmers and their spouses on CARP and on the equality of land rights of women and men; Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations): Development of capabilities of field personnel on GAD by conducting Gender-based Effectiveness Skills Training (GBEST); and issuance of a directive to regional and provincial agrarian reform offices to strictly implement DAO 1, series of 2011; Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 20
Criterion 5 (Economic considerations) and 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability): Sustained mainstreaming of gender in the implementation of CARP so as to create greater impact on the lives of men and women.
Information from the two LGUs substantiated some of the above assessment points of DAR. In the Municipality of San Jose Buenavista, Province of Antique, representatives of DAR in a workshop held for this study expressed a need for capability development. They appeared to be not aware of the gender-related provisions of DAR Administrative Order 02, Series of 2009 as well as of DAR AO 1, Series of 2011. This manifested in their understanding that a woman‘s name can appear in an EP or CLOA as an owner or co-owner, whether as legal spouse or common law spouse of a farmer-beneficiary, only if she is a direct land tiller. This runs counter to the definition of rural women in RA 9700 as engaging directly or indirectly in farming, including in ―food preparation, managing the household, caring for the children, and other similar activities‖. Also, they provided very limited sex-disaggregated data on the ARBs. Sex- disaggregated data were available only on 33 ARBs in July or August 2013 but none on the 16,040 ARBs in the previous months and years.
In Bayawan City, Negros Oriental, representatives of the DAR in a similar workshop were similarly not only aware of the gender-related policies of CARP but could also not provide sex-disaggregated data on their farmer-beneficiaries. They said that the FB application form (i.e., CARP Form I) provided by the DAR Central Office does not ask for the sex of the applicant. Thus, this information is not included in their database. Apart from this, they also shared problems related to the issuance of EPs or CLOAs to applicants who have been long separated from their legal spouses and thus refused to include the names of their spouses in the EP/CLOA application forms, and to applicants who declare their live-in partners rather than their legal spouses in their application forms. The application form as well as the EP/CLOA instrument requires married applicants to write the names of their spouses. According to them, the DAR Central Office does not have clear guidelines for this problem.
This gender situation in the disposition of EPs and CLOAs in the two LGUs echoed the gender assessment shared by Rosa Presno, a representative of the NAPC Farmers‘ Sectoral Council in the national forum. She said that the gender-related policies of the DAR are hardly implemented on the ground.
The list of areas needing actions presented by DAR Assistant Director James Ponce during the national forum (apart from the plans of actions based on the results of the GEC) appeared to indicate DAR‘s knowledge of the weaknesses of its gender mainstreaming work. This list includes, among others, the need to:
3.1.1 Review and develop new CARP policies and guidelines to ensure access and control by women of CARP resources and benefits. The essential data for the development of these policies and guidelines are: . Number, tenurial status, and location of women beneficiaries . Level of representation of women in PARC, PARCCOM, BARC, PCIT, and other planning and decision-making bodies Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 21
. Number of women players and beneficiaries involved in AR implementation and benefiting from CARP resources
3.1.2 Institutionalize a gender responsive planning, monitoring and evaluation system in CARP. Major areas for action are: . Research studies to establish baseline data on women‘s role and status both as AR agents and beneficiaries . A comprehensive gender-based indicator and system for integration in the DAR‘s management and information system . A gender-responsive planning, monitoring and evaluation system in CARP
3.1.3 Strengthen the political will of top management (both national, regional, and provincial levels) to implement a gender-responsive planning and decision making in CARP
3.1.4 Enhance the knowledge, skills and attitudes on WID/GAD concerns of CARP players/agents (both at the top management and field level) and of beneficiaries of CARP. Major areas to consider are the: . Strengthening the capability of managers and field players in integrating GAD concerns in ARC development‘ . Formation and development of women and men AR beneficiaries‘ organizations; . Massive information dissemination on WID/GAD issues and concerns in CARP; . Ladderized GAD training program.
3.1.5 Address prevailing socio-cultural perceptions, attitudes and practices, such as sex-stereotyping which hinder women‘s full participation and enjoyment of development
3.1.6 Provide support to women CARP agents and players who are affected by gender-based issues, such as: . Low representation in top level/decision-making positions . Multiple burden . limited access to scholarship and training opportunities as well as in promotions
3.1.7 Mobilize local and foreign resources (financial and human power) for the integration of GAD concerns in CARP.
3.1.8 Strengthen GO/PO/NGO linkages and networking for mainstreaming GAD concerns in CARP.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 22
1.2 Alienable and Disposable Public Lands
Created by virtue of Executive Order 192, Series of 1987 the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is the main agency involved in surveying and titling of alienable and disposable public lands – both agricultural and residential – under Commonwealth Act 141 or Public Land Act, RA 730 and RA 10023 (Tiamson et al, 2012). There are two offices in DENR that are tasked to dispose public land patents. The Land Management Bureau (LMB) and the Land Management Services (LMS). LMB accepts, processes, and disposes land tenure instruments in some areas (i.e., Taguig City, which is under Proclamation No. 172; and friar lands in Piedad, Quezon City; San Francisco de Malabon in Cavite; Laguna Estate; Banilad in Cebu; Talisay City in Cebu; and in the Provinces of Isabela and Bulacan) but only as a residual function. In all others areas, the LMS, whose office is located in the field offices of the DENR, performs this function.
Land tenure instruments issued by LMB and LMS include: agricultural free patent, homestead patent, miscellaneous sales patent, residential free patent, and foreshore lease agreements. The processing and disposition of the first three instruments are governed by the Public Land Act or Commonwealth Act 141 (as amended by RA 3872, RA 6940, and RA 9176) and by RA 730. The policies and guidelines for the issuance of residential free patents are, on the other hand, defined by RA 10023, which was passed by the Congress in 2009. The implementing rules and procedures governing the administration and management of foreshore lease agreements are provided by DENR Administrative Order No. 24, series of 2004.
The qualifications of applicants for homestead patents used to be biased for men in pursuant to Paragraph 8 of Land Administrative Order No. 7-1 dated April 30, 1936, entitled ―Rules and Regulations Governing the Filing and Disposition of Application for Alienable lands of the Public domain or for Real Properties of Commonwealth of the Philippines.‖ Under this law, a woman can apply for a homestead patent only if her husband is incapacitated by death, disease, or mental illness, or is imprisoned. This old law was repealed in 2002 by DENR Administrative Order 2002-13, entitled ―Removal of Gender Bias in the Acceptance and Processing of Homestead Patent Applications and Other Public Land Application‖. With the removal of restrictions to women‘s application, the qualifications and requirements for issuance of public land patents now include those in Table 2 (Tiamson et al, 2012).
Table 2. Qualifications and Requirements for Issuance of Public Land Patents Free Patent Free Patent Residential Homestead Patent Sales Patent Agricultural
Citizenship Natural born Filipino citizen, naturalized, Citizen of the Any Filipino Filipino dual citizen Philippines citizen
Age No age limit No age limit 18 years old or Legal age or head of the family head of family (table continues)
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 23
Table 2. Qualifications and Requirements for Issuance of Public Land Patents (continued) Free Patent Free Patent Residential Homestead Patent Sales Patent Agricultural
Type of Agricultural Residential Agricultural Agricultural, land residential, commercial and industrial
Conditions Continuous Actually resided and Entry and Appraisal/bidding, occupation for at continuous possession and cultivation of 1/5 of and entry in least 30 years prior occupation for at least 10 the land within 1-5 agricultural lands, to application, and years years; final cultivation payment of taxes inspection
Area Limit 12 hectares 200 sqm in highly 12 hectares 12 hectares Constitutional limit; urbanized cities; Constitutional 5 hectares of 500 sqm in all cities; limit; 5 hectares st nd CARP 750 sqm in 1 and 2 class CARP municipalities; 1,000 sqm in all other municipalities
To ensure the gender responsiveness of the implementation of the residential free patent law, Section 7 of RA 10023 states: ―The Director of the Land Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) shall promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act, and shall see to it that such are gender responsive.‖ DENR Administrative Order 12, series of 2010, however, does not include any guidelines or procedures to make the processing and issuance of residential free patents gender responsive. Also, its application form, as prescribed in DENR Memorandum Circular 11, series of 2010, does not ask for information on the sex of an applicant, making it thus difficult for records of applications and issued residential free patents to be sex-disaggregated for gender analysis.
According to a lawyer of the DENR, there is no need to issue additional policies or directives to make the issuance of public land patents gender responsive because of the presence of related national laws. For instance, Presidential Decree 1529 or the Property Registration Decree and RA 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women of 2009 already require the issuance of titles for conjugal properties in the names of both spouses; and RA 7192 or the Women in Development and Nation Building Act of 1992 as well as RA 9710 mandates all government agencies and local government units to sex-disaggregate their database. In fact, she said, they have regional offices that report public land patents issued in the names of both spouses. The field personnel of DENR in the two LGUs, however, have different interpretations of this lack of clear policies and directives from the DENR Central Office. To them, this means that the DENR is not obliged to conform with, or are exempted from, these laws because the Public Land Act is a special law, and that this law states that land patents should be placed in the name of one person only, whether female or male, and not in the names of spouses or groups of persons. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 24
Furthermore, in the understanding of the field personnel of DENR, placing a patent in the names of both spouses is more disadvantageous to a family because it will forfeit the right or opportunity of the spouses to acquire more lands. If they apply as spouses, then both of them will be considered as one owner, who is entitled to an agricultural free patent for a maximum of 12 hectares of land or a residential free patent of 200 sqm. of land if in highly urbanized cities, etc. But if they apply separately, then each of them, if individually qualified, can acquire 12 hectares each, for a total of 24 hectares for both spouses. Thus, so as not to cancel the possibility of acquiring more than 12 hectares of land (agricultural free patent) at present and in the future, the better option of spouses – as also advised by DENR field staff -- is to apply for a land patent in the name of only one spouse. It is assumed that in many instances the husband as the traditional head of the family gets the first chance to apply for a land patent.
Data from the DENR Central Office, which show more men holders of land patents, appear to support this situation. The gap, however, is not very alarming. Of the 468,572 claimants of land patents (i.e., agricultural free patent, homestead patent, miscellaneous sale applications, and sale patents) from 2008-2012, 58% or 272,016 were men and 42% or 196,556 were women. Similar to DAR, the proportion of women-holders of land patents has been increasing since 2008. See Table 3.
This proportion of men-to-women holders of public land patents is almost mirrored in the gender distribution of agricultural free patent applications in the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique from January to October 2013 covering ten municipalities, as shown in Table 4. Very interesting, significantly more women applied for residential free patents during this period. There were no applications in the names of both spouses because, as earlier mentioned, the DENR field staff believed that DENR policies (as reflected in the types of information asked in the public land patent application forms) do not allow them to issue patents in the names of both spouses as co- owners. Data in Table 4 is limited in time coverage as they were sex-disaggregated only upon request for this study. The CENRO does not keep a sex-disaggregated database of their issued free patents.
