REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7192 - AN ACT PROMOTING THE INTEGRATION OF WOMEN AS FULL AND EQUAL PARTNERS OF MEN IN DEVELOPMENT AND NATION BUILDING AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Section 1.    Title. — This Act shall be cited as the "Women in Development and Nation Building Act."

Sec. 2.    Declaration of Policy. — The State recognizes the role of women in nation building and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men. The State shall provided women rights and opportunities equal to that of men.

To attain the foregoing policy:

(1)    A substantial portion of official development assistance funds received from foreign governments and multilateral agencies and organizations shall be set aside and utilized by the agencies concerned to support programs and activities for women;

(2)    All government departments shall ensure that women benefit equally and participate directly in the development programs and projects of said department, specifically those funded under official foreign development assistance, to ensure the full participation and involvement of women in the development process; and

(3)    All government departments and agencies shall review and revise all their regulations, circulars, issuances and procedures to remove gender bias therein.

Sec. 3.    Responsible Agency. — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) shall primarily be responsible for ensuring the participation of women as recipients in foreign aid, grants and loans. It shall determine and recommend the amount to be allocated for the development activity involving women.

Sec. 4.    Mandate. — The NEDA, with the assistance of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, shall ensure that the different government departments, including its agencies and instrumentalities which, directly or indirectly, affect the participation of women in national development and their integration therein:

(1)    Formulate and prioritize rural or countryside development programs or projects, provide income and employment opportunities to women in the rural areas and thus, prevent their heavy migration from rural to urban or foreign countries;  

(2)    Include an assessment of the extent to which their programs and/or projects integrate women in the development process and of the impact of said programs or projects on women, including their implications in enhancing the self-reliance of women in improving their income;

(3)    Ensure the active participation of women and women's organizations in the development programs and/or projects including their involvement in the planning, design, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation thereof;

(4)    Collect sex-disaggregated data and include such data in its program/project paper, proposal or strategy;  

(5)    Ensure that programs and/or projects are designed so that the percentage of women who receive assistance is approximately proportionate to either their traditional participation in the targeted activities or their proportion of the population, whichever is higher. Otherwise, the following should be stated in the program/project paper, proposal or strategy;

(a)    The obstacle in achieving the goal;

(b)    The steps being taken to overcome those obstacles; and

(c)    To the extent that steps are not being taken to overcome those obstacles, why they are not being taken.

(6)    Assist women in activities that are of critical significance to their self-reliance and development.

Sec. 5.    Equality in Capacity to Act. — Women of legal age, regardless of civil status, shall have the capacity to act and enter into contracts which shall in every respect be equal to that of men under similar circumstances.

In all contractual situations where married men have the capacity to act, married women shall have equal rights.

To this end:

(1)    Women shall have the capacity to borrow and obtain loans and execute security and credit arrangement under the same conditions as men;

(2)    Women shall have equal access to all government and private sector programs granting agricultural credit, loans and non-material resources and shall enjoy equal treatment in agrarian reform and land resettlement programs; 

(3)    Women shall have equal rights to act as incorporators and enter into insurance contracts; and

(4)    Married women shall have rights equal to those of married men in applying for passport, secure visas and other travel documents, without need to secure the consent of their spouses.

In all other similar contractual relations, women shall enjoy equal rights and shall have the capacity to act which shall in every respect be equal to those of men under similar circumstances.

Sec. 6.    Equal Membership in Clubs. — Women shall enjoy equal access to membership in all social, civic and recreational clubs, committees, associations and similar other organizations devoted to public purpose. They shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges accorded to their spouses if they belong to the same organization.

Sec. 7.    Admission to Military Schools. — Any provision of the law to the contrary notwithstanding, consistent with the needs of the services, women shall be accorded equal opportunities for appointment, admission, training, graduation and commissioning in all military or similar schools of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police not later than the fourth academic year following the approval of this Act in accordance with the standards required for men except for those minimum essential adjustments required by physiological differences between sexes.

Sec. 8.    Voluntary Pag-IBIG, GSIS and SSS Coverage. — Married persons who devote full time to managing the household and family affairs shall, upon the working spouse's consent, be entitled to voluntary Pag-IBIG (Pagtutulungan — Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya at Gobyerno), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) or Social Security System (SSS) coverage to the extent of one-half (1/2) of the salary and compensation of the working spouse. The contributions due thereon shall be deducted from the salary of the working spouse.  

The GSIS or the SSS, as the case may be, shall issue rules and regulations necessary to effectively implement the provisions of this section.

Sec. 9.    Implementing Rules. — The NEDA, in consultation with the different government agencies concerned, shall issue rules and regulations as may be necessary for the effective implementation of Section s 2, 3 and 4, of this Act within six (6) months from its effectivity.

SECTION 10.    Compliance Report. — Within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Act and every six (6) months thereafter, all government departments, including its agencies and instrumentalities, shall submit a report to Congress on their compliance with this Act. 

SECTION 11.    Separability Clause. — If for any reason any section or provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections or provisions hereof which are not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SECTION 12.    Repealing Clause. — The provisions of Republic Act No. 386, otherwise known as the Civil Code of the Philippines, as amended, and of Executive Order No. 209, otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines, and all laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.

SECTION 13.    Effectivity Clause. — The rights of women and all the provisions of this Act shall take effect immediately upon its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved: February 12, 1992