Panayam kay OIC Executive Director Phil. Commission on Women Nharleen Santos-Millar ukol...

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Panayam kay OIC Executive Director Phil. Commission on Women Nharleen Santos-Millar ukol sa pagsuporta sa mga programang nagpapabuti ng kalagayan ng kababaihan sa bansa   For more news, visit:  ►https://www.ptvnews.ph/  Subscribe to our DailyMotion Channel: ►http://www.dailymotion.com/peoples-television-incorporated  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ►http://www.youtube.com/ptvphilippines  Like our Facebook pages: ►PTV: http://facebook.com/PTVph  ►Rise and Shine Pilipinas: https://www.facebook.com/riseandshinepilipinas  Follow us on Twitter:  ►http://twitter.com/PTVph  Follow us on Instagram: ►https://www.instagram.com/ptvph  Watch our livestream on:  ►http://ptvnews.ph/livestream/ ►https://www.dailymotion.com/PTVPhilippines  Watch our News Programs, every Mondays to Fridays  Rise and Shine Pilipinas - 6:00 - 7:00 am | 7:30 - 8:00 am Balitang Pambansa - 7:00 - 7:30 am | 12:00 - 12:30 pm | 6:00 - 6:30pm | 9:30 - 10:00 pm PTV Sports - 8:00 - 9:00 am Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon - 12:30 - 1:00 pm Sentro Balita - 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Ulat Bayan - 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm PTV News Tonight -  10:00 pm - 10:30 pm  Saturday & Sunday: ►Sentro Balita Weekend - 1:30 - 2:00 pm ►Ulat Bayan Weekend - 6:15 pm - 7:00 pm

Transcript

00:00The Philippine Commission on Women has a big role in supporting programs that improve the condition of women in the country.

00:08We will discuss this and other important issues about women

00:12with Ms. Narlene Santos-Millar, OIC Executive Director of the Philippine Commission on Women.

00:19Ms. Narlene, good afternoon and happy Women's Month.

00:21Good afternoon to you, Joey and Queng.

00:24Happy Women's Month to you and to our viewers.

00:27Ma'am, we are in the final stretch of the commission this month.

00:30So what are the important activities of the commission this Women's Month?

00:36Yes, we started in March 6 for our kick-off activity in SM Mall of Asia.

00:45We had a report, what we call the Agenda Nihuwana, to be held.

00:51Then, we also launched a campaign there that we call the Threads of Empowerment.

00:56This is where we would like all of our regional, the regions in the Philippines to build a quilt of empowerment

01:04so that this celebration will last for a whole year so that we can see the condition of women in the region.

01:10We also launched there the God Team Pala for State Universities and Colleges

01:16because this is the official award system of the Philippine Commission on Women

01:21for the gender mainstreaming efforts of government agencies.

01:25For this year and for the next year, our priority is the State Universities and Colleges.

01:30And yesterday, in Caraga, in Butuan City, we had a closing activity

01:38in the leadership of our North Mindanao Field Office.

01:41Our chairperson is there, Ermilita Valdavilla, for that event.

01:45I'm just curious, sorry, about the Quilt of Empowerment.

01:49Has it been completed or not yet?

01:50We started, we started the kick-off.

01:54And this will go to all the regions in the Philippines.

01:58So we are encouraging the women, especially the weavers,

02:02the women weavers, to help the Regional Gender and Development Committee

02:08to make a quilt that represents the region.

02:11What is the issue of women in the region?

02:14And then we will complete it.

02:15Maybe we will release it next year.

02:18And this is the whole quilt of Threads of Empowerment.

02:21Aside from what you mentioned, is there a new program

02:25for Women's Month this year?

02:28Or is there an old program that you are reviving

02:31that you think will be effective?

02:33Yes, every Women's Month, we have media campaigns,

02:38i.e. C-Material, Development.

02:41So this is what we do regularly

02:43because, of course, we want to give attention to the issue of women.

02:47Not only for Women's Month, but for the whole year.

02:49But we want to highlight them, especially during National Women's Month.

02:53A while ago, I was with the National Council for Disability Affairs.

02:58They also launched a project called

03:00Women with Disability Strengths, Economic Empowerment, and Strengths.

