UNITED NATIONS E Economic and Social Distr. Council GENERAL E/C.12/PHL/4 7 September 2007 Original: ENGLISH Substantive session of 2007 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS Periodic reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant Combined second, third and fourth periodic reports of THE PHILIPPINES* ** *** [14 December 2006] * The initial report concerning rights covered by articles 6 to 9 of the Covenant (E/1978/8/Add.4), concerning rights covered by articles 10 to 12 of the Covenant (E/1986/3/Add.17), concerning rights covered by articles 13 to 15 of the Covenant (E/1988/5/Add.2) submitted by the Philippines were considered by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on 18 April 1980, on 8 May 1995 and 15 January 1990 respectively. The second periodic report was due on 30 June 1995, the third on 30 June 2000 and the fourth on 30 June 2005 respectively and submitted as the combined initial, second, third and fourth periodic reports on 14 December 2006. ** The information submitted by the Philippines in accordance with the guidelines concerning the initial part of reports of States parties is contained in the core document (HRI/CORE/1/Add.37). *** In accordance with the information transmitted to States parties regarding the processing of their reports, the present document was not edited before being sent to the United Nations translation services. GE.07-43948 (E) 061107 E/C.12/PHL/4 page 2 CONTENTS Paragraphs Page Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 - 4 3 I. GENERAL INFORMATION ........................................................ 5 - 53 3 A. The land and the people ......................................................... 5 - 10 3 B. General political structure ...................................................... 11 - 17 4 C. Social and economic conditions ............................................ 18 - 28 5 D. General legal framework within which human rights are protected ................................................................ 29 - 48 6 E. Information and publicity ...................................................... 49 - 53 10 II. INFORMATION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COVENANT ......................................................................... 54 - 1040 11 Article 1 ......................................................................................... 54 - 57 11 Article 2 ......................................................................................... 58 - 59 11 Article 3 ......................................................................................... 60 - 75 11 Article 4 ......................................................................................... 76 13 Articles 5 and 6 .............................................................................. 77 - 187 13 Article 7 ......................................................................................... 188 - 249 35 Article 8 ......................................................................................... 250 - 311 45 Article 9 ......................................................................................... 312 - 401 56 Article 10 ....................................................................................... 402 - 491 70 Article 11 ....................................................................................... 492 - 696 89 Article 12 ....................................................................................... 697 - 851 125 Article 13 ....................................................................................... 852 - 956 151 Article 15 ....................................................................................... 957 - 1040 176 Annexes List of acronyms ................................................................................................................ 194 E/C.12/PHL/4 page 3 Introduction 1. This initial report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) was prepared in accordance with the general guidelines adopted by the former Commission on Human Rights, now the Human Rights Council, regarding the submission of initial implementation reports. In observance of the previous three-phase reporting cycle instituted by the Economic and Social Council according to which States Parties were required to report, at three-year intervals, on different clusters of rights, the Philippines has submitted the following ICESCR implementation reports: (a) HRI/CORE/1/Add.37 (2 Feb. 1994); (b) Initial (arts. 6-9): E/1978/8/Add.4 (28 Dec. 1977); (c) 2nd (arts. 6-9): E/1984/7/Add.4 (1 Feb. 1984); (d) Initial (arts. 13-15): E/1988/5/Add.2 (21 June 1988); (e) Additional (arts. 13-15): E/1989/5/Add.7 (28 Feb. 1992); (f) Initial (arts. 10-12): E/1986/3/Add.17 (15 Sept. 1994). 2. This report consists of two parts. The first part provides information on the current situation in the Philippines. The second part provides specific information relating to the implementation of the provisions of the Covenant. 3. This report gives background information on laws, policies, programmes and recent developments pertinent to the rights enumerated in the Covenant, the difficulties and problems arising from their implementation, and the prospects for the future. 4. The report was prepared by the Coordinating Committee on Human Rights (CCHR), which was established through Administrative Order No. 370 dated 10 December 1997. The CCHR is chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and has 15 government departments and agencies as members. I. GENERAL INFORMATION A. The land and the people 5. The Philippines is an archipelago located 966 kilometres off the south-eastern coast of mainland Asia. It is composed of 7,107 islands with three major island groups: Luzon, with an area of 141,395 square kilometres; Visayas, with an area of 56,606 square kilometres and Mindanao, with an area of 101,999 square kilometres. Of the total land area, 92.3 per cent is found within the 11 largest islands. It has a land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometres. It is divided into 15 administrative regions with 76 provinces, 60 cities, 1,543 municipalities and 41,911 barangays (villages). E/C.12/PHL/4 page 4 6. The Filipino is of Malay racial stock. The indigenous culture is a mixture of Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish and American influence. 7. There are 110 ethno-linguistic groups in the country, which speak at least 70 recorded languages. There are eight major languages, with Filipino as the national language and Filipino and English as the official working languages. 8. Eighty-five per cent of Filipinos are Christians, the majority of whom are Roman Catholics. A little over 10 per cent of the population are followers of Islam and the rest belong to other denominations or sects. 9. As of 2005, the population of the Philippines was estimated at 88.5 million. Growing annually at 2.11 per cent, the population is projected to reach 102.8 million by 2015. 10. Population density is 246 persons per square kilometre and about half of the population is concentrated in urban centres all over the country. This is a result of the rapid urbanization caused mainly by the rural to urban migration. B. General political structure 11. The Republic of the Philippines is a democratic and republican State with a presidential form of government. 12. Executive power is exercised by the President of the Philippines with the assistance of his Cabinet. The President is both the head of State and of the Government. The Vice-President assists the President in the performance of his duties and responsibilities and may also be appointed as the head of one of the executive departments. 13. Legislative power is vested in the Congress of the Philippines, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of 24 senators elected at large for a term of six years. The House of Representatives is composed of members elected from legislative districts and through a party-list system. 14. Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and lower courts. The decisions of the Supreme Court are binding on all lower tribunals. The other courts under the Supreme Court are: the Court of Appeals, composed of 51 Justices with one Presiding Justice; Regional Trial Courts; the Municipal Circuit Trial Courts; and the Municipal Trial Courts established in every city not forming part of the metropolitan area. 15. The democratic structure and processes are further enhanced by the constitutional provisions on social justice and human rights, protection of labour, women and children and the strengthening of local autonomy of the local government units (LGUs). The Local Government Code of 1991 devolves the responsibility and budget for the delivery of basic services in agriculture, health, social welfare and development, public works, environment and natural resources to the LGUs. E/C.12/PHL/4 page 5 16. At sub-national levels, governance is assumed by the local LGUs in each administrative area, i.e. province, city, municipality and barangay. Each local government office is composed of both elective and appointive officials. The elective officials include the head and vice-head in each administrative area, i.e. governor and vice-governor for the province, mayor and vice-mayor for the city and municipality, and chairman for the barangay; and as members of the councils, i.e.