From the News! – Your Daily News

by Joel dela Torre
from People’s Journal

MARKING the United Nations Day for Women and International Peace today, the Commission on Human Rights called on government to improve protection and programs for the rights of women.

The CHR said that women and girls as human beings are entitled  along with men and boys to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, thus the need for the quick passage into law of the Magna Carta for Women aside from strengthening the application of the law on violence against women and children.

Because there are certain issues that are more problematic for women than men, they need stronger protection, CHR chairperson Leila de Lima said.

The main issues that threaten the rights of women in the Philippines include domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, extrajudicial killings, unequal job opportunities, internal displacement due to armed conflict, health care including reproductive health, education and literacy, and proper treatment in the criminal justice system.

“Equality and non-discrimination are not achieved by having gender-neutral laws per se, or by having laws that are ‘equally applicable to men and women, instead, equality and non-discrimination are fulfilled by having laws that, in their implementation allow both genders to live their lives in dignity and in full enjoyment of their human rights,” De Lima said.

The CHR chief urged President Macapagal-Arroyo to sign into law at the soonest possible time the Magna Carta for Women, which covers a wide range of matters pertaining to women which make up about half of the national population.

The Senate passed the bill on the Magna Carta just before International Women’s Day.

Manuel L. Quezon III
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines – We are living in days when the Catholic Church has set out to basically nullify the Philippine Revolution, by making government the instrument for the propagation of the Faith. In all things related to sexuality, the hierarchy wants a return to innocence.

But when were we ever so? Take prostitution.

Prostitution is everywhere in our land, and this has been so since time immemorial. In the 1970s Nick Joaquin even wrote a short history of prostitution combined with a travelogue of the best places to find female flesh, circa pre-martial law Manila (he called it “Manila: Sin City?”). No success has been met in eliminating it. Perhaps the option left is to put women in control—not only of their bodies, but of the fruits of their labor should they decide that sex is to be their trade.

Samuel Johnson wrote that “In all countries there has been fornication, as in all countries there has been theft; but there may be more or less of the one, as well as of the other, in proportion to the force of law. All men will naturally commit fornication, as all men will naturally steal. And, Sir, it is very absurd to argue, as has been often done, that prostitutes are necessary to prevent violent effects of appetite from violating the decent order of life; nay, should be permitted in order to preserve the chastity of our wives and daughters. Depend upon it, severe laws, steadily enforced, would be sufficient against these evils, and would promote marriage.”

An obscure writer named William E. H. Lecky also wrote “Herself the supreme type of vice, she (the prostitute) is ultimately the most efficient guardian of virtue. But for her, the unchallenged purity of countless happy homes would be polluted, and not a few who, in the pride of their untempted chastity, think of her with an indignant shudder, would have known the agony of remorse and despair. On that one degraded and ignoble form are concentrated the passions that night have filled the world with shame. She remains, while creeds and civilizations rise and fall, the eternal priestess of humanity, blasted for the sins of the people.”

Now there is a commonly repeated and scurrilous piece of conventional wisdom that says a certain town in the Bicol region produces only two types of people: priests and prostitutes. This is, of course, not true, but it is useful to repeat it here because it calls attention to a disturbing duality in our country: we are famous for our Catholicism (in fact we seem to be held in special affection by Popes who see our nation as the cradle of a New Counter-Reformation) and our piety, and we are notorious for the plenitude of our prostitutes.

And, since this is the era of globalization, foreign prostitutes have been arriving in appreciable numbers, particularly Russians in the Ramos years, said to be much sought after by the Chinese community: one Russian prostitute in Davao did so well that she retired and set up a beauty parlor from which derived a prosperous—and impeccably honest—living. South Americans from Colombia and Brazil have made it to our shores, as have gigolos from the Middle East, reportedly favored by matrons.

Some might echo the philosopher Schopenhauer, who wrote that “Prostitutes are human sacrifices on the altar of monogamy,” and rightly so: in our local experience alone, most men find themselves in bed with a prostitute as part of an essential rite of passage subsidized by uncles and godfathers (again, a strange mixture of the sacred and the profane, what with sexual initiation probably farthest from the mind of the Church when it considers godparents), so as to prepare them for the rigors of the marriage bed.

