THE
PHILIPPINES
President Fidel
V. Ramos, democratically elected in 1992, continues his controversial
effort to revitalise the Philippines, a country devastated by
its history of colonialism, corruption and the entrenched interests
of a small elite class. The country still struggles to reduce
the $28 billion debt left by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos when
he fled in 1986. Almost forty percent of the national budget
goes to debt payment, mostly for debt servicing.1
Ramos' popularity has been boosted by four consecutive years
of economic growth, although he is criticised as being more
interested in roads and dams than social and health issues.2
To achieve his goals,
Ramos is implementing an IMF - World Bank prescribed reform
programme, called "Philippines 2000," which aims to convert
the country's agrarian-based economy into an industrial, market-driven
one. The government is attempting to attract foreign investment
through legal and fiscal reforms, keeping wages and union activity
low, and expanding export processing zones, with garments and
electronics constituting fifty percent of Philippine exports.3
Ramos has broken up internal monopolies and privatised key industries
to produce what economic analysts are calling one of the most
open economies in Asia.4
Yet the success of the Philippine economy still largely depends
on the 4.2 million overseas workers who send home earnings from
mostly domestic and construction-related jobs. More Filipinos
are employed overseas than in the entire domestic manufacturing
sector.5
Despite the promise
of "Philippines 2000" and four years of macro-economics growth,
a greater percentage of Filipinos live in poverty than in the
other countries of Southeast Asia. President Ramos' liberalising
and deregulating measures have been attacked by many groups
as "anti-poor." The struggle between social welfare and wealth-creation
pervades every political and economic debate in the Philippines.6
Armed Conflict
The Philippines
has suffered from a continuous armed struggle between the government
and its main revolutionary guerrilla groups. The Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF), a Muslim separatist movement based
in the southern island of Mindanao, has been fighting for independence
since 1971. Up to 200,000 people have died, many of them civilians,
and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced.7
Renewed hope has arisen since President Ramos signed a peace
agreement with the MNLF in September 1996.8
However, two breakaway Muslim organisations are still operating
in the Mindanao region.
A more widespread
impediment to peace in the Philippines lies in the protracted
conflict between successive Philippine Governments and the communist
National Democratic Front (NDF). The two sides resumed peace
talks in June 1996 and exchanged political prisoners. Although
President Ramos expressed "guarded optimism" about this round
of talks with the communists, NDF leader Luis Jalandoni accused
the Ramos government of threatening massive violations of human
rights by legislating the appropriation of 200,000 hectares
of land for concessions to foreign mining corporations, thereby
"causing or threatening the massive uprooting of the native
population and poor rural settlers." 9
Communist insurgents
have been fighting Philippine governments since the time of
the Marcos regime, and paramilitary troops, or vigilantes, have
been used up to the present as surrogate forces to isolate the
guerrillas from their base of support among peasants in the
rural areas. The militarisation of the countryside, where the
majority of Philippine women live, has had a devastating impact
on many rural communities. Social action and mobilisation have
been undermined, and big landlords have been able to use paramilitary
units to protect their control of land, seriously hampering
agrarian reform.10 Although
the number of military encounters between government and insurgent
forces is said to have declined, the disruption of peasant life
and production continues in some areas, fuelling urban migration.
VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN - Articles 3, 5, 6, 12, 15 and 16
According to Philippine
Social Welfare and Development Secretary Lina Laigo, there has
been a significant increase in the number of reported rape and
incest cases, as well as beatings of women and children, throughout
the country. A study conducted by the Department of Social Welfare
indicated that rape victims have become younger, with a case
even involving a three-month old infant.11
However, there has been an increasing willingness on the part
of ordinary citizens to report criminal activity,12
and this may be reflected in the statistics.
Domestic Violence
Reported cases of
battered women are part of the nation-wide increase. Social
Welfare Secretary Laigo said the deployment of trained women
police officers at women's desks in police stations has encouraged
victims to come forward and report their ordeals. There is a
long way to go, however, before these women's desks become as
effective as they could be. Sources say that the policewomen
need to be much better informed about the law and better trained
to deal sensitively with victims. Also, the women's desks are
not taken very seriously yet by the police leadership.
