SUGAR REGULATORY ADMINISTRATION

        SRA GAD FOCAL POINT JOINS THE 2008 RURAL’S WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRATION

The awarding of winners for the 2008 search for Outstanding Rural Women was held last October 20, 2008 at the BSWM Convention Hall, Quezon City, coinciding with the celebration of the World Rural Women’s Day.  

The celebration was highlighted by the awarding of winners for the “Outstanding Rural Women”. Two (2) first prize winners emerged, Ms. Victoria A. Montril of Tupi, South Cotobato  (Region II) and Ms. Olive M. Gamboa of Valencia City, Bukidnon, (Region X) receiving the amount of P 75,000 each.  Ms. Bernadette B.delos Santos of Baao, Camarines Sur (Region V) bagged the second prize carting away the cash prize of P 50,000.

DA Secretary Arthur C. Yap, assisted by Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Chair, GAD Focal System led the presentation of Certificate of Commendation, Special Citation and cash prizes to the awardees and six (6)  finalists.
   
Secretary Yap, in his keynote address, took cognizance of the invaluable contributions of women in the upliftment of the socio-economic condition in the rural areas. He stressed that rural women play a very significant role in addressing the issues and concerns, more importantly, in the field of farming and family obligations.  He described rural women as hardworking, patient, consistently showing dedication in their selected field of endeavor. Underscoring their competence as workers both in government and private sectors, rural women are considered as valuable partners of men in nation building.  

The search was a long month undertakings of the National Executive Committee (NEC) headed by Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and National Technical Committee (NTC) headed by Ms. Flordeliza Cablar, of DA-PMED. Ms. Rosita R. Garcia, of the Sugar Regulatory Administration is one of the designated  NTC members with Ms. Wilhelmina Guliman, of BFAR, as Chairperson for Visayas.

The Committee for the DA Gender and Development (GAD) Focal System “Search for 2008 Search for Outstanding Rural Women” was created under Special Order no. 147 dated February 21, 2008 duly signed by Secretary Yap.

  SRA CONDUCTS GENDER SENSITIVITY TRAINING

SRA-Gender and Development Chairperson, Dr. M. Dina Padilla-Fernandez, spearheaded a two-day workshop/seminar on Gender Sensitivity (GST) last March 31 – April 1, 2008.  This was conducted by the University of the Philippines Center for Women Studies Foundation, Inc. (UPCWSFI), headed by Dr. Carolyn I. Sobritchea., with Ms. Wilma Rojas and Ms. Gina Chan as facilitators.

On the first day of the seminar, the participants were introduced to the basic concepts of sex and gender, and manifestations of gender biases.  A film showing was held to further demonstrate the subject matter.  It was aimed to be a personal journey for discovering oneself in relation to gender-related issues.  Five gender issues were identified namely, (1) Multiple Burden, when women do both reproductive and productive work simultaneously, (2) Marginalization, when women’s income appear to be lesser than that of men, (3) Stereotyping, (4) Discrimination and (5) Violence Against Women.

The open-forum was very successful as participants eagerly shared their personal experiences on gender issue.  It was a lively discussion as there were spontaneous exchanges of insights and ideas between the speakers and the participants.

The topic on Gender Dimensions of Climate Change and Food Security, discussed by Dr. Sobritchea became an eye-opener for the participants.  Dr. Sobritchea was able to illustrate clearly the effects of climate change to women.  It turned out that during disasters and calamities, there were more women casualties than men.  Dr. Sobritchea mentioned two strategies namely, Adaptation Strategy and Mitigation Strategy, in dealing with this serious problem of the society as a whole.

Legal mandates and state obligations were the focus on the second day.  This time, the participants moved up from the personal level to the organizational level.  Along with this, the SRA-GAD Plans and Programs for 2008 were also reviewed.  A workshop was conducted where the participants were divided according to their departments.  They were asked to identify gender issues within their department and its possible solutions.

Some issues identified were the dominancy of male employees not just in SRA but within the sugar industry (i.e. there were more male workers than female workers), the need to study the physical space of the SRA building to make it more biased-free (i.e., ensure clear signage on male and female CR’s, identify emergency exits, implement a no smoking compound, etc) and counseling that should be available to employees in crisis (e.g. wife beating, rape, infidelity, etc)

The seminar was attended by thirty-two participants, including four participants from LAREC.  It is expected that a second batch of GST will be held sometime in May.