I. WOMEN AND CHILDREN

RA 9710: Magna Carta of Women

•A comprehensive women’s human rights law that seeks to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling, and promoting their rights, especially those who belong to the marginalized sectors

•Mandates all government offices, including GOCCs and LGUs to adopt gender mainstreaming as a strategy for implementing the law and attaining its objectives

•Provides for: (a) planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation for gender and development; (b) the creation and/or strengthening of gender and development focal points; and (c) the generation and maintenance of gender statistics and sex-disaggregated databases to aid in planning, programming and policy formulation

RA 9858: Child Legitimation Born to Parents Below Marrying Age

•Amends Article No. 1777 of the Family Code, for children born out of wedlock whose parents have subsequently married each other

•Children born out of wedlock, and those who were born to parents of minor age, may be legitimated, and that the valid subsequent marriage cures all impediments at the time of the child’s birth

RA 10165: Foster Care Act

•Promotes and institutionalizes foster care as a preferred way of caring for children so that they may receive proper care and attention that only a family can provide

•Mandates that a foster child shall automatically become a PhilHealth beneficiary of his foster parent, and is also considered a dependent under the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, granting foster parents an additional tax exemption

•Foster families are likewise given subsidies to ensure that the child’s needs will be met, and to lighten the burden on the foster parents

•Mandates the DSWD, LGUs, and agencies to assist foster families by providing support care services such as counselling, visits, training on child care and development, skills training, and livelihood assistance

RA 10398: National Consciousness Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women & Children

•Designates November 25 of every year as “National Consciousness Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Children”

RA 10572: Amending Articles 73 and 111 of the Family Code

•Amends Articles 73 and 111 of the Family Code to eliminate undue prejudice against women, and to accord the same weight to the decision of either spouse in important matters concerning their marriage and family

RA 10655: Repealing the Crime of Premature Marriage

•Repeals Article 351 of the Revised Penal Code, which punishes women who contract premature marriages. As a background, the crime of “premature marriages” punishes any widow who shall marry within three hundred and one days from the date of the death of her husband, or before having delivered if she shall have been pregnant at the time of his death. Likewise, a woman whose marriage shall have been annulled or dissolved, shall be penalized, if she shall marry before her delivery or before the expiration of three hundred and one days after the legal separation

RA 10661: National Children’s Month

•Designates November as “National Children’s Month.” It provides that all learning levels of educational institutions, both public and private, shall conduct simple ceremonies and appropriate activities throughout the month, to promote a “children’s rights culture.” Private enterprises are likewise encouraged to do the same.

RA 10821: Children’s Emergency Relief & Protection Act

•Protects the fundamental rights of children before, during, and after disasters and emergency situations

•Requires the DSWD, and relevant government agencies and CSOs, to develop a Comprehensive Emergency Program for Children, taking into consideration humanitarian standards for their protection

•Seeks the establishment of a Tracing Reunification System for orphaned, unaccompanied, or separated children; and a system for restoring civil registry documents, following disasters or emergencies

•Provides for limited use of schools as evacuation centers.

RA 10906: Anti-Mail Order Spouse Act

•Repeals Republic Act No. 6955 or the “Anti-Mail Order Bride Law” in order to provide stronger measures in penalizing unlawful practices, businesses, and schemes of matching and offering Filipinos to foreign nationals for purposes of marriage or common law partnership.

•Prohibits the exhibition, advertising, publication, printing, or distribution of materials that are calculated to promote such prohibited acts.

RA 11642: Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act

•Simplifies the domestic adoption system by making it administrative in nature, and streamlining the processes and requirements

•Establishes the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), an agency under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that will exclusively handle all adoption, foster care, and other alternative child care cases, and will have its own personnel

RA 11648: Anti-Rape Law, as amended

•Amends RA 8353, or the Anti-Rape Law and raises the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16.

•Provides additional protection to minors aged 16 and under against qualified seduction, child prostitution and other sexual abuse, child trafficking, and forceful hiring of minors for obscene publications and indecent shows

•Exempts from criminal liability partners who are both 16 years old and below, with an age difference of not more than 3 years provided that their sexual act should be proven to be “consensual, non-abusive, and non-exploitative.” However, this exemption would not apply if the victim is under 13 years old

RA 10364: Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act

•Amends Republic Act No. 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 to include attempted trafficking under the penalized acts

•Includes the act of adoption as a possible means of trafficking and the corresponding need to provide means for temporary protection

•Removes the confidentiality provision favoring persons accused of human trafficking while maintaining the protection intended for trafficking victims, and provides the State extraterritorial jurisdiction over trafficking in persons offenses

•Decriminalizes prostitution of trafficked persons

RA 10354: Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act

•Codifies reproductive health rights and provides access to different family planning commodities and services, as well as information through age- and development- appropriate education

•Provides access to skilled health professionals before, during, and after delivery to address maternal and neonatal mortality

•Mandates the establishment and upgrading of facilities and training of skilled health professionals.

