I. REPUBLIC ACT NO.

7277: MAGNA CARTA FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITY

The Magna Carta for Persons with Disability prescribes that “no disabled persons shall
be denied access to opportunities for suitable employment, and that a qualified disabled
employee shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of employment and the
same compensation, privileges, benefits, fringe benefits, incentives or allowances as a
qualified able-bodied person.”
Protects against:
Discrimination of rights and privileges of disabled persons in the different sectors,
departments, offices and agencies of the National Government or nongovernment
organizations
Example:
Through the years, the support for providing employment to persons with disabilities has
been progressively increasing. More and more establishments are hiring PWDs. In the
food and beverage industry, shops like Teriyaki Boy, Sizzlin’ Steak Elait, Overdough,
Fruitas, Farron Café, Dunamai Café, Juice Avenue, Buko Loco, Chooks-To-Go etc. has
been employing PWDs and encouraging other enterprises to do so. In the arts-and-craft
sector, business like The Happy Project, Conscious Canvas PH, and Citihub has been
leading the call to integrate more PWDs in the workplace. Livelihood programs for PWDs
like Project Lily also helps not only to promote the community but also advocates for the
recruitment of many hard-working PWDs workers. These mentioned businesses and
non-government organizations proves as an example in providing qualified employees
with a disability the same terms and conditions of employment as a qualified able-bodied
person.

II. REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7877: ANTI-SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACT OF 1995

Republic Act No. 787 also known as known as “The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of
1995” is the governing law that promulgates the State to value the dignity of every
individual, enhance the development of its human resources guarantee fell respect for
human rights, and uphold the dignity of workers, employees, applicants for employment,
students or those undergoing training, instruction or education. All forms of sexual
harassment in the employment, education or training environment that violates the
dignity and humans right of a person are declared unlawful.
Protects against:
Any unwelcome sexual advance, request or demand for a sexual favor, or other verbal
or physical behavior of a sexual nature, committed by any other person who, having
authority, influence or moral ascendancy over another.
Example:
For too long, women experiencing sexual harassment have suffered in silence. Many are
unheard, buried in the consciousness of the victims, living the trauma in their every day
life. According to the study conducted by Social Weather Stations in 2016, women are
 mostly the victims of sexual harassment. But little by little, people are speaking up.
Victims testimony is at last being taken more seriously, men and women alike. Cases
like Narvasa vs. Sanchez and Domingo vs. Rayala serves as a reminder that justice can
be served to the victims of harassment. The law provides protection and reparation to
the victims who survived the harrowing experience and had courage to take a stand
against their offender. The #MeToo Movement, a worldwide campaign against sexual
harassment and assault also serves as an avenue for the victims to voice their
experiences, spreading awareness to possible harassment, educating people about their
consent and right to say NO, encouraging them to participate in events and programs
that support and promote for the welfare of the victims. Always remember that
regardless of educational background and employment status, perpetrators commit
sexual harassment. Let us not create a society where offenders live in comfort, and the
victims in misery.

III. REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8972: SOLO PARENTS’ WELFARE ACT

RA 8972 or the “Solo Parent’s Welfare Act of 2000” provides for benefits and privileges
to solo parents and their children. It aims to develop a comprehensive package of social
development and welfare services for solo parents and their children to be carried out by
the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as the lead agency,
various government agencies including NSO and other related NGOs.
Protects against:
Discrimination from employer against any solo parent employee with respect to the
terms and conditions of employment and infringing the mandated benefits and privileges
to solo parents and their children.
Examples:
Taking care of a child is a huge responsibility for both parents, and much more difficult
for solo parents. A census conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2015
showed that about 14 million are solo parents in the Philippines. Recognizing the
hardship, the national government passed the law to lessen the burden of parenthood.
This law covers fathers or mothers who raise their children by themselves, due to the
death of a spouse, abandonment, marital separation, or even those who have children
as a result of rape. This law also considers stand-alone solo parent who are taking care
of children not their own, such as nephews, nieces, or godchildren. Among the benefits
of this law are 10 percent discounts and exemption from the value-added tax on basic
necessities such as clothing, baby's milk and food, and children's medicine, parental
leave of not more than seven (7) working days every year, top priority to receive
scholarship and educational programs of the government, access to medical and health
welfare services in government hospitals and medical facilities and allocation in housing
project of the NHA. Since enacted, Filipinos are enjoying the benefits of this law.

IV. REPUBLIC ACT 7610: SPECIAL PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST ABUSE,

EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION ACT
 This Act declares that it shall be the policy of the state to provide special protection to
children below 18 years of age or one who is over 18 years of age but who cannot take
care of himself fully because of a physical or mental disability or condition from all forms
of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation and discrimination, and other conditions that
gravely threaten or endanger their survival and normal development over which they
have no control.
Protect against:
Violations such as abuse, sexual exploitation, child prostitution, obscene publications
and indecent shows, child trafficking, working in hazardous conditions, discrimination
against children of indigenous cultural communities and other acts of abuse and harmful
practices that endangers child welfare.
Example:
Due to widespread poverty, the occurrence of child labor cases has been increasing in
our country. A report by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on the 2011 Survey on
Children shows that about 2.1 million children aged 5 to 17 years old are child laborers,
95 per cent of which are in working in hazardous environment. Exclusively, the
international market is benefiting from child labor produced agricultural goods namely
sugarcane, bananas, coconuts, corn, hogs, rice, rubber, and tobacco. Gold mining,
pornography and pyrotechnics are also included in the list reported by the 2014 List of
Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. To address cases involving violations
of R.A. No. 7610, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Social Welfare
and Development (DSWD) formulated the “Comprehensive Program Against Child
Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination” which ensures that all children in the Philippines
are provided legal protection, within a child sensitive justice system. The Philippine
Program Against Child Labor (PPACL), a combined efforts of the National Child Labor
Committee (NCLC) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), is the official
national program on the elimination of child labor. The government, together with the
private sector, workers and employers’ organizations, non-government organizations
(NGOs) and international development institutions aim for the prevention, protection and
removal from hazardous and exploitative work build and build a protective and caring
environment that promotes for the best interests of children.