In general, local
officials and police do not take seriously complaints by women
about domestic violence. Many women do not report the violence
against them because incompetent or corrupt police officers
are unlikely to do much about it. Human rights groups in the
Philippines attribute the majority of abuses in the country
to the police and military forces, and officials admit that
many kidnappings and other crimes are linked to policemen and
former soldiers.
There is no domestic
violence-specific legislation in the Philippines, although activists
are currently working on a proposed bill. The criminal remedy
consists of filing a criminal complaint for physical injuries
(slight, less serious and serious) or parricide/homicide/murder
(attempted, frustrated, consummated). Claims of less serious
physical injuries have to go through the Philippine barangay
conciliation/mediation system before a complaint can be filed
with the prosecutor's office and eventually in the court. In
the Philippines, the barangay is the smallest political unit,
representing a village or community, and is headed by a barangay
'captain.' (The system is very ancient, and the term 'captain'
relates to a much earlier time, when each community would have
had a boat.) The police will rarely entertain a complaint for
physical injuries, even only for purposes of documentation,
without the woman going through the barangay process, which
involves a personal confrontation between the parties, with
the barangay captain or a barangay official acting as mediator.
Since the primary purpose of this process is conciliation, it
can have an adverse impact on women survivors of domestic violence,
particularly if the barangay official knows nothing about the
dynamics of domestic violence.13
The civil remedies
in domestic violence cases consist of filing a complaint for
civil damages or filing a complaint/petition for legal separation,
if the couple are married. Philippine law provides that for
repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct, or any
attempt against one's life, one can file a complaint for legal
separation. The decree of legal separation does not dissolve
the marriage - there is no legal divorce in the Philippines
- but simply sanctions separation. The advantage of obtaining
a decree of legal separation pertains to property, if there
is any, for the guilty spouse may be deprived of his share of
the assets.14
The Philippine Family
Code does offer a ground for legal separation and suspension
of parental authority,15
but it falls short in its attempt to protect victims of domestic
violence by requiring that a woman suffer habitual physical
violence or attempted murder before obtaining a separation decree.16
In addition, the Revised Penal Code does not penalise acts which
constitute domestic violence nor provide protection orders for
the victim.17
Domestic violence
is an especially serious problem in the overcrowded urban slums
that continue to grow in the Philippines. According to one source,
the traditions and customs that controlled behaviour in the
rural areas no longer have a strong influence. People who migrate
to the mines have similar problems, exacerbated by a high rate
of alcoholism.18 A random
survey conducted in three poor communities in Metro Manila in
1990 indicated that 11 out of 12 women had experienced battering
at least once in their married life.19
Sexual Violence
Rape continues to
be a major problem in the Philippines. Police said that reported
rape cases in 1995 showed an alarming increase over 1994.20
The police officer who opened the first woman's desk in 1993
was quoted by the Straits Times as saying that sexual violence
in the Philippines is encouraged by a machista attitude toward
women, who are associated with weakness and servility. "This
cultural attitude has created a nation of sexists, potential
batterers and sexual harassers."21
Social Welfare Secretary Laigo refers to rape as a "silent crime,"
influenced by a number of factors, including alcoholism, the
proliferation of pornographic materials, and "the simple lack
of values."22 One woman
lawyer emphasised that economic conditions are inextricable
from the problem of incest and sexual violence. Extreme poverty
results in girls having to share beds with their fathers and
brothers, in mothers working overseas, leaving their daughters
vulnerable to abuse, or mothers working in the cane fields and
as domestics in other people's homes, leaving young girls alone
for long periods of time.
Most incest cases
are dismissed in court because victims desist from pressing
charges, usually when the cases drag on. Secretary Liago expressed
concern that the courts do not resolve child abuse cases in
a reasonable amount of time. Women's groups protest that, in
general, accused rapists are dealt with too leniently by the
security and judicial systems. For example, a Manila judge spared
a convicted rapist from the highest possible penalty because
he was drunk and high on drugs when he raped his two victims.
