Litigation Support
Case acceptance and handling are guided by the precedent-setting criteria in the selection of cases. Primarily, it should involve issues of gender-based violence and discrimination. SALIGAN conducts community-based legal jamming sessions organized by partners and graduate-paralegals.
SALIGAN also schedule regular legal consultation sessions for walk-in clients and those referred by partners.
Legal Education
Women, girls, LGBTQIA+ persons, and gender equality advocates are trained as paralegals to assist victims of gender-based violence in filing cases and reports, and to participate in formal and informal governance structures to strengthen responses to gender-based violence and end discrimination. Service providers are capacitated to respond to gender-based violence while local executives and legislative bodies are trained to craft gender-sensitive and responsive policies. Barangay officials and VAW/ASH officers undergo training sessions on their crucial role to address gender-based violence.
Policy Work
SALIGAN, with partners and networks, works for policies on gender equality and responses to gender-based violence. SALIGAN reviews current policies and jurisprudence and proposes repeals and amendments as necessary to further its advocacies. Over the years, SALIGAN has made significant contributions to landmark policies such as the Magna Carta of Women Act, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, the Safe Spaces Act IRR and the PCW-DILG JMC 2020-01 on the SSA Localization, and the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act. SALIGAN also ensures that these policies are genuinely implemented at the local levels by proposing community-based mechanisms and working with LGUS, especially the barangays. SALIGAN was instrumental in designing the creation of barangay VAW Desks and the Anti-VAW referral mechanisms in Naga City in 2008, which led to the adoption of DILG MC No. 2010-2, and its incorporation in the IRR of the Magna Carta of Women Act. SALIGAN engages with the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), among others, in its work. SALIGAN is one of the CSO representatives to the Inter-Agency Oversight Council of the Safe Spaces Act (IAOCSSA).
Research and Publication
Published manuals and primers complement SALIGAN’s goal of bringing the law closer to gender equality advocates. Some of these are the Paralegal Manual on the Elimination of Violence and Discrimination Against Women, Family Code Primer, Localization of Safe Spaces Act Primer, and the Barangay VAW Desk Primer. SALIGAN published researches on the assessment of R.A. 9262 both in the courts and in the barangays. It has recently conducted a review of selected jurisprudence on R.A. 9262 with the PCW. Developments in law and jurisprudence are published quarterly in SALIGAN Batas.