CEDAW/C/SR. 36 English Page 10 Initial periodic report of the Philippines (continued) (CEDAW/C/5/Add.6) 47. Mrs. REBONG (Philippines), giving further replies to questions raised by the members of the committee, said that when the Philippines had ratified the Convention, it had done so without reservations because it believed that all the provisions of the Convention - except for certain minor areas which it was now assessing and updating - were already covered by the existing Philippine legislation. 48. The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women had been established as the official organ authorized to recommend measures to ensure the full integration of women into economic, social and cultural development at the national, regional and international levels and to achieve equality between men and women. The National Commission operated under the Ministry of Human Settlements and advised the President on policy and programmes for greater participation by women in the country's development. Its relationship to other women's organizations in the Philippines was assured by the fact that one of its members was the President of the Civic Association of Women, the umbrella organization for some 75 women's associations. As stated in the introduction to the report of the Philippines, the National Commission was the agency designated by the Letter of Instructions No. 974 of 5 January 1980 to monitor what was being done by all other Government offices and agencies to eliminate discrimination against women. The Letter of Instructions had called upon Government agencies to take steps to ensure equal pay for equal work among their own employees; to promote qualified women employees to managerial and decision-making posts (only 22.7 per cent of such posts being currently held by women); to eliminate practices that discriminated against women in both Government and private enterprises which were subject to their jurisdiction or with which they had dealings; and to make periodic reports to the Office of the President. 49. In response to the question on international treaties to which the Philippines was a party and the relationship between those treaties and Philippine law, she said that the Philippines was a party to the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, conventions for the suppression of the traffic in women and children and women of full age, and the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. Those treaties formed part of Philippine law in accordance with section III, article 2, of the Constitution. so. The family laws embodied in the Civil Code had been created not to discriminate against women, but to protect women and the family, in which women occupied a very special position. Under those laws, a daughter aged 21 to 23 could not leave her parents' home without their consent except to become a wife, to exercise a profession or if her father or mother had remarried. Sons of the same age were not similarly restricted. A wife could not acquire property, except in special cases, without her husband's consent. A husband could oppose his wife's having a profession or engaging in business if his income was sufficient to maintain the family at its social level, but a woman with sufficient income to support the family could not object to her husband's professional activities or business ventures. A wife's mobility was subordinated to her husband's choice of residence. Although husband and wife had equal rights to conjugal property, the husband was considered the administrator of that property. I . ..