CEDAW/C/SR. 33 English Page 3 3. Ms. SMITH observed that, in his introduction to the report, the representative of the Philippines had noted that the principle of equality between the sexes was enshrined in the Constitution, even though the provision which he had cited seemed to be of a very general nature. She would appreciate it if the O:mmittee could be apprised as to whether the Constitution contained any provisions expressly guaranteeing equal rights for all citi7.ens regardless of sex. If that was not the case, was there any legislative measure which expressly prohibited discrimination against women? 4. Ms. GONZALEZ MARTINEZ thanked Ambassador Moreoo Salcedo for his kirrlness in personally introducing the report to the Corranittee. The report contained a long list in tabular form of activities urrlertaken in the public arrl private sectors. Of particular interest was the annex concerning bodies carrying out activities relating to the various articles of the O:>nvention, although no information was irx:luded about measures relating to articles 9 and 15, which were very important for the institutional development of the status of women. Nevertheless, Ambassador Moreno Salcedo had provided a number of examples of women's participation in national life arrl of the national laws penalizing any violation of the principle of equality between men and women. It would be useful if the Secretariat could obtain a cq>y of the text of the .Ambassador's statement, in order to supplement the information available to the Corranittee. Any omissions in the report were perhaps due to the fact that the guidelines for the preparation of the report had not been provided, with each Government q>ting for the method which, in its view, most clearly reflected the way in which the provisions of the O:>nvention were being implemented. Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that no refererx:e was made in the report to the texts of the legislative provisions which might develop the legal structure provided for in articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. In the annexes to the report, reference was made to some legislative provisions relating to those articles, but the overwhelming majority of them were still awaiting adoption - in other words, were bills. 5. She wished to associate herself with a number of the questions asked by other experts, especially with regard to the bill on the waiting period before remarri~e imposed on widows. It would be interesting to know whether that prohibition applied also to men. With regard to Bill No. _1135, which increased the penalty for the crime of rape when the use of deadly weapons was involved or when it was perpetrated by several persons or in the preserce of family members, she wished to know the status of an adolescent or. adult woman who was raped by one person in the presence of no one else. With regard to prostitution, the significance of the bill increasing the penalty for white slave trade sl'x>uld be stressed, since in many countries persons engaging in prostitution were punished while tl'x>se who promoted, protected or abetted it were not. In the context of article 5 of the O:>nvention, it would be interesting to know the results of the seminars and research on family planning and to have an explanation of the levels of access to information aoo education on that subject. With regard to article 6, she had noted that the Ministry of Labor was conducting a programme to establish links with union organizations with a view to organizing "hospitality girls" into a labour union. She wished to know whether that programme was intended to encourage young women to take up another type of work or simply to have them form their own union. For a I ...