THREE WOMEN senatorial candidates voiced out the important role of women in the Philippine politics during Beat the Odds: A Women Senatoriable Candidates’ Forum held on November 24 at the Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall Auditorium.

The three invited candidates were former Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Atty. Lorna Kapunan, and former Department of Labor and Employment Undersecretary Susan Ople.

Commission on Election Commissioner Bing Guanzon was also present to facilitate the forum.

The forum was organized by the Ateneo Task Force 2016, Ateneo Debate Society, Ateneo Assembly, Ateneo Economics Association and Ateneo Project for Asian and International Relations.

Women in the government

In his opening remarks, Vice President for Social Development Jaime Hofileña said that aside from discussing their platforms, the speakers were also invited to share their views as to why there is a lesser participation of women in the Philippine government.

According to Guanzon, women make up 27% of the current elected officials in the Philippines, making the country rank 7th in the gender equality index.

However, she also mentioned that despite this, there is still a large gap in the distribution of gender in the government.

“There’s a large disparity. Masyado pong malakiangagwat. Hindi podapat 27% ‘yan. Dapatposiguromga 40% ‘yan. Kasi kung [boboto] kayo ng mas maramingbabae, we can reach 30-40%, (There’s a large disparity. There’s a huge gap. It should be 40%, not 27%. If we will vote more women, we can reach 30-40%),”Guanzon said.

According to Guanzon, increasing the percentage of elected women officials would advocate women’s quota.

She used the government of Chile as an example, where a law requires women to take over 40% of the population of the elected officials.

“We need to elect more women because in everything that our country wants to achieve, we can achieve it more fully if we have gender equality,” she said.

Kapunan added, “When you see women [as] competent or more competent [than] men, vote for competence not for gender.”

Despite the improvement, de Lima said that she still feels that there is still something lacking in terms of women empowerment.

“Yes, more women are now in positions but based on statistics, 31% percent of the working age mothers are really not at work because of family duties,” said de Lima.

She added that the focus should be on how to further empower women, especially in the economic arena.

Similarly, Ople said that she is pushing for the creation of greater political action programs particularly for the women.

Plans of action

In the forum, each senatorial candidate was given the chance to discuss their respective platforms.

De Lima said that her previous experiencesas a private lawyer, commissioner of human rights, and justice secretary would define her platform.

“I have seen the gaps in the justice sector, in the anti-corruption field and in the human rights area and I feel that I can contribute further in terms of legislative forms,” de Lima said.

She added that her vision for the country is similar to that of President Benigno Aquino III, “a country free of corruption, and governed under the rule of the law, and in justice for all,”

Meanwhile, Kapunan said that her platform is mainly focused on fighting for human rights.

“My whole platform revolves around reclaiming our human dignity which I believe has been lost by oppressive laws and oppressive administration,” Kapunan said.

Furthermore, she said that one of the rights that should be fought for in the senate is the right to decent work.

According to her, more than 12 million Fillipinos are unemployed. The numbers also include those who are not able to receive decent wages.

“With the issue of providing legislation for employment, we must also consider as well the issue of contractualization, and that would require the amendment of our labor code,” she added.

Moreover, she mentioned that industries, no matter how small, should be established in order to guarantee jobs for the Filipinos.

Kapunan said that every day, 4,000 Filipinos leave the country to work overseas. Thus, she sees the creation of industries as a way to sustain the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) after bringing them back to the Philippines, andas a solution to poverty.

Meanwhile, Ople’s platform includes the proposal of a law prohibiting age discrimination in the workplace.

“Bakitnamanposaating workplace ngayon, 35 [taon] pataas, satinginagad ng employersmatandana?…Ibigkongsabihin, ‘di badapatabilidad ‘yungtinitingnanhindiedad(Why is it that now in our workplace, people 35 years old and above are already considered by employers as aged?… What I mean is, shouldn’t ability be considered rather than age)?” said Ople.

According to Ople, unless a law on prohibiting age discrimination exists, job opportunities decrease as one ages.

Another issue she shares with Kapunanis the advocacy to promote, encourage and be firm in securing the tenure of employees.

Moreover,Ople proposes to strengthen the fight against human trafficking by providing assistance to victims.

On labor and employment

After the discussion of their platforms, the senatorial candidates were asked by different student leaders to address questions regarding different policies, starting with labor and employment.

Ateneo Economics Association President Francis Manuel raised the question whether the candidates are for or against minimum wage.

Ople answered by explaining the effects of not having minimum wage.

