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BAGUIO CITY: Sen. Pia Cayetano said Thursday she is hopeful that the
Magna Carta of Women or House Bill 1701 will finally be passed into
law under the term of a woman president.
But Cayetano was quick to claim that there is no
guarantee that women and children issues are priority concerns if a
woman like President Gloria Arroyo.
“I am just candid in telling you the real
scenario,” were the words of Cayetano in a press conference before
she graced the Women’s Month celebration at the Baguio Convention
Center Thursday morning.
Cayetano, the youngest elected female senatoand
author of the Magna Carta of Women, said that the Arroyo government
must start focusing on social issues like health care, saying that
the country have shown that it can now rise to economic woes.
She said that issues and concerns besetting the
women sector will be addressed efficiently and effectively if HB
1701 will be signed into law the soonest, as it deems to protect
women from gender discrimination and women will enjoy equal
treatment before the law.
The grand parade of the Women’s Month
celebrations in the city’s central business district underscored
the urgency of having the Magna Carta of Women signed into law.
In her provincial tours, Cayetano is galvanizing
support from local government units to support the passage of her
proposed bill, saying that the absence of such law make more
Filipino women suffer discrimination despite the implementation of
pro-women legislation and statutes, such as the International Bill
of Rights laid down by the United Nations in its general assembly in
1979 on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Her proposed bill lays down policies that will
enable women to actively participate and contribute to the
country’s political, economic, social, and cultural development.
City councilors Betty Lourdes Tabanda and Elaine
Sembrano, who was with Cayetano, announced at the press conference
that the city council passed a resolution; supporting the call for
the immediate passage of the Magna Carta of Women.
-- Harley F. Palangchao
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