ACT PROVIDING FOR THE MAGNA CARTA OF WOMEN

Republic Act No. 9710

(This Act shall be known as The Magna Carta of Women)
Rationale of Magna Carta for Women
Fundamentally, the Magna Carta of Women emphasizes the right of women. It seeks to
eliminate discrimination and inequality by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling, and promoting the
rights of Filipino women, especially those in the marginalized sectors. To realize this objective, the
State shall endeavor to develop plans, policies, programs, measures, and mechanisms to address
the discrimination and inequality in the economic, political, and socio-cultural background of not
only the women but also the men. In fine, the Magna Carta of Women, as a result of which women
are denied or restricted in their rights and in their access to an enjoyment of opportunities,
benefits, and privileges.
What is more, the Magna Carta of Women traces its mandates from the 1987 Constitution. One of
the State Policies stipulated therein provides that The State recognizes the role of women in
nation-building, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men.
(Sec. 14, Art. II). Likewise, the constitution provides that The State shall protect working
conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that
will enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in the service of the
nation. (Sec. 14, Art. III).
Rights of Women
All rights stipulated in the Constitution an those rights recognized under international laws,
duly signed and ratified by the Philippines in consonance with the Philippine laws, shall also be the
rights of women under the Magna Carta of Women.
-

Equal rights in all matters relating to marriage and family relations

Right to be protected in all forms of violence
Right to be protected in times of disasters, calamities, and other crisis situations
Right to participation and equitable representation in all spheres of society
Right against dismissal or expulsion from school due to pregnancy out of wedlock
Right to health
Right to special leave benefits women employees leave entitlement of two months with
full pay based on her gross monthly compensation (monthly basic pay + mandatory
allowances) following surgery caused by gynecological disorders
Right against discriminatory and derogatory portrayal in media and film
Right to decent work involves opportunities for work that are productive and fairly
remunerative as family living wage, security in the workplace, and social protection for
families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for
people to express their concerns, organize, participate in the decisions that affect their
lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.
Right to resources for food production
Right to livelihood, credit, capital, and technology

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Right to education and training

Right to information
Right to housing
Right to representation and participation in policy-making bodies
Right of women in especially difficult circumstances
Right of women senior citizens to protection

Penalties
Public and private entity or individual can be in violation of the provisions of the Magna
Carta of Women. As expected, they will be liable for damages that they have incurred.
If the Commission on Human Rights found that a department, agency, or instrumentality
of government, government-owned and controlled corporation, or local-government unit has
violated any provision of the Magna Carta of Women and its implementing rules and regulations,
the sanctions provided under administrative law, civil service, and other similar laws shall be
recommended to the Civil Service Commission and/or Department of Interior and Local
Government. Furthermore, in cases where the offense has been perpetrated by agents of the
State, it will be considered an aggravating offense with corresponding penalties, depending on the
severity of the offense.
If the violation be committed by a private entity or individual, the person directly
responsible for the violation shall be liable to pay damages.
Also, the filling of a complaint under the Magna Carta of Women will not preclude the
offended party from pursuing the remedies provided for in other laws protecting women, such as
the:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

Women in Development and Nation Building act (R.A. No. 7192)

Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 (R.A. No. 7877)
Anti-Rape Law of 1997 (R.A. No. 8353)
Rape Victim Assistance and Protection Act of 1998 (R.A. No. 8505)
Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2003 (R.A. No. 9208)
Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children (R.A. No. 9262)

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AN ACT TO INSTITUTE POLICIES TO ELIMINATE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ESPECIALLY WOMEN

AND CHILDREN, ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR THE
PROTECTION AND SUPPORT OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR ITS
VIOLATIONS, AND FOR OTHER
Republic Act No. 9208
(This Act shall be known as The Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2004)
Rationale of the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2003
The State values dignity of every human person and guarantees the respect of individual
rights. Through this enactment, the State shall provide measures and development programs that
will promote human dignity, protect the people from any threat of violence and exploitation,
eliminate trafficking in persons, and mitigate pressures for involuntary migration and servitude of
persons.
Generally, the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2003 saves many women and children
from falling into the prey of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery,
involuntary servitude, or debt bondage, both domestic and overseas. Filipino workers who are
often deceived by their recruiters about their real work outside the country are now armed with
this piece of legislation.
Acts of punished by the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2003
A. Acts of trafficking in persons
a. To recruit, transport, transfer; harbor, provide, or receive a person by any means,
including those done under the pretext of domestic or overseas employment or
training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual
exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
b. To introduce or match for money, profit, or material, economic or other consideration,
any person or, as provided for under Republic Act No. 6955, any Filipino woman to a
foreign national, for marriage for the purpose of acquiring buying, offering, selling or
trading him/her to engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced
labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
c. To offer or contract marriage, real or simulated, for the purpose of acquiring, buying,
offering, selling, or trading them to engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual
exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
d. To undertake or organize tours and travel plans consisting of tourism packages or
activities for the purpose of utilizing and offering persons for prostitution,
pornography or sexual exploitation;
e. To maintain or hire a person to engage in prostitution or pornography;
f. To adopt or facilitate the adoption of persons for the purpose of prostitution,
pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt
bondage;
g. To recruit , hire, adopt, transport or abduct a person, by means of threat or use of
force, fraud, deceit, violence, coercion, or intimidation for the purpose of removal or
sale of organs of said person; and

