Congress urged to correct laws discriminating women

Ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday, the head of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) on Friday appealed to Congress to correct current laws discriminating Filipinas.

At a press briefing, PCW executive director Emmeline Verzosa said her commission is determined to push for a women’s priority legislative agenda to further protect Filipinas against discrimination.

“We’re working very closely with Congress. There are still a lot of discriminatory provisions in certain laws,” Versoza told reporters in Malacañang.

The PCW head particularly called for amendments in the Revised Penal Code provisions on adultery and concubinage to “equalize penalties for marital infidelity.”

“Magkaiba po ‘yun. Kapag babae, adultery; ‘pag lalaki ang nangaliwa, concubinage. So mas mahirap i-prove ‘yung concubinage,” she explained.

Verzosa added the PCW is studying the possibility of repealing these provisions and turning the offenses into civil ones.

She further said that her commission also wants to amend certain provisions in the Family Code which state that husbands’ decisions must prevail over those made by their wives.

Verzosa likewise pushed for the passage of an anti-prostitution bill, which punishes the “demand side of the prostitution” instead of the prostitute.

“What we would like to do is to criminalize instead the users, the pimps, the bar owners—those who make prostitution a business,” she said.

Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code states that “women who, for money or profit, habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct” are considered to be prostitutes. —KBK, GMA News