Creation of National Organizing Committee for 1998 APEC Ministerial Conference on Women

June 2, 1998

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 401

CREATING THE NATIONAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE FOR THE 1998 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, PRESCRIBING ITS AUTHORITY AND FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

WHEREAS, the integration of the gender perspective in all government policies and programs is a commitment made by the Philippines during the Fourth World Conference on Women;

WHEREAS, the Philippines, as host of the 1996 APEC Summit, has initiated in the promotion of gender as a crosscutting concern in APEC;

WHEREAS, there is a need to continue to promote gender as a crosscutting priority in all APEC fora and integrate a gender perspective at all levels of APEC work;

WHEREAS, the Philippines has been designated as host of the APEC MINISTERIAL MEETING ON WOMEN, herein referred to as the MEETING to be held in Manila on October 12-16, 1998;

WHEREAS, the convening of the Meeting is a concrete step as called for in the 1996 APEC Leaders Declaration in Subic (Paragraph 18), directing Ministers to "put special emphasis on the full participation of women and youth", in the implementation of economic and technical cooperation agenda;

WHEREAS, the 1996 APEC Framework for Strengthening Economic Cooperation and Development called for the need for economic and technical cooperation activities that shall promote equal opportunity for men and women to avail of the benefits of economic growth;

WHEREAS, during the APEC Senior Officials Meeting III in August 1997, support was expressed to the joint proposal of the Governments of the Philippines and Canada to host a one-off event to highlight the role of women in economic development and integration of women into the mainstream of APEC activities;

WHEREAS, the Meeting will be primarily participated in by Ministers Responsible for Women's Concerns related to economies and trade in APEC to be supported by the Heads of the National Machineries and Others, to advance and safeguard gender issues in the Trade Investment Liberalization and Facilitation (TILF) agenda of APEC particularly in the growth of small and medium enterprises, developing human capital, harnessing technologies of the future and, promoting sustainable growth and equitable development;

WHEREAS, there is an imperative need to create a body that shall organize and oversee all activities for the holding of the said Meeting;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order that:

SECTION 1. Creation. — There is hereby created a National Organizing Committee, herein referred to as the NOC, to be composed of the following:

a.	Secretary of Foreign Affairs	-	Chairperson
b.	Secretary of Trade and Industry	-	Co-chair
c.	Chairperson, National Commission on the
	Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW)	-	Co-chair
d.	Executive Secretary	-	Member
e.	Secretary of Socio-Economic Planning	-	Member
f.	Secretary of Finance	-	Member
g.	Secretary of Budget and Management	-	Member
h.	Secretary of Agriculture	-	Member
i.	Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources	-	Member
j.	Secretary of Health	-	Member
k.	Secretary of Labor and Employment	-	Member
l.	Secretary of Science and Technology	-	Member
m.	Secretary of Tourism	-	Member
n.	Secretary of the Interior and Local Government	-	Member
o.	Secretary of Social Welfare and Development	-	Member
p.	Director-General, Technical Education and
	Skills Development Authority	-	Member
q.	Chairperson, Commission on Higher Education	-	Member
r.	Officer-In-Charge, Philippine Information Agency	-	Member
s.	Executive Director of Population Commission	-	Member
t.	President, Women's Business Council, Philippines	-	Member
u.	Executive Director, Philippine Council for
	Sustainable Development (NGO Counterpart)	-	Member
v.	1 Representative from the Academe (TBI)	-	Member
w.	1 Representative from Women NGO (TBI)	-	Member

The Members of the NOC may designate their permanent representative who are next-in-rank in their respective agencies.

SECTION 2. Executive Committee. — An Executive Committee (ExeCom) shall be organized from within the NOC to assist the NOC in the pursuit of its objectives. The Head of the ExeCom shall be elected by its members which shall be participants of the following agencies and Chairs of the different Sub-Committees:

a. Department of Foreign Affairs

b. Department of Trade and Industry

c. National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women

d. Women's Business Council, Philippines

e. 1 Representative from Women NGO

The representatives of the ExeCom member agencies must have the rank of at least Assistant Secretary or its equivalent. The ExeCom may create Sub-Committees and call upon or invite any government agency, non-government organizations or private individuals to assist the NOC in the performance of its tasks.

SECTION 3. Secretariat. — A Secretariat shall be formed to assist the NOC, ExeCom and Technical Working Group (Substantive Committee) in carrying out their functions prior to and during the conduct of the Ministerial Meeting. The Secretariat shall be headed by the NCRFW with members from various agencies in the NOC. These same members shall compose the Sub-Committees on Conference Secretariat and Accommodation; Program/Invitation/Media/Publicity; Transportation/Port Courtesies/Securities; and Finance.

SECTION 4. Authority and Functions. — In pursuit of its objective and subject to existing laws, the NOC shall have the following authority and functions:

4.1 Formulate the design of the Meeting and take all the substantive and administrative preparations;

4.2 Seek funds from donor agencies, government organizations and private sector to cover other costs of the Conference;

4.3 Call upon any official, agent, employee, agency or instrumentality of the national or local government for any assistance that may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Administrative Order; and

4.4 Negotiate and conclude agreements and contracts necessary for the attainment of the objectives of this Administrative Order, including contracts of services, taking into consideration what is most advantageous to the government.

SECTION 5. Funding. — Such amount as may be necessary for the operational requirements of the NOC, ExeCom, Secretariat and Sub-Committees amounting to FIVE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS (P5,800,000.00) shall be charged against the 25% mandatory reserve of the CY 1998 International Commitment Fund (ICF).

SECTION 6. Effectivity. — This Administrative Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 2nd day of June, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Eight.