ANTI-SEXUAL HARRASSMENT

ACT (RA7877) in rel to SAFE

SPACES ACT OF 2018 (RA 11313)
By:
ATTY. EVANGELINE A. SANTIAGO-MACATO
ABPolSci, JD, REB
GF, Insular Life Bldg. Cor. Abanao Extn and Legarda
Sts.
2600 Baguio City
0956-633-3046
Vangie alagao santiago-macato
 DEFINITION OF SEXUAL
HARRASSMENT
It is an UNWELCOME sexual advances, requests for
sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of
a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when
submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or
implicitly affects an individual’s employment,
unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work
performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or
offensive work environment. (Civil rights Act of 1964
Title VII of USA)
RA7877—SH—employer, employee, manger,
supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher, instructor,
professor, coach, trainor or any other person who,
having (AIM) authority, influence or moral
ascendancy over another in a (WET) work or
education or training demands, requests or otherwise
requires any sexual favor from the other, regardless of
whether the demand, request or requirement for
submission is accepted by the object of said act.
Why does SH occur?
 It occurs due to power struggle between men
and women as a response to the real or
imagined loss of power or as an expression
of retaliation or a flexing of new power.
 Some organizations or managers allow it to
happen
 It is an effect in the shift that more women
enter workplace
 Who is liable for commiting the
crime of SH?
 employer, employee, manger, supervisor, agent
of the employer, teacher, instructor, professor,
coach, trainor or
 any other person who, having AIM

A- authority,
I-influence, or
M- moral ascendancy over another
 Where is SH committed?
 It is committed in WET
1. W-Workplace
2. E-educational environment
3. T-training environment
Workplace SH

› As a condition in:
 Hiring, employment, re-employment of the
victim
 For granting favorable terms or
compensations, or as a condition for
promotion or grant of privileges
 If the refusal results in limitations, segregating
or classifying the employee which would
discriminate, deprive or diminish employment
opportunities
› Would impair the employee’s right or privileges
under existing labor laws
› Would result in an intimidating, hostile or
offensive environment
Training environment SH

› Victim is under the care, custody or supervision of

the offender, or one whose education or training or
apprenticeship is entrusted to the offender
› The demand is a condition to giving of passing
grade, granting of scholarships, payment of a
stipend, allowance or benefit
› Or results to an intimidating or hostile offensive
environment for the student, trainee or apprentice.
 Types of SH
 The Quid Pro Quo Harassment—“this for that”
(Something for something)
- requiring sexual favor or interaction as a
condition of employment or in exchange for an
employment benefit (such as promotion, transfer,
pay raise and the like)
 A harassment that creates a hostile environment—
abuses include verbal, physical and visual conducts that
creates an intimidating, offensive or hostile environment
in the workplace that interferes with work performance
 it may be based on race, religion, sexual orientation or disability
Examples of a SH that creates
hostile environment:
› Green jokes
› Obscene letters
› Suggestive looks
› Sexual proposition
› Unwanted touching, patting, pinching or brushing up against a
person
› Comments about your body, leering, wolf-whistling, catcalls,
insults of a sexual nature, persistently pestering for a date
› Displaying or circulation of pornographic pictures with the
intention of harassing someone/posting of explicit sexual
materials
› Workplace blackmails
 The profiles of the Victim and
the Harasser
 V/H may be a man or woman. V does not have to
be of the opposite sex
 H can be the V’s supervisor, an agent of the ER, a
supervisor in another area, a co-worker or a non-
EE
 V does not have to be the person harassed but
could be anyone affected by the offensive
conduct
 The H’s conduct must be unwelcome
How to avoid sexual harrassment
 It is helpful for the V to directly inform the
harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and
must stop
 V should use any ER complaint mechanism
or grievance system available
 More often, the V’s are in a position of lesser
position than the Accused
 Harassment also occurs between customer/
client and providers
 How does SH affect the
workplace?
 In a study, it revealed that
 80% of the persons interviewed believed that they were
SH
 The use of words, joke and gestures were the type of
harassment which created a hostile environment or
offensive work environment
 It affected the individuals harassed and the persons accused,
who may be innocent
 Cases generate costly lawsuits, unfavorable publicity or the
invasion of privacy
 It can also affect the bottom line of the ER, managers and co-
workers, and affect the entire life of an organization and its
members
 Legal Penalties of RA 7877
 Imprisonment of not less than one (1) month but
not more than six (6) months
 Fine of not less than ten thousand pesos
(P10,000.00) but not more than twenty thousand
pesos (P20,000.00)
 AOL vs. SH
Art. 336, RPC RA 7877
  Penalized by one month to
Penalized by Prision
Correctional six months imprisonment or
fine of P10k-P20k
 Accused is any person
 Accused can be any Who has AIM (authority,
person who commits any influence or moral
acts of lasciviousness ascendancy)
 Victim can be any  Victim can be any person
person  Must happen in WET
 Can happen anywhere (Workplace, Education and
Training Environment)
 RA 11313
SAFE SPACES ACT OF 2018
“Bawal Bastos Law”
An Amendment to RA 7877
Expanding its Application
 Safe Spaces Act
 An Act Defining Gender-Based Sexual
Harrassment in Streets, public spaces, online,
workplaces and educational or training
institutions, providing protective measures and
prescribing penalties, therefor
 Rationale of the law
 to address existing gaps and issues on equality,
security, and safety of both women and men in
private and public spaces.
 The Safe Spaces Act is intended to expand the
scope of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995
or Republic Act No. 7877.
 Public Spaces
 include streets and alleys, public parks, schools,
building, malls, bars, restaurants, transportation
terminals, public markets, spaces used as
evacuation centers, government offices, public
utility vehicles (PUVs), as well as private
vehicles covered by app-based transport network
services and other recreational spaces such as,
but not limited to, cinema halls, theaters, and
spas.
 Catcalling
 unwanted remarks directed a person, commonly
done in the form of wolf-whistling and
misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic, and
sexist slurs
 Stalking
 pertains to conduct directed at a person involving
the repeated visual or physical proximity, non-
consensual communication, or a combination
thereof that cause or will likely cause a person to
fear for one’s own safety or the safety of others,
or to suffer emotional distress.
 Where can Violations of the Safe
Spaces Act happen
 can be committed in:
1. streets and public spaces;
2. restaurants and cafes, bars and clubs, resorts and
water parks, hotels and casinos, cinemas, malls,
buildings and other privately owned places open to
the public;
3. PUVs;
4. streets and public spaces committed by minors;
5. online;
6. in the workplace; and educational and training
institutions.
 Specific Acts Constituting
Violations of Safe Spaces Act
 Provided for under Section 11 of the Safe Spaces
Act
 GENDER-BASED STREETS AND PUBLIC
SPACES SEXUAL HARRASSMENT