03:08So they get videos of women with disabilities

03:12where they want to highlight the resilience power

03:15of women with disabilities.

03:17In the study of the Commission, what is the biggest challenge now

03:21for women? And what is the Commission doing

03:24to protect and strengthen the rights of women?

03:28Of course, Asec, gender-based violence is still there.

03:31It will not go away.

03:33The good thing is, we have laws.

03:35We have Republic Act 9262, the anti-bouncy law.

03:39We have a new one, the Safe Spaces Act, the Bawal Bastos Law.

03:43So according to the data of the Philippine National Police in 2023,

03:47around 7,700 cases of bouncy were reported to the police.

03:53If you look at all the cases of gender-based violence,

03:56it reached 13,000.

03:58So it means that many women are still experiencing abuse,

04:02even though we have laws and services.

04:06The good thing is, the PCW is the Secretary

04:10of the Interagency Council on Violence Against Women.

04:13But this is led by the DSWD and the DILG.

04:17As secretaries, we are the ones who circulate the data,

04:21what the government agencies have done.

04:25Our priority now is prevention.

04:28So that they don't have cases, let's prevent gender-based violence.

04:32So ma'am, how do you assure that the government's programs and policies

04:35are helping the needs of women,

04:38especially in the marginalized sector?

04:42The PCW, while we don't have direct service,

04:45you know that we are not an implementing agency,

04:47we are an oversight agency.

04:49One of the services we provide is what we call technical assistance.

04:53Technical assistance because the government has adopted

04:57gender mainstreaming as a strategy.

04:59This means, what is the mainstream that you are doing?

05:02Like in your PCO, your mainstream is in terms of media,

05:07in terms of communication.

05:09So how can we bring the gender perspective into communication?

05:12Of course, by using gender-fair language.

05:15That's what we are teaching.

05:16So we are offering webinar series.

05:19I think next week, we will have a webinar on gender analysis.

05:24That's why it's very important for the government to learn

05:28gender analysis because that's how we address gender issues.

05:33So that we can address the context of our stakeholders.

05:37And then we address that in our plans.

05:39Because we have a GAD budget, if you're aware of that.

05:42The government has a mandate,

05:44at least 5% of the General Appropriations Act

05:47should be spent for programs that address gender issues.

05:51Sometimes, the government doesn't know,

05:53where do we put the 5%?

05:56They ask us, can this be for GAD?

05:59Our question is, what is the gender issue?

06:01Can it be for GAD if there is a clear gender issue?

06:04For us, GAD is very active.

06:06Yes, yes.

06:08It can be included in all aspects.

06:10Yes, that's right.

06:12Ma'am, how does the PCW plan to add opportunities for women

06:18in terms of education, employment, and also politics?

06:23Well, we have the Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum.

06:31It has four dimensions.

06:33One of the dimensions is education.

06:35In the Philippines, we are one of 28 out of 148 countries

06:40that have parity in education.

06:43It means that the rights of women and men in education are equal.

06:48But the issue is when it comes to courses

06:52in tertiary like STEM,

06:55Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics,

06:58women are left behind there.

07:01Because most STEM courses are for men.

07:04But it's a challenge for women to go into those fields

07:10probably because the work environment still prefers men

07:18in science and technology.

07:20So that's an issue. It's a gender-based issue.

07:22In economics, while the completion rate in college is high,

07:27in economics, the labor force participation rate of women is only 51%

07:33compared to men, which is 75%.

07:36So you can see the disparity in our data.

07:39Why is that happening?

07:41Because women do most of the household work.

07:44That's what we call unpaid care.

07:47So that's also a gender issue.

07:49Based on the data,

07:53we have what we call an unpaid care survey

07:58conducted by the labor force.

08:00Women do approximately 18 hours of work per day

08:05compared to 13 for men.

08:08So that means even though we work,

08:10when it comes to the household, we still do work.

08:13So it prevents women from engaging in productive activities.

08:17And what's saddening is when it comes to agriculture,

08:21the salary of agricultural workers, women and men,

08:25the wage gap is still high for both men and women.

08:29So these are issues of economic empowerment.

08:31So based on what you said,

08:33how do you address gender stereotyping and discrimination

08:38within institutions, especially in society?

