Lawmaker seeks House inquiry into GAD program funds spending

To gauge the efficiency and effectiveness of the national government’s Gender and Development (GAD) program in addressing gender issues, a lawmaker has called for a congressional inquiry into the allocation and utilization of the GAD budget of different agencies.

House Resolution 893, filed by Liberal Party Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica of Bulacan, urged the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality to find out how many agencies have submitted their GAD plans and budgets and turned over their accomplishment reports.

The resolution said there is no recent in-depth study conducted to assess the execution or use of the annual GAD budget of government agencies and local government units. It also cited the General Appropriations Act (GAA) that stipulates the GAD plan should be integrated in the regular activities of the agencies, which shall be at least 5 percent of the agency’s budget.

“For this purpose, the GAA provides that GAD-related activities currently being undertaken by agencies or those that contribute to poverty alleviation, economic empowerment, especially of marginalized women, protection, promotion and fulfillment of women’s human rights and practice of gender-responsive governance shall be considered sufficient compliance with the said requirement,” the Villarica resolution said.

“The GAA further provides that the utilization of the GAD budget shall be evaluated based on the performance indicators identified by the agency, and that the preparation and submission of the annual GAD plan and annual GAD Accomplishment Report shall be subject to the guidelines issued by the agencies concerned,” it added.

According to the lawmaker it is imperative that there be an assessment as to its efficiency and effectiveness in addressing gender issues.

However, she said a 2010 report of the Women and Gender Institute of the Marian College on the results of a review conducted on the Philippines GAD Budget Policy covering 1995 to 2009 found the weakest part of the implementation of the GAD Budget Policy is GAD budget execution and the related tasks of accounting for the gender budget and the linking of the GAD investments to GAD results.

“As state party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [Cedaw], the Philippines agreed to pursue a policy of totally eliminating any discrimination against women,” Villarica said.

Citing the Beijing Platform of Action, which resulted from the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, China, in 1995, Villarica said governments, international communities and civil societies, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, were called upon to take strategic action in critical areas of concern, including the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women, inequalities and inadequacies in education and training, and unequal access to health care and related services.

“[In the Philippines] Republic Act 9710 otherwise known as Magna Carta of Women, requires all departments, including their attached agencies, offices, bureaus, state universities and colleges, government-owned and -controlled corporations, local government units and other government instrumentalities to adopt gender mainstreaming as a strategy to promote women’s human rights and eliminate gender discrimination in their systems, structures, policies, programs, process and procedures,” Villarica said.

“As a procedure and mechanism to eliminate gender discrimination, government instrumentalities are required to adopt Gender and Development programs, the development of which shall proceed from the conduct of a gender audit and a gender analysis of its policies, programs, services and the situation of its clientele, the generation and review of sex-disaggregated data, and consultation with gender/women’s rights advocates and agency/women clientele,” Villarica added. –Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz, Businessmirror