Comelec to ask for gender quota on party candidates

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will ask the consultative committee, headed by retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno, to consider putting a gender quota on candidates to be fielded by political parties.

Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, the poll body’s gender and development committee chair, said this would ensure gender equality in government.

“I hope that the constitutional amendments committee will add gender quota in the Constitution, as in some countries,” Guanzon said in her Twitter account, @commrguanzon.

Under her proposal, parties will be mandated to field a particular ratio of women candidates during polls. —Tina G. Santos