08:41You said that there are institutions and courses

08:45where there are more men.

08:47The good thing is,

08:48every government agency has a guide focal point system.

08:51You also have one in the PCO, right?

08:53So the guide focal point is the one that steers

08:56gender mainstreaming in government agencies.

08:58So there's DEPED, CHED, TESDA, DOST, almost all of them.

09:03Even the Commission on Audit has a guide focal point system.

09:06So these guide focal points have a responsibility

09:10to mainstream the gender perspective

09:12within the programs of the agencies.

09:14The help of PCW here is the review of guide plans.

09:18We endorse guide plans.

09:21When we see that there's a lack of guide plans,

09:25we provide technical assistance to them.

09:27Then, of course, we gather all of these reports

09:30through an annual guide budget report

09:33that we submit to the Congress

09:35and we also send it to the Office of the President.

09:37This is the state of the use of the guide budget in the world.

09:41Ma'am, earlier you said that

09:45on the average, a woman works 18 hours.

09:49But the assumption is that if you're a woman,

09:51you will support the activities and projects of PCW.

09:55But how can you do that if your work is that long?

09:59So how do you encourage women to support your programs?

10:02We don't just encourage women.

10:04We also encourage the men.

10:06Because in unpaid care, what we need to do

10:08is to recognize that it's work done at the home.

10:12Because if there's no unpaid care work,

10:14there's no new generation.

10:16It's hard to cook.

10:18It's hard to wash.

10:20It is supposed to be done.

10:22But it's supposed to be done equally.

10:24That's our advocacy.

10:26We redistribute the work equally.

10:28I think we would like our young men,

10:30young boys to be able to know

10:32how to cook.

10:34How to do the laundry.

10:36So that when they get married,

10:38they can help their partners.

10:40Or even if they're single,

10:42they can do it on their own.

10:44Although there are a lot of laundry shops now,

10:46but I think it's still better

10:48to be self-sufficient and do household work.

10:50Yes ma'am.

10:52When it comes to violence against women,

10:54there are a lot of women who are victims

10:56inside and outside the country.

10:58So how does PCW help them?

11:00Since there's no direct service,

11:02we do referral.

11:04If someone approaches our office,

11:06you'll see that even though

11:08our building is being built,

11:10there are a lot of people visiting us.

11:12Because when we say Philippine Commission on Women,

11:14if you're a woman and you want to go there,

11:16even though we can't give them

11:18direct service,

11:20what we do is to refer them

11:22to other institutions.

11:24If they need legal assistance,

11:26we can refer them to the PAO,

11:28to CHR,

11:30and other NGOs that provide legal assistance.

11:32Psychosocial services, DSWD,

11:34Psychological Evaluation through the DOH.

11:36But we do hear them.

11:38We listen to their situation.

11:40And of course,

11:42we do referral.

11:44There are also a lot of women

11:46who are asking about the use of maiden name.

11:48Because in our law,

11:50we allow women

11:52to retain our maiden name

11:54even though we're already married.

11:56But other government agencies,

11:58and this is true,

12:00they insist that if there's a wife,

12:02they'll use her last name.

12:04So a lot of women are asking.

12:06It's also a form of gender-based violence

12:08because you are depriving them

12:11of the opportunity to use

12:13the name that they want to use.

12:15Like yesterday, in the DFA.

12:17In the passport, you can use it.

12:19Yes.

12:21Ma'am, just a message

12:23at the end of Women's Month.

12:25A message to the women

12:27and to the adults.

12:29Yes, thank you very much.

12:31Again, we at the Philippine Commission on Women

12:33will continue

12:35to push

12:37for our government agencies

12:39to address

12:41the discrimination that women are experiencing.

12:43To our women,

12:45we should know

12:47our rights.

12:49We should also empower ourselves

12:51to demand from the government

12:53our rights under the law.

12:55And to our adults,

12:57it doesn't mean that gender

12:59is for women.

13:01The fight for equality

13:03is for all of us.

13:05So we also advocate for men

13:07to participate in gender and development.

13:09Thank you very much and happy Women's Month.

13:11Thank you very much.

13:13Please join us, Ma'am Narlene Santos-Miliar,

13:15OIZ Executive Director

13:17of the Philippine Commission on Women.

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