Critics argue that that should be an aggravating factor, not
a mitigating one.23
A bill drafted by
SIBOL, a feminist legislative advocacy group, which would reclassify
rape from a crime against chastity to a crime against a person,
a public offence, was taken up by Congress in 1993, where it
became very controversial because it broadened the definition
of rape beyond forced penile penetration. The bill was refiled,
along with other versions, upon the opening of the Congress
in June 1995. To date, the Senate has passed a version containing
the most significant provisions in the SIBOL bill, but the Lower
House is considering a version that departs significantly from
the SIBOL proposal. It is expected that a major battle will
be waged in the bicameral committee over these differences.
PROSTITUTION AND
TRAFFICKING - Article 6
The increasing problem
of prostitution in the Philippines, as elsewhere in the world,
stems mainly from dire poverty and from lack of employment opportunity
for women. However, an unfortunate colonial history, followed
by a state development policy that has promoted tourism and
labour migration, have all helped to make prostitution particularly
entrenched in the Philippines so that it exercises a pervasive,
corrupting influence on the social fabric of the poorer classes.
Poverty alone cannot account for what has become systemic exploitation.
In this regard, it is worth remembering that a generation ago,
during the Vietnam War, there were as many as 10,000 American
soldiers a day looking for entertainment in the Philippines.24
Some distinctions
should be clarified here: the majority of the clients of prostitutes
within the country are Filipino men, but there is also extensive
prostitution involving tourists and businessmen, and the US
military. Prostitution takes place everywhere, particularly
in large cities such as Manila, Cebu and Davao. US Navy ships
still visit Olongapo City (formerly Subic Bay), and Angeles
City (formerly Clark Air Force Base) is still a centre for prostitution,
although the clients are mainly civilian tourists. In all of
these places, there are bars, clubs, massage parlours and casas
(brothels), and also many prostitutes working independently
on the streets and piers. There is also trafficking of women
outside the country for the purpose of prostitution. These women
generally go as entertainers. However, many women who end up
working as prostitutes outside of the Philippines go out of
the country as overseas contract workers (see below) or as tourists
who take up work illegally. These women are the most vulnerable
and most easily forced into prostitution. In these cases, international
crime syndicates are usually involved, such as the yakuza in
Japan.25
Sex tourism in the
Philippines
The consequences
of the growth in sex tourism are particularly serious. End Child
Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) says the fear of AIDS
set a new trend in the sex trade - preying on younger children
who are believed to be virgin and therefore "clean." Second
among Southeast Asian countries in the number of child 'sex
workers' - UNICEF places the number at over 60,000 - the Philippines
has become a glamorous vacation spot for pedophiles from Europe,
the United States, Australia, Japan and elsewhere. A smut magazine
published in Japan, for instance, features nude photos of Filipino
children and tags Manila and the central Philippine city of
Cebu as "treasure lands" of child prostitutes.26
The magazine, entitled Southeast Asia for Men Travelling Alone,
pointed out where to obtain the best sex in the region at the
cheapest prices.
Prostitution, as
an integral component of the tourist industry, is an important
source of foreign exchange for the Philippine Government. Despite
what has been described as a "high-profile crackdown" on prostitution
and child abuse, activists are concerned that the government's
campaign is more a public relations effort than a serious attempt
to change the situation.27
Local police have raided and shut down bars in major "prostitution
centres." The mayor of Manila shut down the city's notorious
red-light district in 1992, the same year that President Fidel
Ramos issued a law making it easier to prosecute men who have
sex with children. A number of foreign tourists currently face
charges of prostituting and corrupting minors.
In addition to the
problem of a slow justice system, activists say that the authorities
are corrupt and local law enforcement perpetuate the problem
with their tendency to round up suspected prostitutes and bar
girls instead of bar owners.28
Sometimes parents collude with pedophiles, and also with traffickers,
who offer expensive gifts and financial support to the families.
NGOs also complain that the local political and legal establishments
will protect pedophiles sooner than interfere with the system
or the benefits that come from sex tourism. Despite its link
with the sex industry, tourism continues to be a highlight of
the national development plan.