V. REPUBLIC ACT 8042: MIGRANT WORKERS AND OVERSEAS FILIPINO ACT

The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 institutes the policies of
overseas employment and establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the
welfare of migrant workers, their families and overseas Filipinos in distress, and for other
purposes. This act was aimed at facilitating overseas employment, creating a
remittance-friendly environment, and promoting the protection of OFWs.
Protection against:
Employers, organizations, business institutions and deployment agencies that exploit the
vulnerability of migrant workers for any acts that cause distress which includes but not
limited to illegal recruitment, trafficking, discrimination, sexual and physical abuse
Example:
For the last decade, reports of human rights abuses against OFWs have garnered the
attention of the public. In 2020, cases of recorded maltreatment of overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs) nearly reached 5,000, as reported during a Senate Labor Committee
hearing. 4,302 cases of abuse were in the Middle East, 593 maltreatment cases in Asia
and 86 incidents were reported in Europe and the Americas. The Philippine Overseas
Labor Offices (POLOs) data showed that the total number of contract violations
committed against OFWs are 23,714, majority of which were reported in Middle Eastern
countries. This clearly shows that despite the government’s effort to protect the rights of
migrant workers, it is lacking in many ways. Year by year, we hear cases of overseas
workers being abused by their employers, workers who lived to tell the traumas they
experienced. They are in some way lucky to have survived the abuse, some didn’t.
Their luck has run out, gone as their lives, bodies caged in the box buried 6 feet under
the ground. Others were just lost, gone with no trace. As if they didn’t exist before they
were trusted in their employer’s place, hoping to make fortune for their families in the
homeland. They work their butts off, combating the fatigue, hunger, homesickness,
thinking only of the money that will help pay their father’s hospital bill, their kids’ tuition,
their sister’s therapy. Migrant workers went to foreign places, serving foreign people
thinking the government has their back. This, however, is all just make believe. With this
being said, the government must, in all its capacity, provide full protection, adequate and
timely social, economic and legal services to labor, local and overseas, organized and
unorganized, Filipino migrant workers.

References:

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campaign. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/10/17/Filipinos-MeToo-anti-sexual-
harassment-campaign.html.

Cruz, G. D. L. (2016, June 3). The many faces of sexual harassment in PH.
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/sexual-harassment-philippines.

Department of Justice. (n.d.). Child Protection Program. Child Protection Program: Department
of Justice - Republic of the Philippines. https://www.doj.gov.ph/child-protection-
program.html.

Himor, J. P. (2018, October 23). LOOK: These 7 Admirable Establishments Hire PWD
Employees. https://www.wheninmanila.com/look-these-7-admirable-establishments-hire-
pwd-employees/.

International Labour Organization. (n.d.). Child labour in the Philippines (ILO in the
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Philippine Companies Need To Know. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/sexual-
harassment-in-the-workplace-what-47787/.

Mercado, N. A. (2021, January 20). House OKs bill granting additional benefits to solo parents.
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benefits-to-solo-parents.

Nicolas & De Vega Law Offices. (2020, August 19). Sexual Harassment - Law Firm in Metro
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Harassment. https://ndvlaw.com/sexual-harassment/.

Patajo-Kapunan, A. L. (2015, September 13). Solo Parents' Welfare Act and work benefits to
solo-parent employees: Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan. BusinessMirror.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2015/09/13/solo-parents-welfare-act-and-work-benefits-to-
solo-parent-employees/.

Philippine Commission on Women. (n.d.). Republic Act 7610: Special Protection of Children
Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. Philippine Commission on Women.
https://pcw.gov.ph/republic-act-7610-special-protection-of-children-against-abuse-
exploitation-and-discrimination-act/.

POEA - Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. (n.d.). Migrant Workers Act of 1995
(RA 8042). https://www.poea.gov.ph/laws&rules/files/Migrant%20Workers%20Act%20of
%201995%20(RA%208042).html.

Q & A: Solo Parent’s Welfare Act and Parental Leave | Philippine Statistics Authority. (2008,
March 3). Department of Labor and Employment. https://psa.gov.ph/content/q-solo-
parents-welfare-act-and-parental-leave

Quiocho, C., Cenita, E. J., Reyes, S., & Estor, J. C. (2019, July 17). Local Filipino companies
that hire persons with disabilities. https://www.howto101.ph/local-filipino-companies-that-
hire-persons-with-disbilities/.

Ramos, C. M. (2021, March 8). Nearly 5,000 cases of abused OFWs recorded in 2020.
INQUIRER.net. https://globalnation.inquirer.net/194235/fwd-nearly-5k-cases-of-ofw-
maltreatment-recorded-in-2020-polo-data-shows.

United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. (n.d.). United Nations Study on
Violence against Children. Response to the questionnaire received from the Government of
the Philippines.
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRC/StudyViolenceChildren/Responses/Phi
lippines.pdf.