Table 3. Public Land Patent Holders/Claimants 2008-2012 by Sex Years Men % Women % Total
2008 66,575 60% 43,689 40% 10,264 2009 44,872 59% 31,628 41% 76,500 2010 46,253 59% 32,228 41% 78,481 2011 65,421 57% 49,744 43% 115,165 2012 48,895 55% 39,267 45% 88,162 Total 272,016 58% 196,556 42% 110,264 Source: DENR Central Office
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 25
Table 4. Agricultural and Residential Free Patent Applications in CENRO, San Jose de Buenavista, Antique from January to October 2013 Coverage (Number of Municipalities) Male % Female % Total
Agricultural Free Patent 10* Applications 334 54% 279 46% 613
11 Residential Free Patent 159 40% 236 60% 395 Applications municipalities of Antique * None in San Jose de Buenavista * Source: CENRO whose office is located at San Jose de Buenavista, Province of Antique
It is also important to mention here the initial results of the gender analysis of the database of the Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP) in Leyte in 2010. The database of LAMP had fields on the sexes and civil statues of land owners. The analysis of data measured the interaction effect of these two variables (sex and civil status) on land ownership. As shown in Table 5, the results showed significantly more single women-landowners than single men-landowners; but more married men-landowners than married women-landowners. This suggests the tendency of women to relegate their land rights to men when married, which is an important gender-related concern.
Table 5. Gender Profile of Land Titleholders in LAMP Database in Leyte as of March 2010 Number of Titles Percent Single men 2,037 5.72% Single women 4,348 12.22% Married men 6,879 19.33% Married women 3,855 10.83% Spouses 2,899 8.14% Heirs 15,455 43.42% Unknown (sexes of individual owners could 120 .34% be ascertained through their names) Total 35,593 100%
Using the Gender Evaluation Criteria, the participants from DENR in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique assessed the gender responsiveness of their systems and procedures in issuing public land patents. They assessed their areas of strengths to be in Criterion 6 (Scale, Coordination and Sustainability), with a perfect rating of 5, because of the sustained nationwide implementation of the Public Land Act and the Residential Free Patent Law or RA 10023. Another area of strength was in Criterion 3 (Legal and Institutional Considerations), with a rating 3.4, because: (i) the laws do not discriminate against women; (ii) there is an increasing proportion of women holding land tenure instruments; (iii) presence of mechanisms to identify and address conflicting land claims; (iv) presence of guidelines and mechanisms for alternative Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 26
dispute resolution (ADR) procedures; and (v) involvement of women as ADR facilitators. The rating is not perfect 5 because of the need to issue an enabling law for the amendment of judicial forms to include information on the sex and civil status of land patent applicants and holders. Another area of strength is the presence of a GAD Focal Person. They, however, shared that the activities of their GAD Focal Person have been limited to the celebration of the annual women‘s month through sports festival, and other events.
On the other hand, areas for improvement were in: (i) Criterion 1 (Participation), which was rated 2.2 because of the need to orient field personnel on GAD, to make monitoring and evaluation gender sensitive, and to develop a system for collecting sex-disaggregated data and including an analysis of these data in reports; (ii) Criterion 2 (Capacity development), which was rated 1.33 because of the lack of budget for the orientation of field personnel on GAD, and lack of initiatives to inform women and men in the community about their land rights; and (iii) Criterion 5 (Economic considerations) because of lack of support services and lack of measures to monitor and evaluate the impact of the disposition of public land patents on the economic lives of women and men.
With this assessment, representatives of DENR in the workshops in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique shared the following actions as needed to promote gender equality in the issuance of public land patents: Criterion 1 (Participation): GAD mainstreaming activities should be included in the DENR Work and Financial Plan so as to oblige all staff to integrate gender in their activities; Criterion 2 (Capacity development): Conduct training on GAD for field personnel, especially the land investigators; Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations): Formulate an enabling law that will amend the judicial forms so as to include data on the sex and civil status of a land patent claimant/holder; Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations): Conduct information, education and communication activities to raise the awareness of men and women in the communities on equality of land rights of men and women; and Criterion 5 (Economic considerations): Provide more government support services to claimants of public land patents to assist them in making their lands productive.
In Bayawan City, Negros Oriental the DENR partners with the Bayawan City Local Government in the disposition of public land patents under the Computer-aided Land Administration and Information Management System (CLAIMS) Project. Because this project was formed under the Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP) of the DENR, their procedures, including their patent application forms, are patterned from LAMP-Leyte. Similar to LAMP, they have staff assigned to focus on the social development and gender aspect of land titling; and all of their patent application forms, including the application form for residential free patent, has a data field on the sex of an applicant. They were thus able to provide sex- disaggregated data on their land patent claimants. In Barangay Maninihon, one of the sites of the Project, for example, there were 90 male and 72 female patent claimants.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 27
In their gender assessment of the CLAIMS Project, the combined DENR and LGU staff identified Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability) as their major area of strength given the nationwide application of the Public Land Act and Residential Free Patent Law as well as the strong partnership between the DENR and the LGU. We noted, however, that their application forms are based on LAMP-Leyte and may not be used in all other areas of the country. Their other areas of strength, according to their assessment, are: Criterion 1 (Participation): Explicit mention of the need to assess the impact of their project on women and men; Criterion 2 (Capacity development): Women and men in the communities have been made aware of their land rights and responsibilities under the project; Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations): Presence of laws, policies and procedures to ensure equality of land rights of women and men; Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations): Proportion of women to men claimants of land patent applications issued by CLAIMS is within the 60-40 range, which means that the gap is not significant; and Criterion 5 (Economic considerations): Assessed increased capacity of women and men to improve their benefit from their land.
On the other hand, areas for improvement are: Criterion 1 (Participation): Non-inclusion of an analysis of collected sex-disaggregated data in their reports; Criterion 2 (Capacity development): Insufficient budget for the development of capacities to ensure gender responsiveness of CLAIMS Project; Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations): Lack of mechanisms to assess customary laws and practices affecting women‘s land rights; and Criterion 5 (Economic considerations): Lack of mechanism to integrate other support services needed to ensure positive impact of land tool on women and men.
Given this assessment, their next actions are to develop their GAD Plan based on an analysis of collected sex-disaggregated data on applications and claimants of public land patents, and to conduct forums with women and men in the communities to raise their awareness of their land rights.
The GAD mainstreaming initiatives and accomplishments of the Land Management Bureau can serve as a resource for the strengthening of capacities in mainstreaming GAD in the disposition of public land patents in the field, including in Bayawan City and San Jose de Buenavista. In her presentation of the accomplishments of the LMB Gender and Development Focal Point System for CY 2012, Atty. Fe Tuanda highlighted the development of a gender analysis tool for the Land Management Sector as a result of their attendance in the Training of Technical Advisers on Gender Analysis (TOTAGA) of the Philippine Commission on Women.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 28
1.3 Protected Areas, Watershed Areas and Forested Areas
The issuance of land tenure instruments in protected areas by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the DENR, in watershed areas by the National Power Corporation (NPC) and in forested areas by the Co-Managed Forestlands Project of Bayawan City Government is more for the purpose of land management, which is to ensure that occupants of these areas properly utilize the land and protect its resources while benefiting from its use. To discuss the gender aspect of the procedures of these government land management processes, they are discussed here separately.
1.3.1 Issuance of PACBRMA in Protected Areas by the PAWB
In conformity with DENR Administrative Order 25, series of 1992, which provides the implementing rules and regulations of the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992, and with Executive Order 263, which mandates the adoption of Community-Based Forest Management as the national strategy to ensure sustainable development of the country‘s forestlands resources, the DENR through one of its staff bureaus, the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB), provides tenure to tenured migrant communities and interested indigenous peoples within protected areas and buffer zones with the requirement that activities are consistent with the Protected Area Management Plan. For this purpose, the PAWB issues Protected Areas Community Based Resource Management Agreement (PACBRMA). This land tenure instrument has a term of 25 years and renewable for another 25 years.
To qualify for PACBRMA, a tenured migrant community should have actually and continuously occupied a portion of the area for a period of at least five years before its proclamation as a protected area in accordance with the NIPAS Act, and should be solely dependent on its resources for subsistence. Benefits that PACBRMA holders can enjoy are:
i. Access to resources Ability to extract, utilize and dispose of allowed non-timber products
ii. Use and development of designated Community-based Program sites for: Plantation and harvesting of indigenous species Tourism Occupancy (stay/reside) for 25 years and may be renewed
iii. Earn income and proceeds from above 1& 2 Benefit sharing among members Preferential access to available government services
iv. Livelihood activities introduced by the DENR in the area, such as the following: Forestry-based projects (e.g., reforestation, eco-tourism, handicraft-making, non- timber forest products extraction, harvesting of planted trees, herbal/medicinal plants production); Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 29
Agriculture-based projects (organic farming, handicraft-making using abaca, fishing, mud-crab culture, backyard livestock raising, coffee growing); Agro-forestry projects (fruit-bearing trees, aqua-silviculture, Sloping Agriculture Land Tehnology or SALT) Employment/ skills-based projects (tailoring, etc.) Small business enterprises (vending, sari-sari store)
As of April 2013 PAWB has issued 68 PACBRMA in 21 protected areas. Sex- disaggregated list of beneficiaries is in Table 5. Though the proportion of male to female beneficiaries of PACBRMA at the national level shows a small gender gap (i.e., 57% men to 43% women), the consistent greater number of male beneficiaries in almost all regions indicates male dominance. Using the Gender Evaluation Criteria as analytical tool, representatives of PAWB assessed the gender responsiveness of the issuance of PACBRMA. On the whole, PAWB considered its major area strength to be in Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability) with an average rating of 4.25 because of the nationwide implementation of DENR AO 25, series of 1992 and their partnership with organized tenured migrant communities and interested indigenous peoples in managing the protected areas. Its major area for improvement is Criterion 2 (Capacity development) with an average rating of 1.35. Specific areas of strength and for improvement in the six criteria of GEC can be extracted from their assessment.
Table 6. PACBRMA Holders
NO. OF PA TOTAL BENEFICIARIES NO. OF REGION WITH AREA PACBRMA PACBRMA (ha) NO. OF NO. OF INDIVIDUALS FAMILIES MALE FEMALE TOTAL 6,173 4,580 PHIL 21 68 39,138.32 5,457 10,753 (57%) (43%) 42 37 REGION I 1 1 8.12 20 79 (53%) (47%) 1,608 992 REGION II 3 22 8,861.21 1,309 2600 (62%) (38%) 163 40 REGION III 2 4 686.8 165 203 (80%) (20%) 922 593 REGION IV-A 6 14 8,809.40 1,350 1515 (61%) (39%) 219 141 REGION VII 2 6 888.99 100 360 (61%) (39%) 416 115 REGION X 3 10 3,315.22 520 531 (78%) (22%) REGION XI 1 4 811.44 64 nd nd
250 62 REGION XII 2 2 14,422.00 164 312 (80%) (20%) 2,553 2,600 REGION XIII 1 5 1,334.54 1,765 5153 (50%) (50%) Source: Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 30
In their assessment, their areas of strength were:
Criterion 1 (Participation): Presence of gender focal person/team; Management and key actors are oriented and trained on gender concerns; Proportion of women and men in the development and implementation of the tool is within 40% to 60%; Men and women in the communities participated in the development and implementation of the tool; Presence of affirmative action/s that will address gender imbalance; and Sex-disaggregated statistics (e.g., applicants, claimants, participants, staff, etc.) are collected continuously.
Criterion 2 (Capacity development): Presence of means to inform women and men on the land tool.
Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations): Increased proportion of women holding land tenure instruments; and DENR Administrative Order 25, series of 1992 states that the DENR Regional Director shall create an arbitration group with the Regional Technical Director (RTD) of PAWCZMS as chair, in case there is conflict in claims.
Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations): Presence of mechanism, the preparation of Community Resource Management Plan (CRMP), to integrate other support services needed to ensure positive impact of land tool on women and men.
Criterion 5 (Economic considerations): PACBRMA holders enjoy different privileges as enumerated in the agreement itself.
Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability): Nationwide application of the land tool; Assessment of the potentials of tenured migrants and IPs in resource management and the results are used as bases for the selection of POs and the eventual issuance of PACBRMA; PACBRMA is effective for 25 years, and renewable; Presence of institutional linkages to meet the objectives of the Community-based Program (CBP) ; Continued implementation of CBFMAs issued in watershed and mangrove areas; and People‘s Organization participates in the identification of beneficiaries, and in the formulation and implementation of their CRMP.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 31
The areas for improvement, on the other hand, were:
Criterion 1 (Participation): Gender-related principles and goals are not explicitly mentioned in the policies and guidelines governing the issuances of PACBRMA; Analysis of sex-disaggregated statistics are not included in the reports and not considered during planning; Assessment of the outcome/impact of PACBRMA on women and men is not included or explicit in the policies and guidelines, and has not yet been undertaken;
Criterion 2 (Capacity development): Allocation of funds for capability development to make the disposition of PACBRMA gender responsive is not explicit in the policies, and not included in the 2013 Work and Financial Plan; and No assessment has been done on conducted information, education and communication (IEC) activities and institutional linkages; it cannot thus be ascertained if women and men in concerned communities/sectors as well as the service groups (GOs and NGOs) fully understand their rights and responsibilities related to PACBRMA.
Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations): The arbitration group created by the RED with RTD of PAWCZMS as chair has not yet been oriented on Gender and Development.
Criterion 4: There is no mechanism to assess customary land practices that differently affect land access of women and men.
Criterion 5: No assessment has been undertaken on actual capacity of women and men PACBRMA holders to improve their benefit from land resources, and on the actual benefit of women, compared with men, from the land; and No mechanism to promote accessibility of market of land products to both women and men
1.3.2 Land Use Agreements Issued by the National Power Corporation in watershed areas
The National Power Corporation (NPC) derives its mandates from three laws. The first is RA 6395 (passed in 1971), which authorized the NPC to exercise complete jurisdiction and control over watershed areas surrounding the reservoirs of power plants and power projects. The second is EO 224 (issued on 1987), which vested upon NPC the complete jurisdiction, control and regulation of seven watershed areas and its power plants. The third is EPIRA Law, Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 32
specifically Section 34 of RA 9136, which states that NPC ―shall manage and continue to be responsible for watershed rehabilitation and management and shall be entitled to the environmental charge equivalent to one-fourth of one centavo per kilowatt-hour sales.‖
The watershed areas managed by NPC are: Upper Agno in Mountain Province, Pangasinan; Makiling and Banahaw in Batangas-Laguna; Buhi-Barit in Camarines Sur; Angat in Bulacan, which is the main source of water of Metro Manila; Caliraya Watershed also in Laguna; Tiwi Watershed in Albay; Magat in Isabela; Pantabangan in Nueva Ecija. Pantabagan is not exclusive to NPC as it is co-managed with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). On the other hand, Lake Lanao-Agus Watershed and Pulangi Watershed are co-managed with the DENR through a MOA. All in all, of the total 984,000 hectares total watershed area, 476,469 hectares or almost half are vested to NPC.
In these areas the NPC issues authority/clearance/permits for various land use activities in accordance with the guidelines, rules and regulations stated in Circular 2006-09. Land tenure instruments issued include: Land Use Permit (LUP) for specified land use activities on public lands inside watershed reservations and other areas under NPC control and jurisdiction; and Watershed Area Clearance (WAC), for private or titled lands also inside watershed reservations and other areas under NPC control and jurisdiction. The WAC is issued to monitor the building of houses within the watershed areas. Both of these land tenure instruments are formal or legal documents granted to qualified land use applicants who complied with the requirements and conditions set by the Watershed Management Department of the National Power Corporation.
Individuals or groups can apply for LUP or WAC if they have the following qualifications as prescribed in Section 2.0 of Circular 2006-09: For an individual, he/she should be of legal age upon application; No pending administrative or criminal charge(s); Bonafide resident(s) of the municipality where land use activity/project will be undertaken; Owner(s) of titled land(s) inside the watershed area or his/her duly authorized representative(s) – for WAC; Government/semi-government/private group/institution and authorized representative; Owner(s) of corporation(s), association, business organizations and/or duly authorized representative(s)
This set of qualifications is an improvement from the previous Memorandum Order 96- 25, which required a married woman (but not a married man) to state the name and citizenship of her husband, and to submit a written consent from the husband.
In addition to issuing the above land tenure instruments, the NPC also issues Aquaculture Lease Permit in Lake Caliraya and Lumot Lake in Laguna, and employs other means to protect the watershed areas, from which both women and men can also economically benefit. For watershed protection, they mobilize 163 forest officers (156 males and 7 females) to implement forest protection, IEC, and livelihood programs. According to the representative of Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 33
NPC in the national forum, in these programs, men and women are on equal footing because both of them are interested in protecting and managing the watershed. Both of them have a stake in their cultivated lands in the mountains. Some informal settlers, both women and men, are managing these areas. They also form Bantay Watershed Task Force (BWTF). As of December 2012, the NPC has formed 11 BWTFs with 1,200 volunteers (1,117 males and 83 females). Among the tasks, activities, and accomplishments of the BWTF were: Military/Police Assistance Joint Forest Operations with DENR/LGUs/NGOs/POs Publication and distribution of 16,910 pieces of print materials Fabrication and installation of 255 signboards/billboards 75 livelihood trainings 6 months TV plugging Seedling dispersal of 172,043 fruit and forest trees School lectures and film showing in 67 schools Recognition of inland fishery project in Nabalintungan Watershed by the DA-BFAR among the top 10 national fishery project
For watershed rehabilitation, activities and accomplishments of the NPC as of June 2012 were: Rehabilitation of 2,422 hectares of open/denuded areas (2004- 2011); Planted more than 3 million seedlings (indigenous, fruit bearing seedlings); Establishment of more than 570 hectares of agroforestry areas with 288 project beneficiaries .
Under these agroforestry programs, the NPC enters into stewardship agreement with People‘s Organizations in the watershed areas. This is an example of land use rights over some resources in the watershed areas.
1.3.3 Bayawan City Agroforesty Management Agreement
The Bayawan City Government in Negros Oriental, through a Memorandum of Agreement with the DENR Region 7, implements a project for the co-management of 14,434 hectares of forestlands in 18 of its barangays. By virtue of this MOA, the Steering Committee that was created for this Project, issues sub-agreements to legitimate occupants of the 14,434 hectare co-management area (CMA). It also reviews and signs Joint Venture Contracts and other sub-agreements with private individuals, cooperatives, corporations or government agencies of any portion of the CMA based on the CMA Resource Management Plan (RMP).
The Project calls the holders of Agroforestry Management Agreement as Agroforestry Managers. Before attending the workshops for this study, the project implementers did not include the sexes of agroforestry managers in their database. As a result of their participation in this study, they started to include data fields on the sex and civil status of an applicant in their application form as well as in their activity attendance sheet. Given the short timeframe of this study, they were able to give sex-disaggregated data on applicants only in Barangay Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 34
Kalumboyan. Here, of the total of 63 applicants, 31 or 49% with an average land size of 2.8 hectares were men, and 32 or 51% with an average land size of 2 hectares were women. There were more women because they were the ones who attended the meetings and filled out the application forms. The project staff shared that their husbands are the actual agroforestry managers. Nonetheless, whoever (wife or husband) fills out the application form and whose name appears in the agreement as the agro-forestry manager, the spouse also signs as a co- manager. Given their lessons from the workshops of this study, they are now contemplating on placing the agroforestry management agreements in the names of both spouses as co- managers.
As part of this study, the Project staff also did their gender assessment of the Project. They identified the areas of strength of the Project to be the following:
Criterion 1 (Participation): Availability of sex-disaggregated data on applicants and awarded agroforestry managers; and Situation of women and men has improved since the introduction of the Project.
Criterion 2 (Capacity development): Presence of funds for the development of capacity to ensure gender responsiveness of land tool.
Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations) Presence of mechanism to identify conflicting claims and interests on the land, and assess their impact on women and men.
Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations): Presence of mechanisms to assess customary practices that affect women‘s access to land.
Criterion 5 (Economic considerations): Increased capacity of women and men to improve their benefit from land; and Presence of mechanism to integrate other support services needed to ensure positive impact of land tool on women and men.
Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability): Long-term land access and land tenure security of agroforestry managers; and Coordination and partnership between and among communities, civil society organizations, local government units, and national government agencies in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the land tool.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 35
On the other hand, the areas for improvement, in their assessment, were the following:
Criterion 1 (Participation): Absence of a gender focal person or team.
Criterion 2 (Capacity Development): Inadequate means to inform women and men on the land tool.
Criterion 5 (Economic Considerations): Absence of mechanism to promote accessibility of market of land products and services to both women and men.
Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability): Need to link with other related initiatives, such as those of the Forest Management Bureau (FMB), to uphold and protect women‘s and men‘s land use, land access and land tenure security in the forestlands.
To address the above areas for improvement, their planned responses are the: Establishment of a Gender and Development (GAD) Technical Working Group to appoint a GAD Focal Person for the Forest Management Unit (FMU); Enhance the means to inform women and men on the project and on individual property rights; Develop a mechanism to monitor and evaluate the impact of the land tool on women and men; Make the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (Lupong Tagapamayapa) at the barangay level gender responsive; Encourage women to apply for agroforestry management agreements; Develop mechanisms to facilitate accessibility of agroforestry managers to market of their products; Strengthen the link and coordination with other related initiatives that will help scale up and sustain this agro-forestry management project.
1.4 Fishponds
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law classifies a fishpond as an agricultural land. The government agency responsible for the issuance of fishpond lease agreements as a measure to ensure food security is the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) of the Department of Agriculture. BFAR has been reconstituted as a line bureau by virtue of Republic Act No. 8550 (Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998) under the Department of Agriculture. It is now in its 66th year.
The mission of BFAR is to: (i) conserve, protect and sustain the management of the country‘s fishery and aquatic resources; (ii) alleviate poverty and provide supplementary Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 36
livelihood among municipal fisherfolk; (iii) improve aquaculture productivity within ecological limit; (iv) utilize optimally the offshore and deep-sea resources; and (v) upgrade post-harvest technology, This is towards the vision of a modernized fisheries that is technologically advanced and globally competitive. Its transformation is guided by sound management practices of resource sustainability, the principle of social justice and strong private sector participation.
One of the programs of BFAR to ensure food security is to issue 25-year Fishpond Lease Agreements (FLAs). This is a contract signed by the Secretary of Agriculture and a fisherfolk or a fisherfolk cooperative to venture into the development of fishponds and support the mandate of food security. The legal basis of the issuance of FLAs is Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 197-1, series of 2012. RA 8289, as amended by RA 9501 spells out the requirements for micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs); and Executive Order No. 26, s. 2011 (signed by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III is on the National Training Program.
BFAR record shows that fishpond permits, institutionalized permits, leases, and contracts for government land to be developed into fishpond have been issued since as early as the 1940s. Duration of permits was yearly and renewed annually. In the 1970s, by virtue of PD 704, BFAR started issuing 25-year fishpond leases. This was the law that preceded RA 8550. FAO 1 was approved on December 17, 2012; published on December 21, 2012; and took effect on January 5, 2013. The law was amended because studies said that issuing 25-year lease agreements was not effective.