And it can lead to a lifelong addiction. Wrote Simone de Beauvoir: “Marriage … is directly related to prostitution, which, it has been said, follows humanity from ancient to modern times like a dark shadow over the family.” As with forbidden drugs, is society best served by punishing prostitutes, their customers, or the pimps? With the same regularity as the passing of the Church’s liturgical calendar, politicians file bills in Congress to punish prostitution, or at least the pimps; policemen raid nightclubs when they’re not busy taking in protection money; and once in a while a person of note is hauled in to jail after having been accused of trying to solicit sex by offering women money.

Some police officials previously took up the cudgels for rehabilitation and not punishment as the official line. This was in the Ramos years when officialdom wasn’t as terrified of the clergy as they are now. A Western Police District officer was recorded as having grumbled to the papers that the perpetual roundup of prostitutes was achieving nothing because, unless they were caught in the act, prostitutes could only be charged with vagrancy under our antique Revised Penal Code—a charge that only results in a small fine and instant release of the offender.

The solution seems to be, as most successful solutions are, a pragmatic one. Questions of morality put aside, some (not all) women’s groups have proposed that prostitution be legalized so that women engaged in the profession at least have the full protection of the law and access to insurance and health benefits, and can operate in an atmosphere less likely to foster victimization and brutality. This is, naturally, a highly controversial proposal, but not one that hasn’t worked more or less successfully in places like Holland. A great deal of the abuse and tragedy that surrounds prostitutes and prostitution stems from the fact that so many people—policemen, pimps—make themselves indispensable for a prostitute to scrounge a living; remove these people and at the very least the prostitute could reap the benefits of her earnings.

by Candice Choi, Associated Press Writer
from The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) – Women may not earn as much as men or fly up the corporate ladder as quickly, but they get the last laugh since they live longer. Right?

As it turns out, women probably aren’t saving enough to bankroll those extra years in style. They invest more conservatively, start saving later and are more likely to be in and out of the work force, according to a study released Wednesday by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm.

Suddenly, retirement isn’t looking so rosy.

Women live an average of 22 years after retirement versus 19 years for men and medical costs are rising, so women will need to save 2 percent more than men every year over 30 years to maintain their standard of living upon retirement, the study found.

The importance of saving didn’t dawn on Jerre Laughlin until she was in her 40s and started working in human resources.

“I was looking at pensions all day and was seeing what happens to employees who don’t save. That’s when reality set in,” said Laughlin, now 63 and a resident of Kansas City, Kan. She’s been playing catch-up since and doesn’t plan to retire until she’s 67.

Laughlin isn’t the only one who’s learning her lesson the hard way. The Hewitt study found women today still do worse by every measure: they start saving later (by two to four years), invest less (7.3 percent versus 8.1 percent) and are in and out of the work force more often for family reasons – gaps that can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed earnings, raises and benefits.

The study looked at the projected retirement levels of nearly 2 million current workers of varying ages at 72 large U.S. companies and used actual employee balances.

“Women tend to be a little more risk averse, more fearful of losing money,” said Alison Borland, an author of the study.

Women’s saving habits haven’t improved significantly over the past several years, either, Borland said.

The study also found a quarter of women didn’t contribute at a high enough level to take advantage of the company match, which is typically 50 cents for every dollar up to 6 percent of pay. On average, women earned $57,000 versus $84,000 for men.

Yet women will have longer retirements than men by an average of three years. Socking away more now can improve the quality of those extra years.

If a woman who earns $57,000 a year boosts her contribution from 2 percent to 4 percent – an extra $95 a month – she can save an extra $81,000 by the time she retires, according to the study. That doesn’t include her employer’s matching contribution.

Delaying retirement can have a big impact too; every additional year is more time earning and less time sapping savings.

One of the biggest missteps people make is cashing out plans when switching jobs; that wipes out 30 percent or more of the account’s value in taxes and penalties.

Not surprisingly, the study states 90 percent of women were unsure about managing their finances. It also found that more companies are offering investment guidance, however.

Overall, four out of five men and women aren’t saving enough to keep up the same lifestyle after they stop working. Because of inflation and rising medical costs, Hewitt estimates workers will need to replace 126 percent of their salary after retirement to maintain their lifestyle. Both men and women are on track to replace an average of just 67 percent of that amount.

But with a longer retirement stretching before them, women may want to think about closing the savings gap fast.

Cielito Habito
Inquirer

WHEN OUR FAMILY GOES OUT FOR DINNER, when I bring our dirty clothes to the corner laundry to be washed, or when their teachers teach my children their lessons in school, these activities add to the nation’s reported gross national product (GNP).