RA 9995: Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act

•Penalizes the act of taking of photos or videos of a person or group of persons performing sexual act or any similar activity, or of capturing an image of the private area of a person/s without the latter’s consent as this destroys the honor, dignity, and integrity of an individual

RA 11641: Department of Migrant Workers Act

•Creates the Department of Migrant Workers

•Aims to improve coordination among agencies concerned with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and OFW affairs
Note: Senator Pia Cayetano introduced amendments to make the law gender-neutral

II. HEALTH

RA 9439: Anti Hospital Detention Law

•Provides that patients who have fully or partially recovered and who already wish to leave the hospital or medical clinic but are incapable to settle, in part or in full, their hospitalization expenses shall be allowed to leave the hospital or medical clinic

•Upon the execution of a promissory note covering the unpaid obligation, a patient can demand the issuance of corresponding medical certificate and other pertinent papers required for his/her release

RA 9482: National Anti-Rabies Act

•Provides for the prevention, control, and eventual eradication of human and animal rabies

•Establishes a National Rabies Prevention and Control Program that shall be implemented by a multi-agency/multi-sectoral committee chaired by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture

RA 9502: Universally Accessible Cheaper & Quality Medicines Act

•Amends certain provisions of the Intellectual Property Code and provides other mechanisms to ensure access to affordable but quality drugs

RA 9711: Food and Drug Administration Act

•Establishes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is mandated to ensure the safety, efficacy or quality of health products which include food, drugs, cosmetics, devices, biologicals, vaccines, in-vitro diagnostic reagents, radiation-emitting devices or equipment, and household/urban hazardous substances, including pesticides and toys, or consumer products that may have an effect on health which require regulations

RA 10028: Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act

•Provides for the establishment of lactation stations in all health and non-health facilities

•Mandates all health and non-health facilities, establishments or institutions to take strict measures to prevent any direct or indirect form of promotion, marketing, and/or sales of infant formula, and/or breastmilk substitutes within the lactation stations

•Lactation Periods shall be granted to all nursing employees in addition to the regular time-off for meals to breastfeed or express milk

•Integrates Breastfeeding Education in the Curricula. A comprehensive national public education and awareness program shall be also undertaken

RA 10069: National Health Workers’ Day Act

•Designates May 7 of every year as a special working holiday to be known as “Health Workers’ Day” to give due recognition to the important role and contributions of health workers, in order to promote their rights and welfare and enhance their sense of work and dignity

RA 10152: Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Act

•Mandates basic immunization against preventable diseases for all infants and young children

•The mandatory basic immunization shall be given for free at any government hospital or health center to infants and children up to 5 years of age

RA 10345: Increasing the Bed Capacity of the Quirino Memorial Medical Center

•Increases the bed capacity of the Quirino Memorial Medical Center from 350 to 500

RA 10351: Sin Tax Reform Act

•Increases the excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products with the aim of generating funds for social services, and curbing excessive smoking and drinking habits among Filipinos

•Mandates that 15% of revenues from excise taxes on tobacco products be used for programs promoting alternatives for tobacco farmers and workers in tobacco-producing provinces

•Requires that 80% of the remaining revenues be allocated for the universal health care program under the National Health Insurance Program, and 20% for medical assistance and health enhancement facilities program

RA 10355: Increasing the Bed Capacity of Jose B. Lingad Memorial General

•Increases the bed capacity of Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital in San Fernando City, Pampanga from 250 to 500 beds

RA 10526: Liver Cancer & Viral Hepatitis Awareness & Prevention Month Act

•Designates the month of January of every year as the “Liver Cancer and Viral Hepatitis Awareness and Prevention Month” wherein a comprehensive public education and awareness program shall be undertaken on the communicable disease of viral hepatitis

RA 10532: Philippine National Health Research System Act

•Institutionalizes the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS)

•Through the PNHRS, health research is linked to health system needs, and seeks to ensure that investments in health research yield the most benefits

RA 10606: National Health Insurance Act

•Mandates health care coverage for indigent and abandoned children, with the national government subsidizing their premium contributions

•Amends Republic Act 7875, or the National Health Insurance Act of 1995, Section 6 to say that the program “shall be compulsory in all provinces, cities, and municipalities nationwide, notwithstanding the existence of LGU-based health insurance programs”

Note: Senator Pia Cayetano introduced the provision that the needed premium contributions of all barangay health workers, nutrition scholars, and other barangay workers and volunteers shall be fully borne by the LGUs concerned.