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h. To recruit, transport or adopt a child to engage in armed activities in the Philippines or

abroad.
B. Acts that promote trafficking in persons
a. To knowingly lease or sublease, use or allow to be used any house building or
establishment for the purpose of promoting trafficking in persons;
b. To produce, print and issue or distribute unissued, tampered or fake counseling
certificates, registration stickers as proof of compliance with government regulatory
and pre-departure requirements for the purpose of promoting trafficking in persons;
c. To advertise, publish, print, broadcast or distribute, or cause the advertisement,
publication, printing, broadcasting or distribution by any means, including the use of
information technology and the internet, of any brochure, flyer or any propaganda
material that promotes trafficking in persons;
d. To assist in the conduct of misrepresentation or fraud for purposes of facilitating the
acquisition of clearances and necessary exit documents from government agencies
that are mandated to provide pre-departure registration and services for departing
persons for the purpose of promoting trafficking in persons;
e. To facilitate, assist or help in the exit and entry of persons from/to the country at
international and local airports, territorial boundaries and seaports who are in
possession of unissued, tampered or fraudulent travel documents for the purpose of
promoting trafficking in persons;
f. To confiscate, conceal, or destroy the passport, travel documents or personal
documents or belongings of trafficked persons in furtherance of trafficking persons in
furtherance of trafficking or to prevent them from leaving the country or seeking
redress from the government or appropriate agencies, and
g. To knowingly benefit from, financial or otherwise, or make use of, the labor or services
of a person held to a condition of involuntary servitude, forced labor, or slavery.
C. Use of trafficked persons
Qualified trafficking in persons
a. When the trafficked person is a child;
b. When the adoption is effected through Republic Act No. 8043, otherwise known as the
Inter-Country Adoption Act of 1995 and said adoption is for the purpose of prostitution,
pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt
bondage;
c. When the crime is committed by a syndicate, or in large scale. Trafficking is deemed
committed by a syndicate if carried out by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring
or confederating with one another. It is deemed committed in large scale if committed
against three (3) or more persons, individually or as a group;
d. When the offender is an ascendant, parent, sibling, guardian, or a person who exercises
authority over the trafficked person or when the offense is committed by a public officer
or employee;

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e. When the trafficked person is recruited to engage in prostitution with any member of the
military or law enforcement agencies;
f. When the offender is a member of the military or law enforcement agencies; and
g. When by reason or on occasion of the act of trafficking in persons, the offended party dies,
becomes insane, suffers, mutilation or is afflicted with Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) or the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Venue of criminal action
A criminal action violating the provisions of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003
shall be filed;
a. Where the offense was committed;
b. Where any of its elements occurred; or
c. Where the trafficked person actually resides at the time of the commission.
Who may file a complaint?
A complaint may be filed by (a) any person who has personal knowledge of the
commission of any offense under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, (b) the trafficked
person, (c) the parents, (d) the spouse, (e) the siblings, (f) the children, or (g) legal guardian.
Criminal and civil actions and prescriptive period
Pursuant to the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, when a criminal action is Constituted,
the civil action arising from the offense charged is deemed instituted with the criminal action,
unless the offended party waives the civil action, reserves the right to institute it separately, or
institutes the civil action prior to the criminal action.
Cases of trafficking prescribe in 10 years if, however, the trafficking is committed by a
syndicated or in large scale, it prescribes in 20 years.

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References
Cowl Service Commission Resolution on Guidelines on the Availment of the Special Leave
Benefits for Women under R.A. No. 9710.
Human Trafficking.Org. (n.d.). Human trafficking; Philippines. Retrieved February 17, 2015
from http://www.humantraffacking .org/countries/philippines.
Rules and Regulations Implementing R.A. No. 9208.
Rules ang Regulations Implementing R.A. No. 9710.
The Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2003 (R.A. No. 9208)
The Magna Carta of Women (R.A. No. 9710).
Ungos, P.D., Jr. & Ungos P.Q., III. (2013).
Agrarian Law and Social Legislation, Quezon City; Rex Printing Company Inc.

Group 1

CABELLO, Mia
COLLANTES, Paul Theo
FALUCHO, Ana Leonor
INOCENCIO, Mary Frances
QUEVEDO, Svetlana

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