When my wife cooks our family dinner, does the laundry, or helps the children with their homework, none of her efforts ever gets valued nor enters any economic accounts. Outside our own household, her true worth to the economy will never be fully appreciated.

Women contribute to the economy far more than what most people are aware of and what are recorded in the economic accounts. Perhaps as a consequence of this, their status in economic life has always been lower than that of men.

The evolution of the modern economy appears to be changing all this. Key trends shaping the nature of the economy at the global, national and local levels have impacts on the economic role and status of women in both positive and negative ways. These major economic trends include globalization, the rise of the Knowledge Economy, and resurgence of small enterprises.

Globalization trends
Globalization is reshaping the relative roles of women and men in economic life. The globalization process provides greater mobility for workers and expanded employment opportunities overseas. But this trend is accompanied by a growing proportion of women in non-standard work such as temporary, casual, multiple, contract and home-based employment. Thus, while globalization is raising the quantity of women’s recognized contributions to economic life through the labor force, the quality of their participation still needs to be seriously considered and addressed.

Women also now dominate labor migration, with nurses, caregivers, and especially domestic workers making up a substantial portion of such labor movement coming from Asia, particularly the Philippines. This has also led to changes in the host countries, where household work has been restructured from traditionally unremunerated work by housewives to a more formal economic activity undertaken by foreign domestic workers. This has in turn increased the labor force participation by women in general. While this may be seen as a positive trend especially from the point of view of the host economy, it comes at the cost of fracturing the families of the women migrant workers, along with the often tremendous social costs this entails.

Knowledge advantage
The second major economic trend is the dominance of information and communication technology (ICT) in the “New Economy” that has emerged in the 21st century. The basis for wealth creation in the modern economy is changing from the traditional “bricks and mortar” to “clicks and portals”. The more successful firms in the Knowledge Economy are those who have better access to information and knowledge, and no longer those who are in possession of greater fixed capital including real estate. This could be a positive factor for women, inasmuch as they now dominate tertiary education, as statistics in European and Asian countries would show. In the Philippines, 53.2 percent of college and university students are female. Thus, for as long as there is no gender gap in access to ICT, women seem to have the advantage in numbers to cash in on the knowledge-based economy.

SME resurgence
The third economic trend, which has to a large extent been facilitated by the second, is the resurgence in importance of small enterprises. With rapid developments in ICT, modern societies have seen a widespread return to small enterprises including home-based ones, even as globalization has also increased the number of transnational corporations (TNCs). Small firms that provide products ranging from services to manufactured goods are proliferating world wide. This has become possible because ICT and electronic commerce permits them virtually equal access to the global markets vis-…-vis their much larger counterparts, with savings in overhead costs compensating for their lack of economies of scale.

This trend has created wider opportunities for integrating formal economic activities with unremunerated domestic work, whether for men or women, but especially for the latter. Having to devote time for rearing children and managing the household need not deprive women anymore of the opportunity to become entrepreneurs. It’s not a one-sided situation either. The same trend also implies that men are increasingly able to participate more equitably in child rearing and home management, while still engaged in gainful enterprise.

Cultural biases
What needs to be overcome are the traditional cultural biases against women taking a more active role in formal economic life, and men taking a more active role in home and family management. Steps must also be taken to avoid a “gender divide” in ICT. And in the case of women employed in the “old economy,” whether as workers or managers, there is a need to eliminate the unfair wage differentials between men and women that still persist.

My wife runs a non-profit school and some community outreach projects along with it, balancing all that with managing our home, seeing to our five children’s welfare, and responding to my sometimes unfair demands as a husband. She earns just a fraction of what I make. Given what she contributes to our economy and society, I often feel it should be the other way around.

Comments are welcome at chabito@ateneo.edu

Jerry Botial
The Philippine Star

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri announced yesterday the creation of the Gender Development Council (GDC) to ensure that women’s rights are sufficiently protected and applied to enable the women of the city to participate with more vigor in nation-building.

Echiverri, who sits in the council as honorary chairman, said the body is mandated to formulate plans, programs, policies and guidelines on gender and development and ensure its street implementation.

The GDC, which boasts of an all-male membership except one, is headed by Councilor Nora Nubla with Civil Registrar Lucena Flores as vice chairperson.

Included as members are Secretary to the Mayor Russel Ramirez, City Administrator Romeo Alcantara, City Planning and Development officer-in-charge Rolando Cordero, DILG Director Ruben Ramirez and the lone female member, City Personnel Officer Ligaya Lam.