Permits, contracts and leases issued by BFAR are: (i) Gratuitous Permits for scientific, research, educational or experimental breeding purposes; (ii) Aquaculture Stewardship Contract (ASC); and Fishpond Lease Agreement (FLA). Those who qualified to apply for these permits, contracts and leases are:
Fisherfolk associations or cooperatives and small and medium enterprises; MSMEs duly organized or registered under Philippine laws; Citizens of the Philippines, at least 21 years of age; and Corporations incorporated and registered under Phil. laws, at least 60% of capital stocks or interests belong to Filipino citizens;
Sizes of land area that can be developed into fishponds are: (i) 50.0 hectares for fisherfolk cooperative/association or MSME through an Aquaculture Stewardship Contract (ASC); (ii) 25.0 hectares for individuals, husband and wife, through a Fishpond Lease Agreement (FLA), or for any branch of government through a Gratuitous Permit (GP); and (iii) 50.0 hectares for corporations registered with Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
To file a Fishpond Lease Application, an applicant submits the following initial requirements to the BFAR regional or provincial field office where the area is located: Application fee of PhP2,000.00; Correct sketch or survey plan of the area (FMB-DENR); Certification that the area is released for fishpond development/purposes; Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 37
Proof (bank certification/financial statement) that the applicant has initial available capital in cash equivalent to PhP5,000.00 per hectare and bank statements for the preceding 6 months; Affidavit that bank deposit/assets will be used exclusively for fishpond development; Certified copies of Certificate of Registration, Articles of Incorporation/ Association/ Cooperation and By- Laws, stating that its primary purpose is to engage in fishery/aquaculture business; FMB-DENR certification that the area is released for fishpond development/ purposes; Notarized affidavit of adherence to Good Aquaculture Practices; and Proof of compliance with Sec. 5 A (a) or 5 A (b) of FAO No. 197-1, which is a qualification requirement for cooperatives.
The Regional Director conducts the necessary investigation and inspection of the area in accordance with the standard operating procedures. The resulting report will include the: Name/s of applicant/s and correct permanent/mailing address; Name/s of prior occupant/s; Extent of improvements; Source of water and approximate distance; Topography and drainage of the area; Kind of soil and suitability for growth of algae; Possible market of fishpond products; Conflict with other applicants over the area; if there is conflict, all subsequent action on the application shall be deferred until final resolution of the conflict); Require submission of sworn statement to exclude 50-meter strip along river bank and non-closure or non-interference with normal free flow of waters; and Other comments and specific recommendations.
The final requirements for the issuance of permits, leases and contracts are: Initial Rental (Sec. 21); Cash Bond Deposit (PhP500.00/ha.); Twelve (12) copies of approved survey plan; Twelve (12) copies of FLA or ASC forms; RTC certification, area not involved in judicial case; Affidavit attesting that area not subleased; BFAR certification that area is not subleased and is not involved in any administrative case; and Submission of ECC issued by DENR.
After further evaluation of the final requirements, the 25-year FLA is prepared and recommended for approval by the Secretary of Agriculture. The procedure for the final approval of the 25-year FLA includes: Evaluation of the fishpond lease application and the requirements by the Legal Division of the Department of Agriculture; Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 38
Approval and signing of the FLA by the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture; and Release of the approved FLA to the Lessee.
To apply for the renewal of an FLA or ASC, the requirements are the following: Application and payment of fees; Payment of CBD and updating of rentals; RTC Certification; Photocopy of approved survey plan (New survey plan required if there is change in area); and Inspection Report endorsed by the BFAR Regional Office.
An FLA or ASC rights can be transferred, but with the following requirements: Prior written approval of DA Secretary‘ Application form‘ Original/Duplicate copy of deed of assignment or transfer and assumption of obligations; Payment of transfer fee, application fee, cash bond deposit; Latest report of improvements; Approved survey plans of the area; FLA/ASC contracts; RTC certification that there is no judicial case; Affidavit attesting that the area is not subleased; BFAR certification that the area is not subleased and has no administrative case; Notarized Affidavit certifying adherence to Good Aquaculture Practices (GAP).
As of June 2013, as shown in Table 7, a total of 4,439 FLAs covering a total of 59,128 hectares have been issued. Excluding Region IV which has no sex-disaggregated data on FLA holders, of the total 3,726 FLA holders, 70% were men and 30% women. This shows significantly more men applicants and recipients of this land tenure instrument.
Table 7. Fishpond Lease Agreement Holders in Nine Regions by Sex Region Number of FLAs Women FLA Holders % Women Men FLA Holders % Men Region I 201 80 40% 121 60% Region II 7 2 29% 5 71% Region III 67 18 27% 49 73% Region IV 713 n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. Region V 461 139 30% 322 70% Region VI 1474 498 34% 976 66% Region VII 443 114 26% 329 74% Region VIII 207 49 24% 158 76% Region IX 438 109 25% 329 75% (table continues) Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 39
Table 7. Fishpond Lease Agreement Holders in Nine Regions by Sex Region Number of FLAs Women FLA Holders % Women Men FLA Holders % Men
Region X 65 18 28% 47 72% Region XI 137 53 39% 84 61% Region XII 82 7 9% 75 91% Region XIII 144 37 26% 107 74% 3726* 1124 30% 2602 70% * Total excludes Region IV, which has no sex-disaggregated data on FLA holders. * Source: Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
The representatives of BFAR in the national forum focused their gender assessment of FAO 197-1, series 2012 or the policy and procedures for the issuance of FLAs only on Criterion 2 (Capacity development) of the Gender Evaluation Criteria. In sum, they assessed that Gender and Development (GAD) is moderately integrated in the policies and procedures for the issuance of FLAs because both women and men are informed on the FLAs, including their rights and responsibilities, but there is no clear or explicit mention of the need to ensure the gender responsiveness of this land tool and there is no regular monitoring of its impact on women and men due to inadequate number of field personnel especially in regional and provincial field offices. In response to the first problem, their planned action is to strengthen the generation of sex-disaggregated data as a basis for formulating policies and guidelines. They said that the problem on the inadequate number of field staff will be addressed with the approval of the reorganization plan by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
1.5 Urban Lands for Socialized Housing
Two agencies responsible for disposing urban lands for socialized housing to qualified applicants are the Housing and Urban Development Council (HUDCC) and the National Housing Authority (NHA). Both of these agencies participated in the national forum held for this study. In Bayawan City, the City Government was crafting an urban housing development project for its constituents in flood prone areas during this study. The workshops held in the City moved the project designers to consider integrating gender-related concerns in the development of their policy and guidelines.
1.5.1 Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council
The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) is a policy-making body that is tasked to organize Local Inter-Agency Committee for the implementation of Presidential Proclamations, Executive Orders, and Presidential Issuances for socialized housing programs. Under these policies, the HUDCC issues a Certificate of Entitlement to Lot Allocation (CELA) to a beneficiary of proclaimed lands as a pre-requisite to land title acquisition.
The holding of a CELA is however not a guarantee of getting a land title. Rather, the applicant has to go through other further steps and comply with corresponding requirements. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 40
According to a representative of HUDCC, their policy and procedure for selecting beneficiaries and issuing CELAs do not discriminate against women. The problem is with the women because they themselves prefer their CELAs and claimed land titles to be placed in the names of their husbands because their husbands would to be ones to pay for the land titles.
Using the Gender Evaluation Criteria, the representatives of HUDCC assessed their policies and procedures for issuing CELAs and land titles in proclaimed lands. On the whole, they consider their area of strength to be the presence of policies that aim to secure the tenure of people in proclaimed lands. They assessed these policies and procedures, however, to be, in general, low in gender responsiveness. To them, the areas for improvement were the following:
Criterion 1 (Participation): Ensuring gender responsiveness of land access and tenure security is not explicit in the policies; Management and key actors are not oriented and trained on GAD; There is no gender focal person or team; Lack of sex-disaggregated data on recipients/claimants of CELAs and land titles; and Lack of assessment of the impact of the disposition of land title on women and men.
Criterion 2 (Capacity development): Lack of funds for the development of capacities in ensuring gender responsiveness of policies and procedures for disposing CELAs and land titles; and Absence of mechanisms to inform women and men about their land rights and responsibilities.
Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations): Absence of alternative mechanisms for resolving land conflicts.
Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations): Lack of mechanisms to assess customary practices affecting women‘s opportunity to own land.
In general, they cited the need to integrate Gender and Development in their policies and implementation procedures.
1.5.2 National Housing Authority (NHA)
The National Housing Authority (NHA) is a government corporation created in 1975 by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 737 to, among others, provide and maintain adequate housing for the greatest number of people. It is under the Office of the President. Its vision and mission clearly spell out its role in the provision of housing tenure to poor families. Their vision is to build homes towards building resilient and safe communities; and their mission is to ―provide decent, Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 41
adequate, and affordable housing to the greatest number of people and ensure the provision of community facilities and utilities, and social services and economic opportunities‖.
It has two types of programs: the regular and special programs. Their regular programs include: (i) resettlement; (ii) emergency housing assistance for calamity victims; (iii) settlements upgrading; (iv) sites and services development; (v) core housing; and (vi) other housing assistance of its Local Housing Program under RA 7835. Special programs include: (i) housing program for informal settlers‘ communities (ISFs) residing along danger areas in Metro Manila; and (iii) Armed Forces of the Philippines – Philippine National Police (AFP-PNP) housing projects.
For the gender assessment of their policies and procedures, participants from the NHA during the national forum focused on two criteria of the Gender Evaluation Criteria. These were Criterion 1 (Participation), which they rated 3.66; and Criterion 2 (Capacity development), which they rated 4. On their rating for Criterion 1, they explained that the NHA has never discriminated against women in their selection of beneficiaries. Their only criterion is that the applicant should be the head of the family, regardless of sex. A male spouse working abroad is required to send a special power of attorney. A widow, on the other hand, is required to indicate in her application form that she is a widow head of the family. To perfect a housing contract, NHA requires the consent of the spouse. Separated spouses are asked secure a judicial certification of separation or to file a declaration of presumptive death of the absentee spouse based on Article 41 of the Family Code. With these requirements, the NHA representatives assessed that it was very difficult for separated poor spouses to apply in their housing project.
Still under Criterion 1, they identified the areas of strength of the NHA to be the following:
. Presence of Gender Focal Team; . Holding of gender sensitivity training and orientation on related laws (e.g., Magna Carta of Women, Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act, Solo Parents Act) for clients and NHA personnel; . Production of two books showing: (i) success stories on women‘s empowerment and gender balanced community projects; and (ii) improvements in or evolution of housing design. Target audience of the books is the stakeholders, line agencies and the academe; . Celebration of women‘s month, male awareness day and family week to raise awareness on women‘s issues, women‘s rights and importance of family relationships; . Gender-balanced (within the 40-60% range) distribution in managerial positions and rank and file: 50 women-managers (60% of managers); and 33 men- managers (40% of managers); and 734 women in rank and file (59.5% of total) and 499 men in rank and file (40.5% of total); . In the communities, majority of the elected officers are men, but majority of the actual performers or those rendering voluntary work are women Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 42
. Delivery of programs has been made gender sensitive (Improvements from the past) – Air-conditioned vans to transport women and children to relocation sites; – Provision of water utilities; – Road network improvement; – Housing design: from the box-type design of houses, which appears to invite sexual abuses against women and children, to mezzanine type with bathrooms incorporated in the main house. – Documentation of housing applications/awards: NHA is in the process of reviewing its sales and disposition policies; DAR guidelines for titling agrarian lands may be adopted in the application and actual award, lease contract, conditional contract (amortizing), and deed of sale (when fully paid). – Solo Parent related concerns: If solo parent, a beneficiary will be asked to present a solo parent identification or a certification from the DSWD so the contract application will proceed.
