Presented at the 36th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination AgainstAgainst Women on June 2006 by tthe W O M E N ’ S L E G A L B U R E A U , I n c. As the Philippine Shadow Report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women NGONGO ShadowShadow ReportReport 2006 C E D A W Philippines Made possible with the support of : The Women’s Legal Bureau. In the early 90's, a cursory assessment by three women law student-advocates of the situation of women in the Philippines and the women's movement revealed these disturbing conditions: (1) The law and the legal system were prejudicial to women, and (2) many concerns of women were not addressed by the law. Flawed in both sub- stance and mechanisms of implementation, laws supposedly passed to address these concerns were, in truth, unresponsive to the real needs and conditions of women. While there were organizations that specialized in legal services, their concerns were more multi-sectoral. There was no group within the women's movement that responded to the legal needs of women and women's organiza- tions. At the same time, there seemed to be little awareness among women of their rights, and how violations of these rights can be redressed within and outside the legal system. These realizations led to the founding of a feminist legal non-government organization which eventually took on the name, Women's Legal Bureau. It was registered in 1990 with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-stock, non-profit corporation, and started operations in 1991. Today, the Women's Legal Bureau Inc. (WLB) continues to work for the empowerment of women through the use of and engagement with the law and its institutions. The range of WLB’s work includes policy advocacy, information- education campaigns, research and publications, feminist legal services, and institutional support and develop- ment. CEDAW: Philippines NGO Shadow Report 2006 Published by: Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. Rm. 305, 3rd Flr. UPCSWCD Bldg. University of the Philippines - Diliman Quezon City, Philippines Copyright © 2006 Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. This publication was made possible with the support of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM-South East Asia Programme) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This publication is copyrighted but may be reproduced for research and education purposes, provided that per- mission is obtained from the publisher. Edited by Mae Buenaventura Design and Layout by Zeena Manglinong Research by WLB Staff and Volunteers (Mae Buenaventura, Karen Tapang, Jelen Paclarin, Citas Romeo) Photos by WLB Staff and Zeena Manglinong Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. MAE BUENAVENTURA / MAUREEN PAGADUAN CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN Philippine NGO CEDAW Shadow Report, 2006 T he NGO CEDAW Shadow Report of 2006 is a consolidation of the results of workshops and consultation that contextualizes the need to engage in the process of policy advocacy such as the CEDAW shadow report. It aims to substantially capture the truthful plight of Filipino women as well as contextualize their socio-cultural-economic and political conditions. It highlights the Philippine government's accountability and obligation on its commitments to forward women's equality agenda under the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). More importantly, it gives recognition to the efforts of all women's groups that continually intervene in the struggle to push forward the status of Filipino women and in celebration of its substantial gains for women's equality, to be a reality. Under the treaty, each nation that ratifies the CEDAW place responsibility on itself to comply with its provisions. It is then obliged to submit periodic reports to the Committee to ap- message praise it on the status of its compliance. A "shadow report" to the UN Committee on CEDAW is an alternate report prepared by NGOs parallel but independent of the country report. This shadow report hopes to verify the contents of the country reports. Generally, shadow reports point to specific women's concerns that receive inadequate attention from the state, if at all. It also calls attention to concerns that are not appropriately addressed by the state, or whose interventions or policies and programs that are meant to remedy the situation have the opposite or a negative impact on women. Shadow reports are also useful in identifying emerging conditions that, in all probability, will make women's circumstances more difficult and needs to be addressed soon if not imme- diately to prevent them from happening or to lessen their impact. The Women's Legal Bureau reiterates its gratitude to UNIFEM and CIDA for its re- sources; and likewise, to all the organizations and women who contributed to this national effort and brought forth their stories and experiences, even with the limited time available. The WLB staff and volunteers, the major writers and researchers and many other individuals, must also be commended for lending assistance in producing this valu- able report. Thank You. Prof. Maureen Pagaduan WLB, Managing Trustee 4 Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. Philippine NGO CEDAW Shadow Report, 2006 Executive Summary . p 6 1 Introduction . p 10 2 National Situation . p 12 3 Women and Economic Empowerment . p 17 4 Women of contents and the Environment . p 27 5 Violence Against Women . p 34 6 Sexual and Reproductive 7 Health Rights . p 42 Women’s Participation 8 in Public Life . p 50 9 Our Conclusions . p 57 Our Recommendations . .. p 60 10 List of Participating Organizations . p 63 11 Bibliography . p 66 12 Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. 