RA 10643: Graphic Health Warning Law

•Requires tobacco companies to print graphic health warning templates on all cigarette packages, which depict the dangers of tobacco smoking or passive smoking, along with text-based information

•Effectively bans the manufacture and importation of tobacco products without the graphic warnings

RA 10747: Rare Disease Act

•Mandates PhilHealth to include the cost of treatment of rare diseases in the benefit package, and to direct provisions from the sin taxes collection to cover the cost of care for patients with rare diseases

•Under the law, patients with rare diseases will also be considered as persons with disabilities and will be granted benefits and privileges such as priority programs and discounts as mandated by the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons

RA 11036: Mental Health Law

•Provides a more holistic approach to Mental Healthcare, wherein the rights and welfare of persons with mental health needs and also mental health professionals are secured and protected

•Psychiatric, psychosocial, and neurological services are integrated in regional, provincial, and tertiary hospitals. Mental health services will also be accessible down to the barangay level

•Seeks the promotion of mental health education in schools and workplaces, especially on ending social stigma for persons with mental health needs

RA 11166: Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act

•Reconstitutes and streamlines the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) to ensure the implementation of the country’s response to HIV and AIDS

•A person aged 15 or over shall be entitled to access HIV testing and counseling without the need of consent from a parent or guardian

•DOH shall provide free and accessible antiretroviral therapy and medications to people with HIV who are enrolled in their program

•Prohibitions and penalties will also be imposed for forms of discrimination for people with HIV/AIDS

III. EDUCATION

RA 9500: University of the Philippines Charter

•Recognizes the University of the Philippines as a national university

•Gives UP the legal framework, flexibility and authority it needs to excel as the Philippines’ National University

RA 10410: Early Years Act

•Refocuses day care centers all over the country from a playroom to a learning center by rationalizing and restructuring the day care into an early childhood education center

•Institutionalizes the National System for Early Childhood Care and Development, which involves multi-sectoral and inter-agency collaboration at the national and local levels

RA 10647: Ladderized Education Act

•Addresses the present compartmentalization of tech-voc and college degree programs that hinders the recognition and accreditation of tech-voc competencies in college degree programs, and vice-versa

•Harmonizes tech-voc and college degree components, thus allowing an individual to progress between and among tech-voc courses and college degree programs

RA 10648: Iskolar ng Bayan Act

•Provides the top ten public high school students of their graduating class automatic admission to state universities and colleges (SUCs) of their choice within their province or nearby provinces, depending on the size of the SUCs and their course offerings

•In addition, scholarship grants will be made available to these students

RA 10650: Open Distance Learning Act

•Pertains to a mode of delivering education and instruction, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional setting such as a classroom

•Instruction is delivered through specially designed materials and methods, using appropriate technologies and supported by organizational and administrative structures and arrangements

RA 10665: Open High School System Act

•Utilizes multi-media learning and teaching technologies that will enable open high school learners to study without being constrained by the conventional classroom setup

•By using self-instructional materials to facilitate independent study, and providing support through face-to-face instruction, the constraints to attending regular secondary school will be overcome, allowing open high school learners to be mainstreamed again with other students, or even finish their secondary education within the program

RA 10687: Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act (UniFAST)

•Harmonizes, reforms, and strengthens all the existing modalities of financial assistance programs for tertiary education in both public and private institutions, whether nationally or locally funded

•Creates the UniFAST Board, which is mandated to craft and review policies and strategies for providing student financial assistance for tertiary education. It shall coordinate with all the implementing agencies of Student Financial Assistance Programs, and shall lay down guidelines to ensure efficient generation and delivery of funding

RA 10679: Youth Entrepreneurship Act

•Aims to promote youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy among the youth

•Creates an Entrepreneurship Education Committee to ensure that entrepreneurship and financial literacy are integrated in the curriculum in all levels

RA 10743: National Teacher’s Day

•Designates the 5th day of October of every year as the ‘National Teacher’s Day’

IV. ENVIRONMENT

RA 9367: Biofuels Act

•Aims to reduce the country’s dependence on imported fuels with due regard to the protection of public health, the environment, and natural ecosystems

•Mandates the Department of Energy, according to duly accepted international standards, to gradually phase out the use of harmful gasoline additives such as, but not limited to, Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE)

•Mandates that all liquid fuels for motors and engines sold in the Philippine shall contain locally-sourced biofuels components

RA 9483: Oil Pollution Compensation Act

•Institutes a mechanism for the prevention, mitigation and control of oil pollution.