EMPLOYMENT - Article
11
According to the
Institute of Labour Studies, women workers in the Philippines
earn only thirty percent of what male workers earn for similar
work. According to a 1994 UNESCO publication, the gap becomes
even wider at the executive and managerial level. Furthermore,
as the size of the establishment increases, the wage gap between
the sexes also rises, indicating a stronger wage discrimination
in more established firms. 29
Women not only receive
unequal pay, they are also largely excluded from executive and
managerial positions. For example, despite the fact that the
country's educational system is heavily female, men have always
outnumbered women in top-level executive positions.30
Women also comprise the bulk of civil employees, but few hold
senior government posts. There is a law prohibiting discrimination
in the workplace solely on the basis of sex. However, the positive
impact of this law has not been seen.
Gender discrimination
is also evident in recruiting tactics. Despite the greater number
and better grades of female university students, women continue
to earn less than their male peers, who, more often than not,
land higher level positions. This is partly because women tend
to choose fields of study in low-paying sectors, but discrimination
also plays a role. According to Beatrice Cabrerea, head of the
Far Eastern University Guidance Counselling Centre, "The [top]
companies that come in to recruit sometimes do have preferences
for males over females... Women, for example, are wanted for
clerks and executive secretaries, since they are [deemed] more
patient than men." 31
Female graduates
who venture into male dominated areas face gender-based obstacles
when they begin the job. A 1993 University of the Philippines
female medical school graduate who is now training in neurology
at the Philippine General Hospital notes that women are allotted
fewer residency slots in some fields of specialisation.32
Of the five residents accepted annually for ear, nose, and throat
surgery training, for example, there is only one opening for
women.
Free Trade Zones
(FTZs)
Women make up the
bulk of workers in the Free Trade Zones, which have been promoted
as an important part of the government's economic development
plan. Currently, there are four major Zones, with the majority
of women workers in the garment, footwear and textile manufacturing
industries.33 President
Ramos' "Philippines 2000" programme has generated up to six
percent GNP growth in the past two years, but critics point
out, as elsewhere, that the export-led growth model is making
the country increasingly dependent on sectors using cheap labour,
particularly in the FTZs.34
The FTZs in the Philippines exhibit the same poor working conditions,
low wages and underdeveloped workforce that exist in most FTZs
throughout the world.
According to the
General Secretary for the Asian and Pacific Region of the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Takashi Izumi, who
headed a delegation to the Philippines in 1995, "mass dismissals,
forced overtime and miserable pay and working conditions are
the rule rather than the exception in the free trade zones...."
He also said that "proof gathered during our mission shows that
a lot of enterprises in the free trade zones avoid paying social
security, many do not respect the minimum wage and most ignore
basic health, safety and environmental standards."35
ICFTU learned that women workers in an indeterminate number
of factories in the Zones are obliged to sign documents allowing
their employers to sack them if they marry, and that national
labour legislation regarding maternity benefits of various kinds
is often ignored. It is also reported that in some factories
women have to undergo pregnancy tests before they can begin
work.
Although trade unions
are provided for in the Constitution, some local authorities
are accused of banning unions, outright or indirectly, often
with the national government's acquiescence.36
Some employers intimidate workers trying to form a union with
threats of firing or factory closure.37
Despite the ostensible uniformity of labour law throughout the
country, President Ramos declared the country's nineteen industrial
centres as strike-free zones, or "industrial peace zones."38
Local officials maintain these "union free/ strike free" policies,
which have impeded organising efforts in most of the FTZs. In
the last two years, no less than seven trade union activists
have been reported missing. Three others who were missing were
later found dead. 39
Within the sub-standard
FTZ conditions, women receive lower pay than male workers. The
vast majority are hired on a contractual or temporary basis
so that they cannot use maternity benefits. They occupy the
most subordinate positions, with limited opportunities for advancement,
and they are vulnerable to sexual harassment.
Sub-contracting
The situation of
home-based women workers is even worse. They form the periphery
in the new international division of labour. Home-based women
workers are sub-contracted to produce garments, embroidered
materials, handicrafts and footwear for export. Sub-contracted
workers do not receive benefits of any kind and do not have
security of tenure. Because they are scattered and isolated
from each other, they are more at the mercy of the "mamamakyaw"
(contractor) than other workers.40
Overseas Contract
Workers (OCWs)
To cope with the
lack of local job opportunities, increasing numbers of women
have turned to overseas contract work, strongly encouraged by
the Philippine Government. The employment situation is such
that many of the women leaving home to become maids overseas
are college graduates.41
Currently more than four million Filipinos are working overseas
in more than 120 countries.42
Sixty percent of OCWs in 1994 were women. Nearly seventy-five
percent of female OCWs are employed as service workers, mostly
as domestics, while male OCWs work mainly as production and
construction-related workers.43
Many women go overseas to work in "entertainment," a well-known
euphemism for prostitution.
