Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
At the First Philippine Women Lawyers’ Convention
[Delivered at Malacañang, December 7, 1994]
Empowering women
NOT VERY LONG AGO, I was deeply shocked and troubled to read a newspaper report about a mother of four young children in Davao who was charged with killing her youngest daughter. The mother said that the pressure was simply too much to bear. Her husband, a laborer, was earning 60 pesos a day, of which 10 went to his jeepney fare. There was simply not enough for all their basic needs.
This woman had herself been physically abused as a child, and now the cycle came around viciously; she was alleged to have beaten her child to death.
And she remained in jail, because she could not afford a lawyer to represent her.
Our social reform agenda
But this cry of desperation from the extreme margins of our society must be heard—by Government, by the private sector and by citizens in a position to help, like yourselves.
For such reasons as that family, and for millions of other Filipino families, my Government has emphasized the social component of our Medium-term Development Plan. This social reform agenda provides for more programs to assist women, mothers, children and the poor of our society.
The “Philippines 2000” that we seek to achieve is premised not only on economic growth, as important as it is, but also on social justice and compassion, which give a human face and purpose to development.
And we cannot reach Philippines 2000 hobbling on one foot. To make great strides, we need both feet on the ground—those of men and those of women.
Thus we seek to empower women—to give them fuller control of their own lives and choices—by giving them more and better opportunities for livelihood, education and self-improvement.
We want the Filipino woman to feel and to fulfill her coequal status as an active partner in nation building.
Your theme for this convention—”Women Empowerment for Justice, Progress and Stability”—reflects the same objectives. There is a great and continuing need for the special concern we give to the welfare and advancement of women.
Changing the odds
We Filipinos often pride ourselves on the fact that successful women abound in this society, and that we have traditionally given the highest regard to womanhood. Women have made outstanding contributions to our political, economic and cultural life.
But, largely, that success was still secured against the odds—against the prevalence of a culture of machismo; against patronizing attitudes that continue to see women as “the weaker sex”; against indifference, if not hostility, at home and in the workplace, to the interests of women.
It is now time for the odds to change. Even as we speak of “leveling the playing field” in business, women must be given equal opportunities to prove themselves in all their capacities, beyond their traditional roles, which have often restricted them.
And all of us—men and women like—must take a proactive stance toward changing those odds, by addressing the special needs and problems besetting Filipino women today.
Those concerns include, but are not limited to, more and better jobs, better education, health and child care, protection from abuse and sexual harassment, and help with family planning.
And I cannot put too much emphasis on the necessity for Filipino men to share in this consciousness—to understand and to accept its premises and its implications, and to assist women in achieving the fullness of their persons.
At the same time, there is a great need for women themselves, particularly the poor and uneducated, to be made aware of their rights, their opportunities and their options. They must be helped to pull themselves out of the cycle of poverty and despair. They must learn to believe in themselves, and we must give them a good reason for doing so.
The rule of law
Those of you in the law are especially privileged, not only to have reached the pinnacle of your profession, but also to be of service to others, which is the noblest purpose of the law. And your contributions—to women, and to all our people—are of utmost importance to our development.
You meet at a time when momentous changes are taking place in our economy and society—changes that will define the status and the character of the nation for several generations.
Many of these changes are positive and exciting, such as the economic turnaround we have achieved on the strength of bold new policies to liberalize the economy. Some of them will be a challenge, a test of our will to make the sacrifices necessary for our strategic growth, such as a more progressive tax system of which the expanded Value-Added Tax Law is an important component, and our projected accession to the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization.
We have put and continue to put in place political and electoral reforms, to strengthen our democracy and the foundations of our national unity. We are engaged in a quest for principled peace with all our dissident brothers and sisters, even as we have launched an all-out war on crime and corruption.
All of these require a solid legal framework, which we must uphold and which our people must understand to be reassured of the rightness of our actions.
A united front
We uphold the rule of law not only because it is our best insurance of peace, but also because it ensures that the peace will be fair to all.
We have scored great successes over the past two years in bringing peace to our country, and in instilling in our people a respect for the laws that bind us together. The fight, however, is far from over. Many elements are ranged against the cause of peace and justice, and against them we must present the strongest united front.
Our problem has never been a lack for laws. We have enough of them—good and sensible ones, which we are still seeking to improve. Our problem has been in their enforcement and implementation—and in convincing the citizenry that we mean business.
And this, with your help, we can and will do. Our women lawyers can do much to educate our people about their legal rights and responsibilities. And they can, as well, take an activist stance in exposing and fighting crime and corruption in defending the weak and the poor, and, most especially, in promoting the interests of women in society.
I note that there has been a marked increase in the number of women students in our law schools, and that women now account for 11 percent of the legal profession. I expect this number as well as the number of women engineers and scientists to rise dramatically in the years to come, toward a fairer representation—within the profession itself—of the best and brightest of Filipino women.
In the meanwhile, this convention is a milestone for women and the law in the Philippines, and I wish it every success.
This convention, I was informed, hopes to become a regular forum to collate and discuss national issues. I encourage you to pursue that plan.
I need you on my side, to help me argue my case for Philippines 2000; with you as my counsel, I am confident that I will get a positive verdict when I face the court of history.
With this admission of my arguments, I rest my case.