5 Philippine NGO CEDAW Shadow Report, 2006 When the Philippine government ratified the CEDAW in 1981, it submitted itself to legally-binding commitments to promote women’s human rights and to take national action to ensure that 1 they access and enjoy these rights. Tragically, after more than two decades, no substantial or significant progress has been made and the Convention continues to be flagrantly breached. The elusiveness of this basket of rights, guaranteed by the CEDAW cannot but lead to an interrogation of the context in which they are supposed to be realized. It is a context of increasing political re- pression of militant leaders and people’s organizations who have charged the current administration with election fraud and corrup- tion, and who protest the general decline in quality-of-life indica- tors. It is also a context marked by the same export-oriented, mar- ket-driven policies, which continue to be implemented despite the poverty-creating impacts on poor women and other marginalized sectors. These indicators represent grave systemic flaws that impede rather than advance women’s human rights. Unless these are confronted, there will be no progress on the CEDAW beyond monitoring gaps and identifying accountabilities. summary Only by purposively moving towards resolving structural inequities can discrimination against women, in all its forms, begin to be decisively eliminated. Women’s Economic Empowerment W omen’s economic empowerment is one of the areas of concern the Philippine government promised to address as part of efforts to facilitate the implementation of the CEDAW. However, the differ- ence between policy and practice has yawned wider over the years, spelling more disempowering than empowering conditions for mil- lions of Filipino women in the country and abroad. A wide discrepancy exists between urban and rural human develop- ment indicators. Conditions are particularly dismal for rural women, whose work in both production and social reproduction is largely unpaid to begin with. Rural poverty incidence has hardly budged and even worsened in certain areas. Provinces in the island of Mindanao, where the largest concentration of indigenous peoples can also be found, consistently posted the lowest human development outcomes relative to other regions. 6 Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. Philippine NGO CEDAW Shadow Report, 2006 It thus comes as no surprise why both women For indigenous women and Muslim women, the and men are willing to leave families behind environment is linked not only to their for higher pay abroad. Despite many reports of economic sustenance; it is also entwined with abuse and unexplained deaths among female their cultural, social and spiritual life as a Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), more and people. This reality, however, is unrecognized more women are leaving the country to find by a government disdainful of indigenous and work abroad. Dependent on OFW remittances minority women’s socio-cultural rights. and unable to create jobs at home, govern- ment encourages this out-migration of human resources through various overseas labor facili- Violence Against Women tation programs. From a few thousands in the 90s, the number of documented Overseas Filipino Workers, of which women comprise A n estimated 300,000 women and 75,000 the majority, has been rising to tens of thou- children are in prostitution. “Entertainment” sands over many years. Some 539,000 women is the main channel, but a range of establish- OFWs were documented by the Philippines Na- ments from dirt-floor beer houses and karaoke tional Statistics Office as of 2004 or more than clubs to beach resorts and expensive health half (50.7 percent) of the total 1.063 million clubs provide prostitution for men of every migrant workers. This further increased by class. Government policies favor the export of 5.15 percent in 2005. Their average monthly entertainers and domestic helpers putting cash remittance represented only 57 percent thousands of women at risk of sexual exploita- of the PhP74,267 average monthly cash remit- tion. Further, government approval of "R and tance of the men.1 For the last three years, R" privileges for the US navy sustains a system several provinces in Mindanao ranked highest and infrastructure of military prostitution.