Messages i MESSAG E Loretta Ann P. Rosales Commission on Human Rights Philippines O n behalf of the Commission on Human Rights, we are pleased to present this Gender Ombud Guidelines which seeks to capture the principles of gender equality and woman empowerment as provided by the Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710) in a set of implementing guidelines. Passed in 2009, the Magna Carta of Women has since designated the Commission as the Gender and Development Ombud. The law sets out its specific mandates for the Commission which the Commission must faithfully and fully implement: among them, promoting and protecting women’s rights through creative approaches in education while honing investigation of rights violations committed by persons not only from the public but equally from the private sectors. As the Commission capacitates itself in the investigation of such violations, its recommendations of appropriate remedial measures to other agencies of government must be closely monitored to ensure effective implementation. The current guidelines have been developed in close coordination with the Philippine Commission on Women and in consultation with national government agencies and civil society organizations. This broad collaboration among networks of government and civil society institutions drives home the point that women’s rights awareness and enforcement is not an exclusive task of women alone but involves the broad spectrum of government and civil society. Women’s rights are human rights and the enforcement of human rights involves participation from all sectors of society, public and private. Hence, the approach must always be inclusive rather than exclusive, selective and fragmented. Secondly, when we speak of Woman Empowerment, we recognize the reality of structural arrangements in society where women have been historically discriminated against, thereby resulting in their marginalization in terms of economic, political and social development, both as individuals and as collective members of the community. Thus, it becomes an imperative to ensure consultations with women to cultivate their interest and active participation in the making of decisions that affect their well-being and dignity. Such consultations must cut across all sectors and income levels. This can involve making decisions to improve themselves as individuals and on matters where, as individuals, they contribute to the betterment of their community. In this regard, it becomes the Commission’s mandate to ensure that women are always consulted and consistently capacitated. Thirdly, when we speak of consistent capacitation, we ensure the regular oversight and evaluation of women’s training and educational endeavours to ensure that such capacity building programs are relevant and appropriate to their particular contexts of social, economic, political and cultural development. It is in this regard that the Commission defines three major Protocols in the implementation of the Magna Carta of Women and related women’s rights laws, specifically on the investigation of cases to protect women’s rights. Protocol 1 involves cases on women that cut across the broad spectrum of society: Indigenous women, Moro women, Elderly women, Women differently abled (PWDs), and the like; Protocol 2 involves CHR Gender Ombud Guidelines