Abuse of women OCWs
in host countries is common and has finally become the subject
of international concern. This includes the related category
of mail-order brides. The Nation reported in April, 1995 that
sixteen Filipina mail-order brides in Australia had been killed
by their husbands since 1980, in some cases for insurance money,
making Filipinas the group of women hardest hit by domestic
violence in Australia.44
One source indicates, however, that there is now a law against
engaging in the mail-order bride business.45
The Flor Contemplacion
case broke the silence in the Philippines regarding the mistreatment
of women OCWs. Ms. Contemplacion, a young Filipina maid, was
hanged in March 1995 in Singapore for the murder of another
maid and Ms. Contemplacion's four-year old charge. Filipinos
poured onto the streets in protest.
The Philippine government
has called these women "heroines of the Philippine economy."
In eulogising Ms. Contemplacion, President Ramos saluted "the
migrant worker, who is the Philippines' contribution to other
countries' development....and a vital export commodity in the
Philippines' own economic strategy."
As a result of lobbying
by non-governmental organisations and in response to the public
outrage following high-profile cases, government policy has,
at least officially, focused on protective measures for overseas
workers. The Republic Act 8042, or the "Magna Carta for Overseas
Workers," was enacted into law in June 1995.46
The law revises the premises of the overseas employment programme,
stating in part that the Philippine Government "does not promote
overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and
achieve national development," that the programme "rests solely
on the assurance that the dignity and fundamental human rights
of the Filipino shall not at any time be compromised or violated."
Increasing evidence of exploitation and abuse of female workers
in host countries has led to a number of government and NGO
services, but it is unclear how effective these have been. The
government has also set up new registration procedures and imposed
restrictive measures on labour migration, but the question remains
as to how effective these can be, given the value of overseas
workers to the national economy. Also, there is the question
of the extent to which a government can restrict an individual's
choice of occupation or her mobility.
The official Philippine
Overseas Employment Agency in September 1996 suspended the deployment
of Filipino workers to seven Middle Eastern countries to prevent
workers from being caught in the conflict between the United
States and Iraq.47 This
move was a marked departure from previous years when the government
turned its cheek while Filipinas were caught in the midst of
violence. However, the Agency contracts women out as domestic
workers without challenging the policies in host countries that
heighten the women's vulnerability to sexual and labour exploitation.
For example, Saudi Arabia requires foreign workers to surrender
passports upon arrival. So far, only one abusive employer has
been prosecuted in the Persian Gulf countries, and nothing prevents
an abusive employer or husband from ordering another domestic
or another wife.48
There is no real
indication that the Philippines will turn away from its labour-export
policies. The state needs hard currency, among other things
to continue paying interest on its foreign debt, and the continuation
of agricultural-export policies (GATT requires reduced production
of rice and corn) will continue to displace farmers, who will
end up joining the immigration cycle.49
OCWs are required by law to remit between thirty and seventy
percent of their earnings - depending on job and location -
through state commercial banks.50
A 1996 International Labour Organisation study on emigration
pressures in the Philippines reported that these annual remittances
from OCWs total nearly $US 3 billion each year, which is more
than twenty percent of export earnings and four percent of the
gross domestic product.51
The Philippines
is the world's largest exporter of labour, with an estimated
4.5 million of its people working abroad.52
What began as a temporary measure in 1974 to alleviate unemployment
and generate more foreign currency has become a key feature
of the economy.
Overseas entertainers
Both male and female
OCWs can be exploited, but for women exploitation comes with
a heavy overlay of violence, from murder to battery to sex trafficking.
The government does not acknowledge the ease with which contract
workers slide into the sex industry. By unofficial estimates
it is the second most likely employer of overseas Filipinas,
based upon the number of Filipinas contracted to work in what
is euphemistically called the "entertainment industry."
