QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista on Friday ordered the inclusion of gender focal person in private establishments to handle gender issues.
A focal person shall serve as an immediate responder in the cases of violence against women and harassment in workplaces, Bautista said.
“Not only the government offices that shall have a gender and development (GAD) focal person, but as
also a private establishment for gender awareness and sensitivity. In fact, most of the reported sexual abuse and harassment in Quezon City occurred in private offices,” he said.
Quezon City has partnered with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) to pilot the “Safe Cities Program” of UN Women.
Bautista invoked Republic Act 9710, or the Magna Carta of Women, stipulating that all departments, offices, bureaus, state universities and colleges, government-owned and corporations, local government units and other government agencies shall establish their own GAD focal point system or similar GAD mechanism to catalyze and accelerate gender mainstreaming.
Meanwhile, the city government eyes the speedy pick-up and delivery of breastmilk.
According to Bautista, they will use motorcycles to pick up donated breastmilk by lactating mothers to the city’s human milk bank.
He vowed to continue to advocate the city as “mother-baby friendly city,” saying the city government actively conducts breastfeeding awareness drives and milk-letting activities in different health centers.
The city’s human milk bank is located at the Quezon City General Hospital. This year, it has collected a total of 90 liters from January to July, with 165 babies having been saved by the program.
