CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 PART ONE: MAJOR POLICY AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENTS IN RESPONSE TO THE CONCLUDING COMMENTS OF THE CEDAW COMMITTEE ON THE PHILIPPINE FOURTH REPORT 1. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines welcomed the suggestions and recommendations by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (UN-CEDAW) Committee on its fourth periodic report, which the Philippine Delegation presented on 27 January 1997. The UN CEDAW Concluding Comments, which fairly captured the status of Filipino women and priority areas of action, were disseminated to all concerned government agencies under whose mandates and programs these comments could be addressed. The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) also shared the Concluding Comments with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and everyone else who participated in the preparation of the report. 2. As an overall response, the Philippine government informs the UN CEDAW that its Concluding Comments served as inputs into the annual Gender and Development (GAD) Plans of concerned government agencies. Each agency is required by law to submit a GAD plan that details how it intends to implement its mandate under the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGD), Framework Plan for Women, GAD Budget Policy, gender equalityrelated laws and international agreements. 3. To facilitate the implementation of the Women’s Convention and other international agreements, the Philippines formulated development plans for women. The plans translate the provisions in the international commitments into specific policy and program measures. The plans also seek to address the gaps in the implementation of the said agreements and informed the development efforts for women of the past and present leaders of government. The first plan, developed during the term of former President Corazon Aquino was the Philippine Development Plan for Women (1989-1992), followed by the 30-year perspective plan, the Philippine Plan for GenderResponsive Development (PPGD) (1995-2025) under the term of former President Fidel Ramos. From the PPGD, the Framework Plan for Women (FPW) was drawn. A time slice of the PPGD, the FPW outlines interventions for women that the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will carry out to respond to the pressing and emerging needs of women in three areas of concern, namely: (a) women’s economic empowement, (b) women’s human rights and (c) gender-responsive governance. 4. With the support of women’s organizations and other civil society groups, the Executive Branch of the Philippine government lobbied the Legislative Branch to pass legislation critical to the protection of women’s rights, such as on solo parents, anti-rape, trafficking in women and domestic violence and abuse of women in intimate relationships, anti-rape. The Executive Branch also supported the information dissemination and GAD planning of the Judiciary to ensure the effective implementation of laws on women’s human rights. 5. Details on what the government has done in line with the UN CEDAW’s comments and recommendations since 1996, and what it is committed to pursue under the FPW up to 2004 follows. 14