A career manual
for women endorsed by the Philippine labour department says:
to be an overseas performing artist, you don't need to spend
for a college education. All you need to work and perform in
night-clubs and bars overseas is "the right looks, minimum height,
natural talent and a sense of rhythm." Activists say that the
guide paints far too glamorous a picture of the work overseas
entertainers do. In fact, more often than not women who take
such jobs are ultimately pushed into prostitution. 53
The Government has
set a minimum age of 23 for entertainers and requires them to
have an official "artist's record book" in a bid to professionalise
the industry. In 1994, it required women going to work as entertainers
to take singing or dancing lessons before leaving the country.
Yet, a representative of the Manila-based Coalition Against
Trafficking in Women points out that by stressing the artistic
angle and the training of entertainers, "the government is trying
to pretend to everyone, including themselves, that this is not
sexual entertainment." 54
HEALTH CARE AND
FAMILY PLANNING - Article 12
As in other developing
countries, population policies and family planning in the Philippines
have focused on fertility reduction to reduce population growth.55
The policy encourages married women to use family planning programmes,
which are mainly focused on targeted rates of reduction in births.
Some of the consequences of this approach are: sometimes government
clinics provide contraceptives to women without informing them
about the side effects. Sometimes women are forced to use certain
contraceptives so that the programme will meet 'acceptor targets.'
Studies show that some women, as a direct result of inappropriate
contraceptive methods, suffer from complications such as pelvic
infections and infertility.
The government family
planning programme lacks follow-up services for women who have
problems. In particular, services are not provided to deal with
side effects and to change methods when necessary. Thus, many
women depend on natural family planning or do not use any methods
at all, out of the fear over side-effects and misuse of the
artificial methods.
Women's organisations
are concerned about the lack of women's control over many of
the contraceptive methods provided by the government clinics.
For example, the IUD is provider-dependent and doctors have
to insert and remove the device. Research indicates that government
health workers often refuse women who wish to change their current
method or stop altogether.
Government policies
ignore the needs of adolescent and unmarried women for family
planning services, mainly because of the strong pressure exerted
by the Catholic Church. However, pre-marital sex among adolescents
has become more common, and they have no protection against
unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Abortion
Abortion is illegal
in the Philippines. However, in 1987, an estimated 155,000 to
750,000 induced abortions were performed. Most of these are
said to involve married women in their late 20s or 30s, who
already have three or four children.56
RURAL WOMEN - Article
14
Most of the Philippines
population of seventy million live in conditions of agrarian
poverty. Rural women, including both peasants and fisherfolk,
comprise eighty percent of the total female population. Most
peasants work on rice, sugar, corn, coconut, fruit or vegetable
farms. One of the main causes of rural poverty in the Philippines,
according to a 1996 World Bank Project Appraisal Report, is
the way in which land is used and controlled.57
Only sixty percent of agricultural land is owned by the people
who farm it. Critics warn that the government's push for expanded
tourism and industrialisation continues to take land out of
the hands of many peasant farmers and is leading to greater
social unrest.
Effect of Economic
Adjustment Plan on Rural Women
Under the current
export-oriented agricultural programme, the production of cash
crops takes primacy over staple food for local consumption.
Thus, since the early 1980s there have been many cases of eviction,
including forced evictions, of peasants whose lands were converted
into corporate farms.58
Arable land is also being converted into tourist areas or industrial,
commercial or housing zones.
With the advent
of agribusiness and corporate farming, peasant women have become
more marginalised. It is mainly men's productive work that is
recognised in cash crop production, so men are the main beneficiaries
of training, credit, technology and inputs.
Women's work in
carrying the burden of structural adjustment is manifested in
longer hours on less fertile, marginalised lands to produce
food for consumption. Less food means a further decline in the
nutritional status of women and their families.