•Creates a fund which will be used to cover containment and cleanup operations by the Philippine Coast Guard in the case of an oil spill

RA 9512: Environmental Awareness & Education Act

•Requires DepEd, CHED, TESDA, among others, to integrate environmental education in the school curricula at all levels, whether public or private

RA 9513: Renewable Energy Act

•Promotes the development, utilization, and commercialization of renewable energy sources in the Philippines by accelerating the exploration and development of renewable energy resources such as, but not limited to, biomass, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and ocean energy sources, including hybrid systems.

Declared Protected Areas:

RA 9494: Mimbilisan Protected Landscape Act

•Aims to secure for present and future generations of Filipinos the Mimbilisan watershed in Balingoan and Talisay, Misamis Oriental, through the establishment of the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) under the category of protected landscape

RA 9486: Central Cebu Protected Landscape

•Secures the protection, conservation, rehabilitation and sustainable development of the Central Cebu protected landscape, especially with its important role as a watershed for water generation and supply purposes

RA 9847: Mt. Banahaw San Cristobal Protected Landscape

•Mandates the protection and conservation of the Banahaw and San Cristobal mountains, a major watershed in Laguna and Quezon, and their associated forest, biodiversity, cultural and religious importance

RA 10067: Tubbataha Reef Natural Park

•Ensures the protection and conservation of the globally significant, economic, biological, sociocultural, educational, and scientific values of Tubbataha reefs, with the end in view of fostering widespread public awareness

V. SPORTS

RA 10676: Student-Athlete Protection Act

•Mandates that “no residency requirement shall be imposed on a high school student-athlete transferring to another high school or to a college or university. In the case of a tertiary student-athlete transferring from one college or university to another, a maximum period of one year residency may be imposed by athletic associations”

•Authorizes schools to give incentives to deserving student-athletes including tuition, board and lodging, uniform, equipment and a reasonable living allowance

RA 10699: National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act

•Mandates higher financial incentives for national athletes, including athletes with disabilities. It also provides benefits and incentives for coaches

VI. OTHER IMPORTANT LAWS

RA 9415: Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation – Land Parcel

•Amends RA 2239 to enable the Foundation to allow the construction of a condominium building on its land in accordance with the provisions of the Condominium Law

•Provides that the property or any space in the building to be constructed may be leased or sold and that the proceeds for such lease or sale shall be utilized for purposes which the Foundation has been established

RA 9946: Judiciary Retirement Benefits

•Amends RA 910 to provide benefits for all judges from the Supreme Court down to Municipal Trial Court, including the Sha’ria Courts

RA 9994: Expanded Senior Citizens Act

•Exempts senior citizens from the 12% Value Added Tax thereby allowing them to fully enjoy the 20% senior citizens discount

•Gives indigent senior citizens a monthly stipend of P500, which will be subject to the periodic review of Congress in coordination with DSWD

•In case of death of an indigent senior citizen, an amount of P2,000 will also be awarded to his or her nearest kin as death benefit assistance

•Senior citizens may also enjoy a five percent discount on their water and electric bills on the condition that the utilities are named under the senior citizen residing in the household, and that the consumption for electricity and water should be below 100 kilowatt-hours and 30 cubic meters per month, respectively

RA 9995: Anti-Photo & Video Voyeurism Act

•Penalizes the act of taking photo or video coverage of a person or group of persons performing sexual act or any similar activity or of capturing an image of the private area of a person/s without the latter’s consent as this destroys the honor, dignity, and integrity of an individual

RA 10070: Establishment of Persons w/ Disability Affairs Office

•Ensures the implementation and accessibility of programs and services for persons with disabilities through the creation of a Persons with Disability Affairs Office in every province, city, and municipality in the country.

RA 10364: Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act

•Amends Republic Act No. 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 to include attempted trafficking under the penalized acts

•Includes the act of adoption as a possible means of trafficking and the corresponding need to provide means for temporary protection

•Removes the confidentiality provision favoring persons accused of human trafficking while maintaining the protection intended for trafficking victims, and provides the State extraterritorial jurisdiction over trafficking in persons offenses

•Decriminalizes prostitution of trafficked persons

RA 10911: Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act

•Provides equal opportunities in terms of employment, wherein abilities, knowledge, skills and qualifications should be the basis of employment rather than age

•Prohibits, among others, the print or publish, in any form of media, of any notice of advertisement relating to employment suggesting preferences, limitations, specifications, and discrimination based on age