On the other hand, according to them, their areas for improvement include: (i) sex- disaggregation of data on clients and (ii) the need to review their policies and procedures. Because of lack of sex-disaggregated data, they could only provide anecdotes on the gender profile of the recipients of their urban housing programs. They said that more women attended meetings and submitted applications for housing units. During the final stage, however, the general tendency of women-applicants was to put their land titles in the names of their husbands. It was also at this stage when men began to be active in meetings.
For Criterion 2 (Capacity development), they identified two areas of strength. The first was the presence of funds for capacity development programs on gender mainstreaming, for review and amendment of existing policies, and for assessment and planning. The second area of strength was the participation of both women and men stakeholders in policy development and community planning. They said that they conduct consultations with civil society organizations and community federations regarding their housing projects. The area for improvement is the lack of mechanism to assess the impact of their housing projects on women and men. Here, they expressed a need for gender audit experts.
1.5.3 Bayawan City Urban Housing Development Project
After the heavy rains that severely inundated a big part of Bayawan City last mid October 2013, the Bayawan City Government identified an area for relocation of residents from flood prone areas. At the time of the workshops held for this study, they were still in the process of planning the conduct of ocular surveys and interviews with concerned households. With their orientation on Gender and Development, they became conscious of the need to ensure the gender sensitivity of their process, part of which is to collect sex-disaggregated data. In the third workshop held for this study, they shared that in two barangays (i.e., Ubos and Poblacion) they identified 145 houses to be relocated. The total number of family members is 511, with 260 females and 243 males. In another three barangays (i.e., Tinago, Suba and Boyco), around 194 Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 43
houses will be relocated. Here, they interviewed a total of 155 heads of families, 115 men and 41 women. When they have collected adequate data on the situation, the City Government will draft their guidelines and procedures for implementing the project. They expressed a need for coaching on how to make these guidelines and procedures gender responsive.
2. Gender Assessment of Procedures for Land Valuation, Taxation and Registration
Two land administration agencies with functions traversing both the rural and urban aspects of land administration are the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) of the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Land Registration Authority (LRA). Their assessment of the gender responsiveness of their land administration functions are discussed in this section. Also discussed are initiatives of local land administration offices (i.e., Municipal Treasurers‘ Office, Municipal Assessors‘ Office) in the Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista, Province of Antique and Bayawan City in Negros Oriental to test measures to integrate gender in their respective work. The results are used in this study as basis for proposing to BLGF some revisions of their guidelines and procedures to make the performance of land administration functions of these LGU offices gender sensitive.
2.1 Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF)
The BLGF is the focal agency in local finance. Under Executive Order 127, its mandate is to, among others, assist in the formulation and implementation of policies on local government revenue administration and fund management; provide consultative services and technical assistance to the local government and the general public on local taxation, real property assessment and other related matters, including land taxation; and exercise line supervision over its Regional Offices and the local treasury and assessment and other related matters.1 Its important role in mainstreaming Gender and Development (GAD) in land valuation and taxation can be gleaned in its policies, guidelines, manuals, land records and information management system, education and professional development programs, and organizational strengthening tools, as listed in Box 4 in Annex 3. Also, during this study, its supervision and authority over local treasury and assessment manifested in the caution taken by the two LGUs in introducing changes, even for testing purposes only, in the tax declaration and appraisal forms to include information about the sex and civil status of tax declaration holders, without the permission of the BLGF.
During the national forum held for this present study, representatives from the BLGF shared the following as the areas of strength and areas for improvement of their GAD mainstreaming efforts.
Areas of strength: • Language used in the policies, guidelines, manuals and other documents is gender neutral or gender fair; • Both men and women can access related advocacy and IEC materials;
1 From http://www.blgf.gov.ph/#. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 44
• Equal opportunity is given to men and women to apply and be accepted to the valuation academic programs; this is evidenced by the small gap in the proportion of men and women enrolled in the Diploma in and Master of Land Valuation and Management (DMLVM) Program (i.e., 59% male and 41% female) and in the recipients of Certificates of Training Completion (i.e., 47% male and 53% female); • Human Resource Management and Development (HRMD) policies adopted by the Bureau for the implementation of LAMP2 is gender neutral (73-81% of the BLGF officials and personnel designated for the implementation of property valuation and taxation reforms are female, 50-60% of the project staff are female); and • Both men and women participated in activities for the development, formulation, and review of policies, guidelines, manuals and other documents.
Areas for improvement: • BLGF personnel have different levels of appreciation on GAD; and • Majority of the forms/templates prescribed in the issued manuals (i.e., Field Appraisal and Assessment Sheet (FAAS), Tax Declaration, Pre Tax MAO Control Roll, Assessment Roll, Ownership record, Record of Assessment) do not ask for information on the sex and civil status of land tax payer or land owner; it is thus difficult to collect sex-disaggregated data and do gender analysis of land taxation and other land transactions in the LGU.
2.2 Initiatives to Integrate Gender-related Concerns in LAM of Two LGUs
Part of this study was the conduct of short-term activities (doable in 1 ½ months) in two local government units, i.e., Bayawan City in Negros Oriental and Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista in the Province of Antique. In both LGUs, the participants of workshops tested some initiatives to integrate gender in their land administration processes, some of which are discussed in the previous sections. The initiatives discussed in this section are those related to land valuation and taxation.
The first initiative in each LGU was to select a sample barangay (i.e., Barangay Magcalon in San Jose de Buenavista and Barangay Boyco in Bayawan City) and include data fields on sex and civil status in the database of the Municipal/City Assessor‘s Office. In San Jose de Buenavista, the original plan was to do field validation of entries. But due to lack of time, this was not done. Thus, the encoders could only input the sexes of RPU owners based on the gender association of their names. They said that if the study had more time they could have field validated the data entries and also inputted the civil statuses and dates of birth of the RPU owners. That means it was possible to collect accurate data if with enough time.
Through this first initiative, the participants in both LGUs were able to do a gender analysis of real property units in the two barangays. In Barangay Magcalon, San Jose de Buenavista, as shown in Table 8, there are significantly more men owning RPUs. At their face values, (with outliers discarded), the average size of RPUs of women is slightly larger than that Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 45
of men, yet the average assessed value of the RPUs of men is slightly higher than that of women.
To check the sources of the differences of the average assessed values of the RPUs of women and men, the participants wanted to compare the types of lands (e.g., residential, commercial, etc.) and locations of the RPUs – whether near or far from the town center and commercial establishments. Unfortunately, this was not possible during this study because not all land parcels in Magcalon have been mapped out. Again, the participants said that making a map of the locations of RPUs owned by men and women is possible if the study had more time. Also, data will be easier to retrieve if data field on sex, civil status and date of birth of RPU owners are included in the tax declaration forms of BLGF, as well as in other land tenure instruments (e.g., land titles, CLOA, EPs, etc.).
In Barangay Boyco in Bayawan City, as shown in Table 9, there is a slightly higher number of men than women owning residential lots, and significantly higher number of men owning commercial lots. However the average size of land of women is larger than that of men and the average market value of women‘s lands is higher than that of men. Conversely, the average assessed value of women‘s lands is lower than that of men. Similar to the data in Barangay Magcalon, the lower assessed values of women‘s lands point to a need for an in- depth examination of possible underlying factors, which could be trends and patterns related to the types (e.g., residential, commercial, farmlots, etc.) and locations (e.g., rural, urban, town center, etc.) of the landholdings of women and men.
Table 8. Gender Profile of RPU Owners in Barangay Magcalon, San Jose de Buenavista Sex Number Average Average of Area (Has.) Assessed Value RPUs (PhP) Female 164 0.3759 36,605.79 Joint: A female‘s name first then a male‘s name 5 0.6064 49,650.00 Heirs of Female 2 0.1285 10,515.00 Male 193 0.3616 37,275.49 Joint: A male‘s name first then a female‘s name 15 0.1502 21,718.67 Heirs of Male 10 0.2415 18,200.00 Spouses 37 0.2088 58,703.16
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 46
Table 9. Gender Profile of RPU Owners in Barangay Boyco, Bayawan City Female Male Spouses Total Number % Number % Number % Residential lots 70 46% 72 48% 8 5% 151 Commercial lots 17 34% 29 58% 4 8% 50 Average size of land (sqm) 338.38 307.60 333.92 322.57 Average market value 400,701.52 387,662.16 394,941.67 393,771.05 Average assessed value 48,866.46 57,329.92 55,494.17 53,538.17
In San Jose de Buenavista, the participants also tested adding a data field on sex in the: (1) the Municipal Treasurers Office‘s database on delinquent real property units in 2013 and their request form for tax clearance; and (2) clients of land transactions at the Municipal Assessors Office. On the delinquent RPUs, as shown in Table 10, there are more men-owners of agricultural lands, while there are more women-owners of residential lands. For further examination are the reasons for the higher average real property tax on the agricultural lands of women even if the average assessed value of men‘s agricultural lands is higher. One possible reason, as Table 10 shows, is the higher average number of years of delinquency of the RPUs of women. This could be an indication of the capability of women in general to pay for their real property taxes.
Table 10. Delinquent RPU Owners in San Jose de Buenavista by Sex of Owner, Land Types Average Assessed Values, and Average Real Property Tax Agricultural Residential
No. of Average Average Ave. No of No. of Average Average Ave. No of Sex RPUs Assessed RPT Years of RPUs Assessed RPT Years of Value (Php) Delinquency Value (Php) (Php) Delinquency (Php) Female 27 44,907.04 5,837.72 10 25 59,071.60 6,870.47 7
Male 33 52,162.12 4,569.39 5 19 51,700.53 6,604.28 7
Spouses 0 -- -- 2 16,015.00 1,071.20 3
On the tracking of clients of the Municipal Assessor‘s Office, in November, the MSO had 160 clients, of whom 92 or 57.5% were females and 68 or 42.5% were males. Land transactions included requests for: (1) transfer or revision of tax declaration (after issuance of land title); (2) certification of landholdings; (3) certificate of land improvement (e.g., construction of building); and (4) photocopying of tax declaration. During this same period, there were a total of 428 RPUs assessed, of which 208 or 48.60% are owned by men, 171 or 39.25% are owned by women, and 49 or 11.45% owned by spouses.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 47
On the other hand, the tracking of clients of the Municipal Treasurer‘s Officer requesting for tax clearance from October 7-31, 2013 shows significantly more (64%) females requesting for tax clearance for lands, the majority of whose owners are males (54.5%). This kind of data can assist the MTO assess if the design of their services and facilities are sensitive to the majority of their clients, who appear to be women.
Table 11. Clients of the Municipal Treasurer‘s Office of San Jose de Buenavista By Sex Sex of Sex of Declared Owner Requesting % Party Female Male Group Institution Total Female 7 11 0 3 21 64% Male 0 5 1 0 6 18% Spouses 0 1 0 0 1 3% Institution 2 0 1 1 4 12% No Answer 0 1 0 0 1 3% Total 9 18 2 4 33 100% % 27% 54.5% 6% 12%
According to the participants of the study from the two LGUs, they can continue and institutionalize these initiatives only if the BLGF would revise its forms (e.g., tax declaration form, appraisal form, FAAS, request for tax clearance, etc.) and include in their manual of operations some guidelines on how to make land valuation and taxation processes at the LGUs gender sensitive and responsive. During the workshop for the validation of the results of this gender assessment last December 11, 2013, representatives from the BLGF shared that the revision of these forms and their manual of operations is in their pipeline for 2014.
2.3 Land Registration Authority
The Land Registration Authority (LRA), whose legal mandate is based on PD 1529 or the Property Registration Decree, is a repository of land tenure instruments and documents, particularly land titles to support land ownership and land rights. It is tasked with protecting and maintaining the integrity of the Torrens system. The land tool of the LRA is thus P.D. 1529.