To attract foreign
investors and promote growth, the government does not enforce
labour laws, including minimum wage laws. Women agricultural
workers receive even less than men do. The majority of women
are hired in plantations during peak periods, during the planting
and harvesting seasons, either in the field or in the processing
areas. Because women are considered a "back-up" labour force,
they are hired seasonally. As a result, more women migrate to
the cities looking for work.59
There are abuses
linked with rural development in the logging industry. According
to Human Rights Watch/Asia, indigenous forest dwellers have
been the victims of threats, forced evacuation and summary executions
by corrupt government officials and soldiers who support logging
companies.60 Human Rights
Watch infers that one reason the government has failed to stop
the abuses is that many local officials and law enforcers are
heavily involved in logging, either directly or by providing
protection to loggers. The report surmised that loggers employ
"small private armies" and finance government military units
to deal with resistance from these communities.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
LAW - Article 16
There has been significant
improvement in equalising the corresponding rights and obligations
of men and women in the family. The Family Code, which took
effect in 1987 and is the governing law on family relations,
eliminated many of the discriminatory provisions in the previous
Civil Code. However, some issues remain:
- The absence of
a divorce law, as previously discussed.
- One of the grounds
for legal separation is repeated physical violence. Women
are protesting the use of the word 'repeated.'
- Discrimination
in decision-making with respect to children and property,
in case of conflict, the husband's decision shall prevail.
The wife can question this decision in court within a five
year period, but this is usually not feasible for most women.
- A weak and ineffective
mechanism to enforce the right to support. Courts do not usually
give priority to support cases.
Under the Philippine
Penal Code, the charge of marital infidelity for the husband
is concubinage, and for the wife, adultery. For a woman to be
charged with adultery, it requires only one act of sexual intercourse
with a man not her husband. Concubinage, on the other hand,
requires cohabitation of the husband with another woman in the
conjugal dwelling or elsewhere and sexual intercourse under
scandalous circumstances. (Note: in Turkish law marital infidelity,
until recently, was differentiated for the man and the woman
in virtually the same way. See Turkey report.)
After marriage a
woman legally can retain her maiden surname, as the pertinent
legal provision in the Civil Code on the married woman's use
of the husband's surname is not mandatory. In reality, however,
the implied right of a married woman to her maiden name is seldom
exercised.
Endnotes:
1
"Beasts of Adjustment Burden," Connexions, Spring 1994.
back 2
Jon Liden, "He Takes Campaign to the Philippine People,
But What's the Goal?" The Asian Wall Street Journal, 26 June
1996. back
3
Sylvia Chant and Cathy McIlwaine, Women of a Lesser Cost:
Female Labour, Foreign Exchange and Philippine Development (London:
Pluto Press, 1995) 59. back
4
"The Philippines: Back on the Road," The Economist, 11
May 1996. back
5
Philip Bowring, "A Decade Down a Bumpy Road, the Philippines
Takes Stock," International Herald Tribune, 20 February, 1996.
back
6
"Steady Eddie," The Economist, 11 May 1996. back
7
"Peace Accord Raises Hopes of Healing the Philippines,"
The Des Moines Register, 1 September, 1996. back
8
Misuari, the Chairman of the MNLF, was subsequently elected
governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on September
9, 1996. The election distinguished itself from past elections
in this region by being unmarred by violence. "The Ballot Prevails,"
The Manila Times 10 September, 1996. back
9
"Peace talks open between Philippines and communist rebels,"
Agence France-Presse, 20 June, 1996. back
10
Ligaya Lindio-McGovern, "The Philippines: counter-insurgency
and peasant women," Race and Class, (34, 4) 1993. back
11
"Cases of Rape, Wife Beating Up - Laigo," The Philippine
Star, 15 April, 1996. back
12
United States Department of State Human Rights Practices,
1995. back
13
Evalyn G. Ursua, Women's Legal Bureau, Manila , email to
IWRAW, 11 August, 1996. back
14
Women's Legal Bureau. back
15
Although there is no absolute divorce law in the Philippines
(legal separation is referred to as "relative divorce"), a source
says that there is a 'creative' provision in the 1988 Family
Code, which provides that a marriage may be declared null and
void if one or both of the partners are psychologically incapacitated
to perform the essential marital obligations." One source says
that psychological incapacity can be anything, and that only
the creativity of the lawyer and the liberality of the judge
set the limits. However, very few women are aware of this particular
legal option. back
16
Evalyn G. Ursua, "The Family Code and its Implications
on Women and Children," HERsay Magazine ,June 1994: 33-34.