Echiverri said the creation of the GDC is mandated by RA 7192, or the Women in Nation Building Act.

The measure provides for the integration of women as full and equal partners of men in national development.

To assist the council is a technical working group (TWG) and secretariat formed to formulate policies and guidelines.

The mayor said this will also ensure the strict implementation of existing laws and policies addressing gender and development issues such as, but not limited to, the Philippine Development Plan on Women, RA 7192 and other policies of the national government.

The TWG includes in its job description the preparation of various programs, projects and activities “for appropriate integration in the City Development Plan.”

The secretariat is tasked with mainly clerical duties, among them, the setting of meetings of the council, preparing the minutes, receiving and recording all incoming and outgoing communications of the GDC.

– With Pete Laude

Pia Lee-Brago
The Philippine Star

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, graft buster Haydee Yorac and anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang-See were among 27 Filipino women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

The Philippines joined yesterday the ceremonies that took place simultaneously in some 150 countries to announce the women nominees, all of whom are engaged in the cause of peace and human dignity.

The country’s nominees for the prestigious award were presented and lauded at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in Manila.

They are part of some 1,000 women from 150 countries nominated as a group by international coordinators from an initiative started by Swisspeace, a non-government organization (NGO) based in Bern, Switzerland.

Apart from Soliman, Yorac and Ang-See, the other nominees are Marilou Diaz-Abaya, filmmaker, Mothers of Peace; Piang Tahsim Albar, Amanat Foundation, Jolo; May Lou Alcid, Kanlungan Center Foundation, Migrant Forum in Asia; Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, PETA, Earth Savers, Executive Director; Adoracion Cruz Avisado, former Davao City judge; Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel, Coalition for Peace and Akbayan party-list representative in Congress; Loretta Navarro-Castro, Miriam College Center for Peace Education; Maria Lorenza Palma-Dalupan, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process; Teresita Quintos-Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process;

Sister Mariani Dimaranan, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP); Teresa Banaynal Fernandez, Cebu City Bantay Banay; Miriam Colonel Ferrer, Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines; Hadja Bainon Guibar Karon, Bangsamoro Women and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) — Department of Social Welfare and Development (ARMM-DSWD); Myla Jabilles Leguro, Catholic Reef Services and Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute; Zenaida Tan Lim, Sarang Bangun Foundation; Delia Ediltrudes “Duds” Santiago-Locsin, Paghiliusa sa Paghidaet-Negros;

June Caridad Pagaduan Lopez, International Council for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims; Seiko Bodios Ohashi, Japan Committee for Negros Campaign; Zenaida Brigida Hamada-Pawid, Cordillera People’s Forum; Sister Mary Soledad Perpiñan, Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women; Elisa Gahapon del Puerto, Christian Children’s Fund; Miriam Suatico, Inter-Religious Dialogue Program of Isabela, Basilan; Pura Sumangil, Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government; Irene Morada Santiago, Mothers for Peace.

Yorac, who last year was honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Awards for government service — Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize — once headed the National Unification Commission, Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Presidential Commission on Good Government. Yorac resigned as PCGG chair last April.

Ang-See, founding president of the non-government organization Kaisa Para Sa Kanluran, is an active crusader against crime and corruption in government.

Soliman, President Arroyo’s Social Welfare and Development Secretary, is widely known to be a committed social worker and one of the more trusted officials in the Arroyo Cabinet.

The nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize were honored at a reception held at the CCP.

Domini M. Torrevillas
The Philippine Star

The whole world grieves over the passing away of Pope John Paul II. It is amazing how people with divergent views on certain issues have become one in hailing the highly revered Roman Catholic figure – Catholics, Protestants, heads of state, ideologically different groups, women and men, theologians, intellectuals, the bourgeoisie and proletariat – as a man of peace and love. He had crossed erstwhile danger zones – letting Palestinians and Israelis meet, entering Islamic mosques and Hebraic temples, and wherever he went he preached the message of love.

When word was relayed that the pontiff had died, multitudes of believers wept, then in the next breath, raised their voices in praise, thanksgiving and joy. Pope John Paul II had gone to meet his Creator.

That is the touching, happy end to his earthly journey.

* * *

The Pope objected to divorce to terminate marriages. Still I am for it, as many of my women friends are.

The emails I have been receiving favor the passage of the divorce bill filed by GABRIELA Women’s Party Representative Liza Largoza-Maza. One of them is this one sent by E.G.