Currently, to provide better public service and ensure better integrity of records, the LRA has computerized its records and operations following the required information and mandate of P.D. 1529. This law, specifically its sections 15 and 45, does not require the inclusion of information on the sex of a registrant/title holder in the decree of registration and certificate of title. Data on the sexes of land title holders are thus not reflected in the land titles, and thus also in the database of LRA. The personal circumstances of the property owner to appear in the certificate of title, according to PD 1529, include the civil status and the name of the spouse, citizenship and residential and postal address. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 48
On their gender assessment of their land registration processes using the Gender Evaluation Criteria as guide, they mentioned the following:
Criterion 1 (Participation): LRA has a GAD Team by virtue of LRA Administrative Order 2012-18 and has GAD coordinators per region; Roughly 57% of LRA employees and 40% of LRA officials are females; and Collection of sex-disaggregated data on land title registrants and title holders is not required in PD 1529, and is currently not part of the land registration system.
Criterion 2 (Capacity Development): Presence of funds for the development capacity to ensure the gender responsiveness of land tool; this is for internal organization purposes pursuant to GAD Plan and Budget 2013 and 2014; and Men and women are informed about PD 1529 pursuant to GAD plan and Budget 2013 and 2014.
Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations): The contents of P.D. 1529 are gender neutral; and all registrants have equal rights to register; The LRA has a Grievance Committee to address GAD concerns; Of the members of this Committee, 70% are women, and 30% are men; and PD 1529 recognizes and allows for registration for different types of land rights.
Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability): The operation of the LRA is nationwide with 167 Registries of Deeds operating all over the Philippines.
IV. SUMMARY: A GENDER ASSESSMENT OF PHILIPPINE LAM
To answer the overall question or problem statement of this study – How do land tools [i.e., policies, systems and procedures] of national land administration and management government agencies and local government units promote, secure and protect the equality of rights of women and men to land access and land tenure security? – this section weaves together the gender assessment of land administration policies and procedures of the nine LAM agencies and two local government units into one picture of the gender situation of Philippine LAM. The weaving together is in two parts: the areas of strength and the areas for improvement. These two parts are presented using the six criteria of the Gender Evaluation Criteria as framework.
1. Areas of Strength
The most mentioned area of strength is Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability) because the LAM national line agencies and the LGUs base their land administration and management systems and procedures on national laws and guidelines. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 49
These include the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law for the disposition of agrarian lands covered by the land acquisition and distribution component of CARP; the Public Land Act and Residential Free Patent Law for the disposition of untitled alienable and disposable public lands; DENR AO 25, series of 1992 for the issuance of Protected Areas Community-Based Resource Management Agreement (PACBRMA); Circular 2006-09 of the National Power Corporation for the issuance of Land Use Permit and Watershed Area Clearance in watershed reservations and other areas under the control and supervision of NPC; Fisheries Administrative Order 197-1, series of 2012 for the issuance of Fishpond Lease Agreements; Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) for the distribution of urban lands for socialized housing; Executive Order 127 for the mandate of the Bureau of Local Government Finance for the formulation and implementation of policies on local government revenue administration and fund management, among others; and the Property Registration Decree, which the Land Registration Authority uses as basis of its systems and operations.
Indeed, there is a long list of national laws, policies ad guidelines that can support the mainstreaming of gender in LAM. According to the gender assessment of actual LAM procedures and practices discussed in the previous section, however, the capacity of these laws to facilitate an effective nationwide promotion of gender equality in LAM is hinged on four factors:
Presence of clear policies and guidelines of these laws and policies on how to promote gender equality in LAM.
The promotion of gender equality is not explicit in some national LAM laws, policies and guidelines (e.g., DENR AO 12, series of 2010, which provides the implementing rules and regulations of the Residential Free Patent Law; Public Land Act; DENR AO 25, series of 1992 for the issuance of PACBRMA; UDHA; BLGF forms used by the Municipal Assessor‘s Office and Municipal Treasurer‘s Office; etc.);
Understanding/orientation and capacity of field personnel to implement the gender- related provisions of national laws and policies.
This was apparent in the situation of the Department of Agrarian Reform where policies and guidelines for promoting gender equality in the issuance of CLOAs and EPs have been formulated at the Central Office level, yet the DAR field personnel particularly those in the two LGUs of this study were not aware of them and thus were not competent in their full application.
Presence of a model, such as LAMP-Leyte, which can be used as a benchmark of the procedures for promoting gender equality in LAM.
Despite the absence of data field on sex in the application forms for Residential Free Patent and other public land patents provided by the DENR Central Office, the CLAIMS Project in Bayawan City is able to provide gender analysis of their operations because Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 50
they use the forms of LAMP-Leyte. Following the example of LAMP-Leyte, they also have designated a team for the social development and gender aspect of the CLAIMS Project.
Orientation and co-operation of women and men in the communities of land claimants.
In the community forums held in the two LGUs, the participants gave mixed reactions to the promotion of gender equality in land ownership. While the majority welcomed the message, there were those who remained firm on their preference to have their sons, who will carry the families‘ names, inherit their land titles. This reflects the collectivist orientation (e.g., preserving the name of the family, etc.) which many Filipino families uphold at the expense of the rights of their individual family members, especially women. This is considered here as an important challenging area of action.
Another common area of strength is in Criterion 1 (Participation), specifically the presence of a GAD Focal Point System in each of the participating national line agencies and two local government units. There is a need, however, to strengthen the capacities of the GAD Focal Person(s). For instance, in the observation of a participant from DENR in San Jose de Buenavista, their GAD Focal Person is active only during the annual celebration of the women‘s month in spearheading activities (e.g., sports festival, etc.) that may be helpful in promoting the health of the women but do not truly facilitate the mainstreaming of gender in their LAM field operations. The Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista has a Gender and Development (GAD) Code and has created a GAD Council for its implementation. The GAD Code, however, is focused solely on the social welfare aspect of the GAD advocacy, specifically on anti-violence against women and children. While actions to prevent and eliminate sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) are important, other areas for gender mainstreaming should also be taken into account. This includes land access and land tenure security. As a result of this study, the Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista has started to review their GAD Code to add LAM as an area of concern and to expand their GAD Council towards the formation of clusters, such as a cluster on SGBV, a cluster on GAD in LAM, and others. In the same vein, the Bayawan City Government has an Annual GAD Plan and a GAD Focal Point Council but do not include making LAM gender responsive among their concerns. Also as a result of the workshops held for this study, they will incorporate in their GAD program the integration of GAD in land administration and management. To do this, they plan to start with GAD orientation and training activities for their staff.
A third area of strength is the increasing proportion of women holding land tenure instruments, which is also under Criterion 1 (Participation). This situation is shown in the database of DAR on agrarian reform beneficiaries, of the DENR on public land patent holders, of PAWB-DENR on PACBRMA holders; and of the Municipal/City Assessor‘s Offices in the two LGUs on RPU owners. There seems to be a need to encourage more women to apply for fishpond lease agreements at BFAR as a potential source of food and income. This assessment was made possible by the sex-disaggregation of data, which is an important procedure of gender mainstreaming. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 51
A fourth area of strength is under Criterion 3 (Legal and institutional considerations), specifically, the presence of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or management in agencies where this mechanisms is needed. This is true to LMB/LMS/CENRO of DENR, PAWB-DENR, DAR, LRA, BFAR, and the local government units through the Barangay Justice System or Lupong Tagapamayapa.
A fifth area of strength is the presence of coordination or partnerships between and among LAM stakeholder groups, which is under Criterion 6 (Scale, coordination and sustainability). For instance, the DAR implements CARP in partnership with organizations or federations of agrarian reform beneficiaries, with the Department of Agriculture for the support services, and with other civil society organizations; the DENR enters into a Memorandum of Partnership Agreement (MOPA) with LGUs for an LGU-led land titling model, such as the CLAIMS Project in Bayawan City; PAWB forms People‘s Organizations of tenured migrant communities and indigenous people for the issuance of PACBRMA; the NHA also coordinates with organizations of urban poor dwellers; and others.
A sixth area of strength is the presence of a law requiring all government line agencies and local government units to allocate at least 5% of their total budget to implement their Gender and Development (GAD) Plan. This opportunity has not yet been tapped, however, by all LAM agencies because of non-inclusion of gender in their Work and Financial Plans, such as PAWB and DENR in San Jose de Buenavista.
2. Areas for Improvement
On the other hand, a common area for improvement that cuts across the six criteria of GEC is the lack of assessment of how these land tools or LAM policies, systems and procedures have differently impacted women and men. It was thus difficult for the LAM agencies and LGUs to provide evidence-based assessments of the contributions of their LAM initiatives to the improvement of the economic situation and overall well-being and capabilities, including gender relations, of women and men holders of their issued land tenure instruments. Related to this, there seems to be a need to analyze the reasons (e.g., types and locations of landholdings) for the lower assessed values of lands owned by women in the sample barangays in both LGUs.. There is also no mechanism to identify and assess customary practices that differently affect land access and land tenure security of women and men.
Another common area for improvement, under Criterion 4 (Social and cultural considerations), is on measures to raise the awareness of women and men on their equal land rights, and to encourage couples to acknowledge this equality of rights in the certificates of title of their conjugal lands and properties, including in land tenure instruments issued by government LAM agencies (e.g., free patents, CLOAs, EPs, etc.). For instance, according to HUDCC representatives in the national forum, women prefer to place titles of lands in the names of their husbands because their husbands would be the ones to pay for the land. This points to a need to bring these women to acknowledge the value of their contributions to the family, and therefore to a recognition of themselves as equal partners of their husbands. This Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 52
can be manifested by making their status as co-owners or equal owners of their properties explicit in legal documents.
There are, however, possible complications to placing land tenure instruments (i.e., Free Patents, CLOA and EP) in the names of both spouses. According to the DENR, if a free patent is placed in the names of both spouses, then this couple will forego the possibility of owning more than 12 hectares. This is because if both spouses apply as co-owners, then they are allowed a maximum of 12 hectares only; whereas if each spouse applies individually for a 12 hectare-land patent, if both are qualified, then they can acquire a sum total of 24 hectares, provided that each patent is placed in their individual names rather than in the names of both spouses as co-owners. Given the ―hopeful‖ attitude of Filipinos, a couple may thus opt to place a land patent in the name of only one of them, then wait for a time when the other will be qualified for another 12 hectares or even less. The general expectation is that the first one to get a chance to get a land title is the husband as the traditional head of the family and the one who can afford to pay the land title.
A third area for improvement, under Criterion 5, is the lack or inadequate support services given to poor women- and men-recipients or claimants of land tenure instruments that will help them make their lands productive and economically benefit from their lands‘ products and resources. This includes access to market for their products.
Fourth area for improvement is the lack of data fields on sex, civil status, and date of birth of applicants and holders of land tenure instruments in many LAM forms (e.g., the Residential Free Patent Application Form, Farmer Beneficiary Application Form or CARP Form No. 1, Tax Declaration Form, Real Property Field Appraisal and Assessment Sheet, etc.) as well as the lack of information on the sex of registrants and holders of certificates of land titles in the judicial forms and in the land registration system and database of the Land Registration Authority. This data gap makes the sex-disaggregation of data on land tenure instrument holders difficult or unreliable due to mere reliance on the gender association of their names. These data are important to inform LAM policies and procedures as well as the LAM planning processes on the gender-related conditions and needs of land administration and management.
In sum, this gender assessment of Philippine LAM points to the need for more concerted efforts to promote, secure and protect equality of rights of women and men to land access and land tenure security.
V. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A NATIONAL STRATEGY TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN LAM
In light of the results of the foregoing gender assessment of Philippine land administration and management (LAM), this study proposes the following national strategy, presented in mnemonic ENGENDER LAMP, to promote the equality of women and men in land access, land tenure security, and land governance. The P in LAMP stands for policies and procedures/practices. In general ENGENDER LAMP means bringing forth GAD in land administration and management policies/procedures/practices. Each letter of the mnemonic ENGENDER LAMP stands for the following: Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 53
E xplicitly mention gender equality principles and objectives, as well as guidelines on how to pursue them, in all LAM policies and procedures at the national and local levels. Pursue the: (1) amendment of LAM-related laws (e.g., the Property Registration Decree) and policies that in effect discourage the placing of land tenure instruments in the names of spouses; and (2) revision of operational guidelines, manuals, and forms (e.g., judicial forms, application forms, appraisal forms, etc.) that do not explicitly require gender-related information and the concerted effort to pursue gender equality in LAM. N etwork all GAD Focal Persons of LAM agencies, NAPC Basic Sectoral Councils, and LGUs through the Leagues of Provinces/Cities/Municipalities, for collaborative efforts to review and strengthen the gender responsiveness of LAM policies, systems and procedures, by advocating for the amendment of laws and policies that do not explicitly pursue gender equality in LAM, and harmonizing gender responsive guidelines and procedures in issuing land tenure instruments and in recording land rights. Build similar collaborative efforts at the LGU levels. G ather and analyse sex-disaggregated data on applicants, registrants, and holders of land tenure instruments; and assess how the acquisition of these instruments have differently impacted women and men. Make this gender assessment an integral part of systems and processes of LAM national line agencies and LGUs; make this more effective and efficient by including information on the sex, civil status, and birth date of applicants, registrants and holders of land tenure instruments in all relevant forms at the national and local levels; and ensure representation and participation of both women and men in this gender assessment. E nsure the inclusion and implementation of concrete actions or responses to the results of the gender analysis of sex-disaggregated data and of the impact of LAM on women and men in the Work and Financial Plan of national LAM agencies and LGUs; engage both women and men in the implementation of these actions/responses. N udge men to support women‘s empowerment and the pursuit of gender equality in land access and land tenure security through gender sensitive behaviour change communication approaches and technologies, and the formation of support groups, like Men Opposed to Violence Everywhere or MOVE.. D evelop attitudes, knowledge and capabilities of LAM personnel at the national and local levels in gender sensitivity and gender mainstreaming in LAM; ensure that field personnel are aware and competent in implementing national and local GAD policies and guidelines; to do this, gender responsive capability development modules are needed. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 54
E nsure representation and participation of both women and men in land governance structures from the national to the local levels. Set a participation quota (e.g., 50-50 or 60- 40) for both women and men. R aise awareness among LAM duty bearers and land rights holders on the importance of gender equality in land access and land tenure security, and on how to protect this. A. Emphasize the importance of placing conjugal lands/properties, such as land patents that can mature into perfect titles, in the names of both spouses. Reasons will include:
1. to protect the equal rights of both spouses in case of bitter separation – neither will need to go to the court to prove the conjugal nature of land because the land tenure instrument explicitly states co-ownership;
2. to equally distribute between the two spouses the burden of paying the estate tax in case of death of one spouse because:
if the land title is in the name of the husband only (e.g., Juan married to Maria): when the wife dies, the husband could be free from paying the estate tax because he could claim full ownership of the land; whereas when the husband dies, the wife has to pay 100% of the estate tax because the land title is in the name, and therefore could be fully owned by, the deceased husband; or she could resort to the court to prove the conjugal nature of land so she would be required to pay only 50% of the estate tax; placing a land title in the name of the husband only is thus disadvantageous to the wife, or vice-versa;
if the land tenure instrument is in the name of both spouses, both will be left with equal burden in case any of them dies because only the owner of the 50% of the land/property has died; therefore, the surviving spouse (whether the man or the woman), who owns the other 50% of land/property, will pay only 50% of the estate tax.
The above #2 is an interpretation of the National Internal Revenue Code, Chapter I, Estate Tax, Section 85 (H) Capital of the Surviving Spouse and Section 86 (C) Share in the Conjugal Property.
3. to acknowledge the role of both as equally important heads of the family; placing the name of the wife as a co-owner of family properties is a way of correcting the long non-recognition of her important role in the family.
B. Express their love for daughters and sons by giving priority to their welfare and protecting their equal rights to inherit family properties, over and above preserving their family name.
Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 55
L Ink LAM with other support services (e.g., land production technologies and facilities; farm-to-market roads, better access to markets, etc.) needed to help sustain or secure land tenure of women and men. A llocate adequate resources for the implementation of all of the GAD strategies proposed in this study; tap the 5% GAD Budget of national government agencies and LGUs; AND explore possibility of financial support from the ADB and other members of the ODA-GAD Network. M ake models and champions of gender responsive LAM that will eventually serve as benchmarks of the promotion of gender equality in land access and land tenure security. Begin with the five LGUs that participated in this study. P artner with the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) in the finalization, concretization and pursuit of this national GAD strategy in LAM. Let PCW take the lead role in providing guidance to this endeavour, and in mobilizing the heads of all LAM agencies, including those who did not participate in this study, to support and participate.
This gender assessment and the proposed GAD strategy in LAM do not cover all aspects of land administration (not included are land surveying and mapping), and all types of land tenure instruments (not included are the foreshore lease agreement, certificate of ancestral domain claim and certificate of ancestral domain title, the tenure instrument for the advocated fisherfolk settlement, etc.). This study proposes to expand the gender assessment and the advocacy for gender equality to cover also these aspects and areas. Promoting Gender Equality in Land Access and Land Tenure Security 56
References
Creswell, J., Plano Clark, V., Gutmann, M., & Hanson, W. (2003). Advanced mixed methods research designs, pp. 209-240. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (2003). Handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioural research. London & New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
Sait, S., Peters, B., & Jonsson, A. (2011). Designing and Evaluating Land Tools with a Gender Perspective: A Training Package for Land Professionals. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).
Tiamson, E., Orceo, R., & Katigbak, G. (2012). DENR- Local government partnerships handbook: Land management offices and LGU-assisted public land titling. Quezon City & Manila, Philippines: Foundation for Economic Freedom, Inc. (FEF) & Center for Land Administration and Management – Philippines (CLAMP).
ANNEX 1: Gender Evaluation Criteria: A Framework for Assessing the Gender Responsiveness of Land Tools
I. General Description
• The Gender Evaluation Criteria is a gender assessment framework for LAM developed by the Global Land Tool Network of UNHABITAT.
• It refers to a set of 22 questions classified into 6 criteria or themes used as an analytical lens in assessing the extent to which a land tool or a set of land tools promotes and protects gender equality in land rights -- land access, land use, and land tenure security.
• Its general premise is that there is gender inequality in land access, land use, and tenure security; and the situation is favorable to men or disadvantageous to women.
• The Six Criteria are the following:
o Equal participation of women and men, and gender responsive governance o Capacity building, organization, and empowerment of women and men to use, access and benefit from the tool o Legal and institutional considerations in regard to women and men‘s access to land o Social and cultural considerations in regard to women and men‘s access to land o Economic considerations in regard to women and men‘s access to land o Scale, coordination and sustainability to reach more women and men
For the 22 questions, please see instrument in next pages.
• The tool is flexible in that the user can choose which criteria and questions to adopt based on the nature of the land tools to evaluate, and the focus of the evaluation. The indicators to be used as guide in answering the questions can also be modified or formulated by the user.
• GEC gives importance to the participation of both women and men, service providers and community stakeholders in conducting the evaluation.
II. Procedures
1. Identify the land tools that your institution/organization use to: a. facilitate people‘s (women and men) access to land; b. formally recognize their land rights (use rights, control rights, transfer rights); and c. ensure their land tenure security
2. Answer the 22 questions using the scale of 1 to 5, with 5 as fully yes and 1 as fully none or no. (See next page); Compute for the average of ratings or scores of all indicators under each question.
3. Accomplish the summary table at the last page.
57
GLTN Gender Evaluation Criteria for Land Tools
Scoring: 5: Fully yes 4: Almost fully yes 3: Moderately yes 2: Almost no/none 1: None/no Questions Indicators (Policy and Implementation Levels) Scoring Data/Remarks (1 to 5)
Criterion 1: Equal participation of women and men and gender-responsive governance
1. Does the tool demand 1.1. Requirements to ensure gender and generate political responsiveness of land access and tenure understanding and will security and to orient/train management and to positively implement other key actors on gender concerns are a gender-balanced explicit in the tool approach? 1.2. Management and key implementers are oriented and trained on gender concerns 1.3. Presence of gender focal person/team
2. Is the decision making 2.1 Proportion of women and men in the process in developing development and implementation of the tool is the tool, and within the within 40% to 60%. tool itself, transparent 2.2 Men and women in the communities participated and inclusive for both in the development and implementation of the women and men? tool. 2.3 Presence of affirmative action/s that will address gender imbalance, if any
3. Does the tool rely on 3.1 Sex-disaggregated statistics (e.g., applicants, and provide sex- claimants, participants, staff, etc.) are collected disaggregated data? continuously 3.2 Analysis of sex-disaggregated statistics are included in the reports and considered during planning
Questions Indicators (Policy and Implementation Levels) Scoring Data/Remarks (1 to 5)
4. Does the tool demand 4.1 Conduct of assessment of the outcome/impact of positive results for tool on women and men is explicit in the tool women from public and 4.2 Situation of women has improved since private bodies approval/implementation of the tool. responsible for land management?
Criteria 2: Capacity development, organization and empowerment of women and men to use, access and benefit from the tool
5. Are financial resources 5.1 Presence of funds for the development of explicitly allocated for capacity to ensure gender responsiveness of capacity building of both land tool women and men to 5.2 Intended financial resources are used for the benefit from the tool? development of capacity to ensure gender responsiveness of land tool
6. Is the information clear 6.1 Presence of means to inform women and men to, and does it empower, on the land tool both women and men to 6.2 Women and men in concerned utilize the tool and know communities/sectors and service groups (GOs their rights related to this and NGOs) know their rights and tool? responsibilities related to the tool.
7. Does the tool provide 7.1 Presence of mechanisms for assessment of mechanisms for tool by female and male stakeholders (focus of assessment (at assessment will include impact of land tool on numerous levels) by women, men, children and the environment) female and male stakeholders?
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Questions Indicators (Policy and Implementation Levels) Scoring Data/Remarks (1 to 5)
Criteria 3: Legal and institutional considerations in regard to women and men’s access to land
8. Is the tool based on 8.1 Presence of mechanisms (e.g., policy, manual the principle of gender of operations, trained people, budget, equality and does it monitoring and evaluation tool, nature of land protect women’s land tenure instruments, etc.) to ensure equality of tenure rights? rights of qualified women and men to land access and tenure security. 8.2 Increased proportion of women holding land tenure instruments
9. Does the tool 9.1 Presence of mechanism to identify conflicting acknowledge conflict of claims and interests to the land, and assess interests and the their impact on women and men. different gender impacts this may have?
