Bryan Dennis Tiojanco (University of Tokyo) has posted Gender, Sexuality and Democratic Constitutionalism in the Philippines (Chapter 8 of Wen-Chen Chang, Kelley Loper, Mara Malagodi, & Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.), Gender, Sexuality and Constitutionalism in Asia, Bloomsbury Publishing, Jan 25. 2024) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Legislation has paved the path to gender justice in the Philippines. This fact reflects two longstanding Filipino traditions: widespread acceptance of the ballot as the fount of political legitimacy, and mobilised participation in politics of women and, more recently, LGBTs. The Supreme Court reinforces the democracy principle in its decisions on gender equality and justice in two ways: by giving Congress great leeway to resolve these issues, and by upholding and enforcing gender justice legislation. Section II of this chapter discusses the three structural principles of Philippine democracy which shape the gendered landscape of Philippine law: the separation of powers; the People Power Principle; and the separation of church and state. Section III discusses the framing of gender and sexuality in the drafting of the Constitution, its general guarantees of civil, political and socioeconomic rights, and its specific clauses on gender equality and justice. Section IV discusses the relevant constitutional jurisprudence, which traditionally has followed legislative policy on gender equality and justice and recently has been updating old rules in ways that promote gender justice. Section V muddles our picture with two stories of the Supreme Court serving as a roadblock to addressing persistent women’s rights concerns. The first is the decades-long struggle between the Catholic Church and civil society groups that led to the Reproductive Health Law, which was enacted to provide the citizenry access to and information about modern family planning methods, and promote the people’s right to reproductive health. The second case study is the Supreme Court’s continued adherence to rape myths that violate women’s rights under The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Section VI concludes by noting that democratic constitutionalism has been the motor of gender justice in the country.
