Dagupan City has own ‘Magna Carta of Women’
THE Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Dagupan, with Acting Vice Mayor Farah Decano as presiding officer, passed a landmark ordinance establishing the Magna Carta of Women in Dagupan City.
Ordinance No. 1954-2010 is the local version of the Magna Carta for Women passed by Congress last year and is considered as the “bible of women’s rights” in the city.
Decano said while the national law upholds women’s rights, the 31-page local ordinance “upholds women’s rights as human rights and their worth and dignity as human beings”.
One salient feature of the ordinance, set to be signed into law on Monday by Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., is the provision against the so-called “Cyber-Voyeurism”, wherein women who engage in consensual sex are videotaped without their knowledge and consent.
Decano, an outgoing city councilor after completing three terms of office, said the ordinance strictly prohibits the distribution and transmission without consent of personal sex or intimate videos or pictures of residents or individuals, working and studying in Dagupan via the internet, thru cellular phones, and other communication devices.
She added that this offense is “exploitative and an affront against the dignity and privacy of persons”.
Another salient feature is the installation of the mechanism for the promotion of women’s rights in the city, consistent with the provision of the Local Government Code mandating the position of one representative of the women sector in the SP, holding the same privileges as a regular and ex-officio members of the SP.
Under the ordinance, the women sector representative (WSR) in the SP must come from the rank of a women organizations in the city, accredited one year before the intended date of election of the representative.
Section 22 of the ordinance also specifies the rights of marginalized women in the city who shall be given priority in the implementation of the city’s programs, projects and activities by virtue of their disadvantaged and vulnerable state.—LM
MAGNA CARTA FOR GLOBAL DAGUPENOS
A MAGNA Carta for Global Dagupeños, a first of its kind, was passed by the outgoing Sangguniang Panlungsod on Monday providing among others the creation of city government structures that can facilitate assistance and protection to overseas Dagupeños and their families.
Outgoing Councilor Farah Decano, acting vice mayor and SP chair, said Ordinance No. 1952- 2010, seeks the establishment of the Office for Global Dagupeños (OGD) under the Office of the City Mayor.
The OGD will be responsible for the formulation of a year-round of plans, projects and activities that may be participated in by Global Dagupenos.
The ordinance defines Global Dagupeños as Dagupeños who are living abroad as citizens of another country, resident immigrants, or overseas workers.
Decano said the OGD, which will be headed by a chairman and vice chairman, will extend help not only to overseas Dagupeños or OFWs from Dagupan but also to their resident families.
The OGD can help in instances when the Global Dagupeño is killed, missing, illegally recruited, maltreated an imprisoned while abroad or when he or she, while abroad, withhold or abandon their support for their legal dependents who are residents of Dagupan City.
According to Decano, the OGD may create another page in the city’s existing website or establish a separate interactive website wherein the opinion, suggestion and queries of Global Dagupeños on relevant matters may be expressed.
It also provides that any chairman of any event in Dagupan is mandated to liquidate the amount solicited from Global Dagupeños, if any, with 45 days from the termination of the event and that the liquidation report shall be published at the website.
GENDER EQUALITY
At the same time, the SP enacted another ordinance (No. 1953-2010) seeking to promote gender equality in the city.
The ordinance specifies acts of gender-based violations against dignity as well as gender- based discrimination.
Decano, hailed as a champion of women’s rights in Dagupan, said the ordinance is a response to the challenge in the 2lst century that women face.
The ordinance provides that the City of Dagupan through its Gender Development Council or its secretariat, the Gender Development Office, shall sponsor trainings, seminars and other projects that promote gender equality and sensitivity.
Decano said the measure seeks to eliminate barriers to the full development of individuals especially those who have been marginalized because of their sex, gender and sexual orientation.—LM
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