Councilors amend GAD code

August 1, 2020 Metro BLISTT

The City Council this week approved the revision of the Gender and Development Code. Hurdling the third and final reading, the Revised GAD Code is the 105th ordinance passed by the Baguio City Council this year amending the older ordinance which was enacted in 2005.
Councilor Lilia Fariñas, main author of the Revised GAD Code and Chairperson of the Committee on Social Services, Women, and Urban Poor, sought the help of different local government offices, organizations, and concerned citizens through a public consultation on October 29, 2019. Inputs from the stakeholders were taken into account for the amendment of the provisions of the 15-year-old ordinance.
Section 5 of the Revised GAD Code states that the provisions of the Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act 11223) shall be integrated into the local ordinance, noted the ordinance which Farinas filed with help from councilors Betty Lourdes Tabanda and Levy Lloyd Orcales as well as vice mayor Faustino Olowan.
Enacted in February 2019, the Universal Health Care Act is aimed at ensuring that every Filipino is given equitable access to quality health care services without being financially burdened.
Section 6 of the code emphasizes men’s involvement on reproductive health stressing that men are partners in the maintenance of women’s health and well-being.
Section 9 provides for the establishment of Men, Women and Children Protection Units (MWCPUs). A participant in the public consultation pointed out that every health care center must provide a crisis intervention unit primarily for survivors of violence against women and children (VAWC).
The same also emphasizes that all health centers must be “gender-responsive” and “gender transformative” not only “gender-sensitive”.
Gender responsiveness refers to “outcomes that reflect an understanding of gender roles and inequalities and to efforts encouraging equal participation and equal and fair distribution of benefits.” Gender transformativeness, on the other hand, means “addressing the underlying causes of gender inequality in order to set the scene for the sustained achievement of positive development outcomes… and fostering community-led changes in unequal gender relations to promote shared power, control of resources, and decision-making.”
Section 10 stipulates that the City Steering Committee for Women shall lead the city-wide celebration of Women’s Day and Women’s Month. Under Section 13, the committee shall be organized under the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) in partnership with accredited women’s organizations and federations in the city and with different government agencies and offices.
Section 32 provides for the establishment of Violence Against Women and Children’s (VAWC) desks not only in the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) but also in the barangays. Section 37 states that the City Government through the CSWDO and the barangays, not the Public Employment Services Offices (PESO) as provided for in the original ordinance, shall come up with an annual survey of domestic helpers in all Barangays to monitor cases of maltreatment, sexual harassment and other forms of sexual abuse. Households shall be required to provide information regarding their house helpers for identification and other purposes.
Five percent of the annual general fund of the city government shall be appropriated for the implementation of the ordinance (Section 64). The rest of the provisions of the original ordinance were retained with only minor changes in the terms used and minimal revisions in the phrasing.
An executive committee shall be formed for the crafting of the Implementing Rules and Regulations 60 days from the approval of the ordinance.
Jordan G. Habbiling