back
17
"Domestic Violence Bill," Trends, News & Tidbits [Quezon
City, Philippines] First Quarter 1996. back
18
Vicky Tauli Corpus, "The Women Rally; the Men Begin to
Change: The Philippines," Connexions Winter 1995. back
19
National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women and the
Asian Development Bank, Filipino Women: Facts and Figures ,
1995. back
20
US Department of State. back
21
Nirmal Ghosh, "Two in War on Violence Against Women in
the Philippines," The Straits Times, 4 January, 1996. back
22
"Cases of Rape, Wife-beating Up - Laigo" back
23
US Department of State back
24
Ninotchka Rosca, "The Philippines' Shameful Export," The
Nation, 17 April, 1995. back
25
Some of IWRAW's information concerning prostitution and
sex tourism was provided by a University of Minnesota graduate
student who interned recently with the Coalition Against Trafficking
in Women in the Philippines. back
26
"Philippines Ranks 2nd in Asian Child Prostitution," Asian
Political News 29 Jan. 1996 back
27
Johanna Son, "Philippines: Once Again, Government Clamps
Down on Sex Fiends," Inter Press Service, 7 August, 1995.
back
28
Johanna Son back
29
Karina Constantino-David and Maricris R. Valte, "Poverty,
Population Growth and the Impact of Urbanisation in the Philippines,"
UNESCO 1994. back
30
Filipino Women: Facts and Figures back
31
"Philippines-Women: First Class Students Gain Second Class
Jobs." back
32
"First Class Students" back
33
"Beasts of the Adjustment Burden." back
34
"Misleading Figures," Free Labour World, [Brussels], April,
1995. back
35
"Philippines 2000 - a Delusion?" back
36
"Economic Miracle in the Philippines: the other side of
the coin," Free Labour World, April 1995. back
37
US Department of State back
38
"Women Workers in Factories and Export Processing Zones,"
Piglas-Diwas: Issues and Trends about Women of the Philippines:
Vol. VIII, No. 1, 1995: 20. back
39
US Department of State back
40
"Beasts of the Adjustment Burden." back
41
Luz Rimban, "Philippines-Women: Worker Exodus Continues
Despite Horror Tales," Inter Press Service, 10 November, 1995.
back
42
Johanna Son, "Labour-Philippines: Balabagan Returns, Many
More Look Overseas," Inter Press Service, 1 August, 1996.
back
43
Filipino Women: Facts and Figures. back
44
"The Philippines' Shameful Export." back
45
Eleanor C. Conda, "Filipino Women And The Law," a paper
presented at the IWEAJ International Exchange Seminar in Japan,
September 1995. back
46
Alcestis Abrera-Mangahas, "Violence Against Women Migrant
Workers: A Philippine Reality Check," background paper for the
United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, Expert
Group Meeting on Violence Against Women Migrant Workers, Manila,
Philippines. 27-31 May 1996. back
47
"Major News Items in Leading Philippine Newspapers: The
Manila Times," Xinhua English Newswire 7 Sept. 1996. back
48
"The Philippines' Shameful Export" back
49
"The Philippines' Shameful Export" back
50
Women of a Lesser Cost: Female Labour, Foreign Exchange
and Philippine Development 33. back
51
"Labour-Philippines: Balabagan Returns, Many More Look
Overseas." back
52
"The Lost Daughters." back
53
"Women-Philippines: Exploitation of Performing Artists."
back
54
"Women-Philippines: Exploitation of Performing Artists"
back
55
The annual population growth is 2.5%, the highest in South
Asia and among the highest in the world. (Tasker, 1995)
back
56
The information for this section was summarised from a
number of well known Philippine research studies by an intern
from the University of Minnesota who worked with family planning
NGOs in the Philippines in 1996. back
57
World Bank, Project Appraisal Report, Philippines-Agrarian
Reform Community Development Project (New York, World Bank,
1996.) back
58
"Beasts of Adjustment Burden." back
59
Beasts of Adjustment Burden." back
60
"Philippines: Logging Companies Responsible for Rights
Abuse- Report," Dow Jones Asian Equities Report, 29 April, 1996.
back
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