A Tribute To Women On Women’s Month 2007

By Atty. Ronquillo C. Tolentino

Permit me to start this article with some quotes about women, as follows:
"Women are the poetry of the world in the same sense as the stars are the poetry of heaven. – Clear, light-giving, harmonious, they are the terrestrial planets that rule the destinies of mankind." - Hardgrave
"Women!" With that word, life’s dearest hopes and memories come. Truth, beauty, love, in her adored, and earth’s lost paradise restored, in the green bower of home". – Halleck
"Next to God, we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth having". –Bovee
"Christianity has lifted woman to a new place in the world. And just in proportion as Christianity has sway will she rise to a higher dignity in human life. What she has now, and all she have of privileges and true honor, she owes it to the gospel which took those qualities which had been counted weak and unworthy, and gave them a divine glory in Christ."– Herrick Johnson
I had attended some lectures on women when I was chair of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan committee on women and family, the first chairman as the committee is mandated by the Local Government Code. My position, as such made me an "Honorary Woman". Although I am the council chairman of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines since 2000, I am also a member of the executive council of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, Aklan Council. Too, I attended various UNICEF seminars on women and children two years back.
I have always adhered to the principles that every woman had worth and dignity, has capacity to change. I believe that every woman has the capacity for self-determination and problem-solving and should have equal access to opportunities in society. I also consider that women are capable of exercising social consciousness and responsibility toward themselves, their families and their community. Women can achieve personal growth and development if provided with an environment that is both supportive and challenging.
Section 13 of Executive Order No. 123 reorganizing the Ministry of Social Services and Development into a Department of Social Welfare and Development provides for the creation of the Bureau of Women’s Welfare. The Bureau is mandated "to promote women’s welfare with specific attention to the prevention or eradication of exploitation of women in any form such as but not limited to prostitution and illegal recruitment as well as the promotion of skills of women for employment and self-actualization".
Article II, Section 11 of the Philippine Constitution provides "The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights."
The constitution also provides that the "State recognizes the role of women in nation building and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of men and women."
The ratified U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women-internationally accepted principles of international law and must therefore hasten to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.
The Province of Aklan, in its Gender and Development Code, following the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and other international conventions to which the Philippines is a signatory, and in the Philippine Constitution, provide the following protection and rights of women, as follows:
The right to good and quality education;
The right to comprehensive health services;
The right to access loans and other forms of financial credit;
The right to join leisure, sports and cultural activities;
The right to decide on the number of children and on the number of years between pregnancies, in accordance with the Constitution;
The right to share in parenting activities;
The right to have equal access to jobs, benefits and social security;
The right to be paid equally based on the job they do;
The right to be free from all forms of physical, sexual, emotional, mental and economic violence;
The right to be free from all forms of slavery and prostitution;
The right to vote, run for election and hold public office;
The right to represent the country internationally; and
The right to acquire change or retain nationality and citizenship.
Modesty aside, I was acting presiding officer when the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan deliberated and passed provincial ordinance No. 03-027 adopting the Gender and Development Code in its fourth regular session for calendar year 2003 on December 19, 2003.
Permit me in passing to enumerate other laws relevant to the protection of women.
The present Revised Penal Code defines it as a crime of physical injuries "the infliction of physical injuries by anyone upon the person of another, including a wife by her husband."
The Family Code of the Philippines – Executive Order No. 209, as amended by Executive Order No. 227 title III – Rights and Obligations between husband and wife Article 72 – "when one of the spouses neglects his or her duties to the conjugal union or commits acts which tend to bring danger, dishonor or injury to the other or the family, the aggrieved party may apply to the court for relief."
R.A. 7192 – An act promoting the integration of women as full and equal partners of men in development and nation building for other purposes or otherwise known as "Women in Development and Nation Building Act."
R.A. 9262 – Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004. /MP