“My husband read your column about the letter of Ms. B, gave it to me to read, and I felt compelled to share my thoughts with you likewise.

“I am a grandmother, a senior citizen in a couple of years and a staunch fighter for the Catholic Doctrine. Until I heard about the divorce bill lately, I was so much against it. You know, ‘Carry your cross and follow me.’ And that as a Christian, ‘Just like Christ, our way to heaven is the cross.’

“If I am softening in my Christian values and going to the extreme of espousing something my church does not allow, it was because I saw things up close. I witnessed miserable fights, heard dirty, hurting words, felt the anguish and emotional wounds – every time my son and his wife would quarrel. But more painful is the trauma the children go through. When emotions are high and anger rules, the children become unwilling victims of emotional abuse. As old as we are, we get very upset witnessing violent fighting of people not even related to us. What more with kids witnessing displays of offenses between their parents, the two people most important to them, the two people they depend on for their survival, their welfare, their happiness!

“Peace at all costs, I used to say. Humbling myself when necessary. To buy peace. Even for only a day. For tomorrow will take care of itself. Tomorrow, I can humble myself again. I want peace for my son, my daughter-in-law, and especially for my apos. I do not want them to sustain any more hurts to bring to adulthood. Five years of struggle for both spouses to make things work, in my opinion, is bearable. It is very possible husbands and wives struggling now were themselves unwilling witnesses of the same painful and very sad encounters of their parents before. And the cycle goes on.

“May God forgive me if I am misguided, but I felt a happy beat in my heart when I learned of Representative Liza Maza’s divorce bill. This or something better, Lord. Thy will always be done.”

* * *

People opposed to divorce fear that should Maza’s bill (House Bill No. 4016) pass, there will be a mad rush for the courts to have marriages terminated. There is also the fear that couples will file for divorce on the simplest pretext. We hear of cases in the United States which list snoring, not tightening the cap of toothpaste tubes, and a spouse spending hours on the telephone as reasons for filing for divorce.

A believer in divorce, I do not think that divorce, like marriage, should be taken lightly. There are marriages that do not work, no matter how much the couples try to make them. Wives who have been victims of their husbands’ verbal and physical abuse and wanton philandering should have a legal way out of their misery.

Maza says the church need not fear the possibility of a scramble for filing divorces. The fear that divorce will erode personal values in marriage among Catholic couples appears unfounded, she says.

Italy, where the Vatican is located, and Spain, two predominantly Catholic countries which practice divorce, have a low rate of divorce, says Liza. “Italy registers a seven percent rate while Spain registers 15 percent. It would be safe to say that these figures reflect the strong influence of religious beliefs and culture on couples deciding to terminate marital relations.”

Moreover, she explains, the bill retains existing remedies of legal separation, declaration of nullity of the marriage, annulment, and only adds divorce as one more remedy. “Once the divorce law is approved, estranged couples who hold firm to their Catholic faith need not file a petition for divorce. Couples may choose from existing remedies depending on their situation, religious beliefs, cultural sensibilities, needs and emotional state.”

Maza urges critics to carefully read the divorce bill and consider the growing need for the remedy in this country. “Let us keep an open mind. We are glad that we have opened the discussions on divorce. It is high time that we consider making divorce an option for couples in unhappy and abusive marriages.”

The Maza bill adds provisions to and makes changes in the present Family Code to allow litigants to file for divorce on such grounds as: separation of the couple for at least five years upon the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable; the petitioner has been legally separated from his or her spouse for at least two years at the time of the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable; when any of the grounds for legal separation has caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage, and when one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations.

The bill does not condone granting of divorce on the basis of collusion between the parties.

An action for divorce, as well as for legal separation, shall be tried only after six months have elapsed since the filing of the petition. I believe this waiting period gives the parties a chance to work out a reconciliation.

The decree of divorce shall have the following effects:

The marriage bonds are terminated; the absolute community or the conjugal partnership of gains shall be dissolved and liquidated and the assets divided equally between the spouses;

The spouse who is not gainfully employed shall be entitled to support from the other spouse. Actual, moral and exemplary damages are awarded to the aggrieved spouse. The custody of any minor child shall be decided by the court, and children conceived or born before the decree of divorce has become final and executory shall be considered legitimate.

For copies of the bill, contact the office of Representative Maza in Congress.

The question, Ms. Maza, is, how much will the process of filing a petition for divorce cost? Will the cost be so prohibitive as to allow only petitioners with money to file for divorce?

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E-mail: dominimt2000@yahoo.com