10. Does the tool provide 10.1 Presence of alternative mechanisms (to gender-sensitive judicial means) for gender sensitive resolution dispute resolution? of land conflicts. 10.2 Proportion of women to men-facilitators of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms
11. Does the tool promote 11.1 Presence of statements that recognize the principle of a different rights (e.g., titleholders, bundle of rights? leaseholders, tenants, workers, etc.) to same parcel of land
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Questions Indicators (Policy and Implementation Levels) Scoring Data/Remarks (1 to 5)
12. Does the tool provide 12.1 Presence of mechanisms (e.g., land tenure different tenure instrument) recognizing different rights (e.g., options, recognizing a titleholders, leaseholders, tenants, workers, continuum of rights? etc.) to same parcel of land
Criteria 4: Social and cultural considerations in regard to women and men’s access to land
13. Does the tool take into 13.1 Presence of mechanisms to assess statutory consideration statutory and customary laws and practices affecting and customary laws women‘s land rights. and practices affecting women’s land rights?
14. Does the tool demand 14.1 Proportion of women to men beneficiaries of positive results for the land tool who claim to have benefited from women particularly in the land tool -- 40% to 60% of them are the context of women/men) traditional land structures?
Criteria 5: Economic considerations in regard to women and men’s access to land
15. Does the tool promote 15.1 Increased capacity of women and men to innovation in economic improve their production/benefit from land. models to favor women’s benefit of land?
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Questions Indicators (Policy and Implementation Levels) Scoring Data/Remarks (1 to 5)
16. Does the tool integrate 16.1 Presence of mechanism to integrate other other sectors such as support services needed to ensure positive agriculture, water and impact of land tool on women and men. sanitation and does this impact positively for women and men?
17. Does the tool 17.1 Presence of mechanism to promote encourage a market accessibility of market of land products and that is accessible to services to both women and men. women and provides 17.2 Increase in number of women doing formal equity for women and land transactions men?
18. Does the tool promote 18.1 Presence of statement in the tool that economic opportunities promotes economic opportunities for both for both women and women and men men? 18.2 Increase in number of women who have greater access to economic resources due to land tool
Criteria 6: Scale, coordination and sustainability to reach more women and men
19. Can the tool be 19.1 Scale of implementation of the land tool – implemented at city or city/local level only or nationwide national level? 19.2 Adaptability of the tool (responsiveness) to different situations of women and men in different localities of the country
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Questions Indicators (Policy and Implementation Levels) Scoring Data/Remarks (1 to 5)
20. Can the tool be 20.1 Length or extent of land access and tenure implemented security provided by the land tool – consistently (rather adhoc/temporary or long-term/ permanent/ than ad-hoc)? consistent
21. Is the tool linked with 21.1 Presence of link with other land tools to other tools required to uphold and protect women‘s and men‘s land protect women and use, land access and land tenure security men’s security of tenure?
22. Is there formal 22.1 Extent of coordination and partnership engagement between between and among communities, civil communities and society organizations, local government units, local/national and national government agencies in the governments? implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the land tool
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Summary Table of Analysis Criteria 1 Criteria 2 Criteria 3 Criteria 4 Criteria 5 Criteria 6 Equal Capacity Legal and Social and Economic Scale, participation of development, institutional cultural considerations in coordination and women and organization and considerations in considerations in regard to women sustainability to men, and gender empowerment of regard to women regard to women and men‘s access reach more responsive women and men and men‘s access and men‘s access to land women and men governance to use, access to land to land and benefit from the tool Average score (sum of scores divided by the number of questions answered)
Areas of strength (positive points)
Areas for improvement (limitations/weaknesses)
Other remarks
Recommendations for Action / Planned Response
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ANNEX 2: Gender and Development Initiatives of the Department of Agrarian Reform as Presented by DAR Asst. Dir. James Ponce during the National Forum on GAD in LAM, June 26- 28, 2013-12-18
Box 1. Mainstreaming Gender in the Work of DAR, 1986-2012 as shared by DAR Assistant James Ponce in a National Forum on June 26-28, 2013 ( Part 1)
1995 1992-1993 Awarded joint Memorandum to strengthen DAR ABAD titles to ARBs Received Star GAD Focal Points with 1990 in Samar Agency Award for 2 MILESTONES Bureaus represented years from NCRFW, 1986-2012 NEDA & DAP
1994 GARILAO 1992 Gender Sensitivity Training (conducted by BARBD) 1995 National GAD TWG Focal points created with the shift transferred to A.O. NO. 19, S. 1993 was signed of Focal Point Planning Service Joint titles award became an Policy Framework in the Functions to BARBD unit of DAR official policy – recognition and integration of •M.C. NO. 4, S. 1992 was signed Women in Development 1995 Form Gender Focal Points Expand the reach of GAD to include women Equal access to Calamity aid Creation of the National beneficiaries PDP for Steering Committee- USEC promotion Women DARLA Solicitations PPLAO as the Chairperson At least 20% of DAR 1989 Rallies & Vice-Chair, Dir. Of SCSS women employees Social Activities 1995 up the ladder Promoted gender Orientation sessions and gender (managerial training and advocacy NCRFW sensitivity training to refocus and position advocated by BARIE (Dir. Chao) redirect thrust to transcend women’s M.C. NO. 19, S. 1993 - tapped involvement in welfare and support DARLA-SAKA as partners in gad activities and to encompass units in 1996 mainstreaming DAR M.C. NO. 18 S. 1996 was signed – Clarificatory CARP guidelines in the manner 1992 of generating and issuing 1996 Land Creation of focal points EPs and CLOAs to issued to husband and at the National, qualified ARBs and Gender Equality in Regional and spouses wife Agrarian Program Municipality levels
Box 2. Mainstreaming Gender in the Work of DAR, 1986-2012 as shared by DAR Assistant James Ponce in a National Forum on June 26-28, 2013 ( Part 2)
Focal points MORALES BRAGANZA DAR 1998 transferred to 2001 MILESTONES Planning Service 1986-2012 unit of DAR
2001 2000 M.C. No. 05, S. 2001- Guidelines Gender-based agrarian reform for the Establishment of 2004 to 2007 implementation contained Wo e ’s Desk in an official policy paper Series of trainings on by Secretary Morales G-BEST for ARBs - 2002 Continuing Activity Ge der Mai strea i g i ARC’s Attendance to GMARC’s Women’s Month A. O. 1, S. 2001 was signed – Gender Based Effectiveness Skills and Rural Women’s Guidelines Governing the Non- Training (G-BEST) conducted Month Activities Gender Biased Implementation and VAW/CEDAW of Agrarian Laws (out-going – meetings, Sec. Morales) 2003 conferences G-BEST Handbooks were launched : DAR women employees G-BEST For ARB Leaders – involvement in the fight against Guidebook For Trainers graft and corruption and good governance in government as Handbooks : Book II & III for Mainstreaming Gender- ARB well as in the EMPLOYEES Organizations ASSOCIATION
Box 3. Mainstreaming Gender in the Work of DAR, 1986-2012 as shared by DAR Assistant James Ponce in a National Forum on June 26-28, 2013 ( Part 3)
PANGANDAMAN DAR (2008-2010) MILESTONES 1986-2012 Inclusion of Gender- DE LOS REYES Memorandum of related Provisions in (2010-present) Agreement was signed RA 9700 between DAR-PNP for the operationalization Gender Based Effectiveness of the DAR Wo e ’s Drafted GAD Skills Training - Training of Desks nationwide Mainstreaming Trainers for Central and Framework & Strategic Field Office GAD Trainers Directions Establishment of DAR National Women Center and Launching of the Administrative Order no. 1 series of DAR Wo e ’s Desks G-BEST for GAD-TWG & e titled Guideli es Gover i g nationwide Regional Vice Focal Points Gender Equality in the Implementation of Agrarian reform Laws and Mainstreaming Gender Specialized Training on and Development in the Children and Women “eries of Wo e ’s Fora Department of Agrarian Reform Concerns for DAR Central o Wo e ’s Rights a d Regio al Wo e ’s and Social Protection Desks Officers conducted by PNP Co-Organizer of the Land Rights Forum for Marginalized Women conducted on October 14, 2012
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Annex 3: Box 1. BLGF Policies, Guidelines, Manuals, Information Systems and Programs Indicating its Potential Contributions to GAD Mainstreaming in Land Valuation and Taxation A. Laws, Policies and Framework 1. The Real Estate Service Act (RESA) of 2009 or R.A. 9646 • Professionalizes and regulates the real estate service in the Philippines 2. DOF-DILG Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2010-01 • Enjoins LGUs to implement Section 219 of the LGC (revision of property assessments and classifications), and prescribes the use of PVS and MAG in conducting the general revision 3. DOF-DILG Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2010-02 • Enjoins LGUs to implement Section 236 of the LGC and impose special levy on real properties, especially idle land taxes 4. Roadmap for Valuation Taxation Reforms, endorsed by the DOF in 2010 • Identifies critical activities and investments to effectively pursue valuation and taxation reforms, focusing on the initial five-year period starting from the end of LAMP2 as its Year 1. 5. Land Sector Development Framework (LSDF) • 20-year roadmap which provides the platform for priority areas for intervention, key issues to be addressed and basis to establish harmonized policies in reforming the land sector, including property valuation and taxation
B. Guidelines and Manuals 1. Manual on Real Property Appraisal and Assessment Operations • Guide for local government assessors in appraisal and assessment of real property, also containing elements and extracts of related legislation and various regulations on property valuation and assessment 2. Local Treasury Operations Manual • Guide in discharging the functions of local treasurers, introducing the new perspectives they must adopt and the new tools that they may acquire to support the expanded role that LGUs have assumed in managing the development process in their respective jurisdictions. 3. Philippine Valuation Standards (PVS) • Issued by DOF through DO 37-09 on 19 October 2009 for implementation by all LGU assessors and other DOF agencies undertaking property valuation • Provides reference standards of recognized principles and concepts, and internationally accepted definitions and best practices in undertaking and reporting valuations
C. Land Records and Information Management System 1. Valuation Database and Information System (VDIS) • IT tool developed to support market-based SMV revision • System to store real property sales transactions, appraisal, and rental/lease data, among others 2. Electronic Field Appraisal and Assessment Sheet (eFAAS) • Digital version of the Field Appraisal & Assessment Sheet used by LGU Assessors • Has the feature of mass generation of FAAS, tax declarations and notices
D. Education and Professional Development Programs 1. Training Certification for RA 9646 Grandfather Clause • Issued through DOF DO 41-2010 • Guidelines governing the certification of relevant trainings on real property valuation/appraisal for assessors and appraisers in the local government service, pursuant to Sec. 20 (c) of RA 9646 and its IRR which require applicants for automatic licensure for assessors and appraisers to acquire a minimum of 120 hours of training on real property valuation/appraisal 2. Basic Course on Mass Appraisal (BCMA) • Training modules on SMV preparation incorporating the standards, database and information management, and taxation 3. Valuation Education Academic Programs • In partnership with UPOU, the CPE Program on Land Valuation (CPEPLV), and the Diploma and Master in Land Valuation and Management (DMLVM) were instituted in the University of the Philippines in June 2010 and June 2011, respectively, and are now included in the regular semestral offering of UPOU.
E. Organizational Strengthening Tools 1. BLGF Office Order No. 26-2012 • Issued on 5 March 2012 pursuant to Memo Circular No. 2011-01 by PCW dated 21 October 2011 • Constitutes the BLGF-GAD Focal Point System composed of an Executive Committee, Regional Sub-Committees, and TWG 2. Staff Development on GAD • Approximately 90% of the BLGF employees have attended GAD-related trainings. Among the GAD-related capacity building activities attended by BLGF officials and staff are the following: o GAD Mainstreaming and Integration on Finance (conducted through LAMP2) o Seminar on Magna Carta of Women & GAD Teambuilding (sponsored by DOF & PCW in 2010) o GAD Planning and Budgeting Lecture series (sponsored by PCW in 2011)
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