“If you don’t have that mechanism kasi, market forces will come into play and ‘pagganyan,walang bargaining power ang labor (If you don’t have that mechanism, market forces will come into play and labor will have no bargaining power),” Ople said.

However, Kapunan said that the problem is not in the setting of the minimum wage.

“No matter what your minimum wage is, it will not catch up with the cost of living,” she said.

Furthermore, Kapunan stressed that the youth should not only campaign for fixed minimum wage but must also work for affordable social services not provided by private sectors.

On human rights

Ateneo Debate Society President MikoAlazas asked if the candidates have any specific legislative measures to be implemented regarding the prevention of judicial killings, such as the Maguindanao Massacre and the Lumad killings in the country.

For de Lima, probing the root causes of the killings should be of equal weight with investigating the people responsible for them.

“We have to go into the root causes on why there are killings, [on why] there are acts of violence and aggression against these Lumads because they are the now the victims of development aggression,” she said.

She added that the victims are also products of insurgency and counterinsurgency, from the New People’s Army and the military, respectively.

On the other hand, Ople said that the story of the Maguindanao Massacre should be told to every generation, and stronger mechanisms should be practiced to protect human rights.

She stressed on the value of life in the Philippines and on how easy it seemed for human rights to be violated through judicial killings.

“We should look at the number of guns in our country,” she said. “Why is it so easy? Why is life so cheap in our country?”

Meanwhile, Kapunan mentioned the justice system and the reforms being made in line with it, such as an improvement on court hearings.

“Sigurosubukannatin ‘yung continuous hearings (Maybe we can go for continuous hearings),” she shared.

In addition to the reforms, she said that the justice system can be enhanced through improved judicial services and facilities.

“Maybe the thing to do if we’re looking at reforms is to create more courts, appoint more judges, justices, and to beef up the prosecutorial services,” Kapunan said.

On politics and governance

Ateneo Assembly President Kim Bayquestionedthe stand of the candidates regarding political dynasties in the government, and if they will support the passage of the Anti-Dynasty Bill should they be elected.

De Lima responded that she is in support of the bill. She added that the problem being imposed by political dynasties is the prevention of qualified aspirants to run for office brought about by the influence of the political dynasties in the community.

For Ople, the voters themselves are the ones liable for the political dynasties, for they keep voting for the same people.

Moreover, she said that the ones capable of abolishing such system are also the voters because for they get to decide who runs the government.

“I wish every voter [can] realize the power of change that lies within him or her,” she said.

Similar to Ople, Kapunan also said that the people have the power to stop political dynasties. She mentioned that if the citizens want change in the system, then they should earn the change themselves.

“Gusto n’yo ng pagbabago? Ay pwes, maghalal ng bago(If you want a new system, then elect new people),” she said.

On foreign policies

Meanwhile, Ateneo Project for Asian and International Relations President Monica Santos questioned embedding women’s rights in making foreign policies, specifically those of women working as OFWs.

Ople said that the government aids distressed women working abroad, yet sometimes a few government officials are responsible mistreating them. She mentioned the importance of gender sensitivity in foreign service and the action to be made for the abuse of women OFWs.

“Gender sensitivity should be embedded in the DNA of our foreign service,” she said. “Those who take advantage of our women OFWs should be punished for it.”

Kapunan, on the other hand, opposed Ople’s viewpoint. She said that the solution for OFWs is to bring them home and create jobs in the country instead of working abroad.

“Let us bring them home,” she said. “Let us not encourage the export of human capital.”

Meanwhile, de Lima considered the inculcation of gender sensitivity in foreign service and the creation of more jobs in the country.

Real cause of poverty

During the open forum, TV 5Interaksyonresearch head Annie Ruth Sabanganasked the candidates on how they will explain in layman’s term the real cause of poverty in the country and how to eradicate it.

According to Ople, poverty is intergenerational and that the problems have piled up over time, yet only a few people are engaged in discourses.

As a solution, she suggested that the political power must be returned to the people and that democracy must be claimed as well.

“’Yung political power, that must be returned to the people (That political power, it must be returned to the people,” she said. “We have to claim that power for ourselves; we have to claim that democracy for ourselves.”

ForKapunan, the main cause of poverty is the problem of government policies.

She said that the government focuses too much on paying international debts while neglecting local issues, such as hunger, poverty and education.

On the other hand, de Lima emphasized that corruption has worsened the state of the country.

She suggested on revisitingthe policies of the government. “Mas maramingserbisyoangmaibibigay kung walang corrupt naopisyal (The government can give more services if there are no corrupt officials).

As a result, de Lima encouraged the citizens themselves to lead in getting rid of corruption in the country.