Cursing, wolf-whistling, catcalling, leering and intrusive

gazing, taunting, cursing, unwanted invitations, misogynistic,
transphobic, homophobic, and sexist slurs, persistent unwanted
comments on one’s appearance, relentless requests for one’s
personal details such as name, contact and social media details
or destination, the use of words, gestures or actions that ridicule
on the basis of sex, gender or sexual orientation, identity and/or
expression including sexist, homophobic, and transphobic
statements and slurs, the persistent telling of sexual jokes, use
of sexual names, comments and demands, and any statement
that has made an invasion on a person’s personal space or
threatens the person’s sense of personal safety
 PENALTY

1st OFFENSE Fine of Php 1,000.00 and community

service of 12 hours inclusive of attendance
to a Gender Sensitivity Seminar to be
conducted by the PNP in accordance with
the LGU and the PCW
2ND OFFENSE Arresto menor (6 to 10 days) or a fine of
Php 3,000.00

3RD OFFENSE Arresto menor (11 to 30 days) and a fine of

Php 10,000.00
 Making offensive body gestures at someone, and
exposing private parts for the sexual gratification
of the perpetrator with the effect of demeaning,
harassing, threatening or intimidating the
offended party including flashing of private parts,
public masturbation, groping, and similar lewd
actions.
 PENALTIES

1ST Fine of Php 10,000.00 and community service of

OFFENSE 12 hours inclusive of attendance to a Gender
Sensitivity Seminar to be conducted by the PNP
in accordance with the LGU and the PCW

2ND Arresto menor (10 to 30 days) or a fine of Php

OFFENSE 15,000.00

3RD Arresto menor (1 day to 6 months) and a fine of

OFFENSE Php 20,000.0
 Stalking, and any of the acts mentioned in Sec.
11 (a) and (b), when accompanied by touching,
pinching or brushing against the body of the
offended personal or any touching, pinching, or
brushing against the genitalia, face, arms, groin,
breasts, inner thighs, face, buttocks or any part of
the victim’s body even when not accompanied by
acts mentioned in Sec. 11 (a) and (b)
 PENALTIES

1ST Arresto menor (11 to 30 days) or a fine of Php 30,

OFFENSE 000.00 provided that it includes attendance in a
Gender Sensitivity Seminar to be conducted by
the PNP in accordance with the LGU and the
PCW

2ND Arresto mayor (1 month and 1 day to 6 months)

OFFENSE or a fine of Php 50,000.00

3RD Arresto mayor in its maximum period or a fine of

OFFENSE Php 100,000.0
 GENDER BASED ONLINE
SEXUAL HARRASSMENT
 any online conduct targeted at a particular person
that causes or is likely to cause another mental,
emotional, or psychological distress, and fear of
personal safety.
 These sexual harassment acts include unwanted
sexual remarks and comments, threats, uploading
or sharing or one’s photos without consent, video
and audio recordings, cyberstalking and online
identity theft.
 Examples of Gender Based
Online Sexual Harrassment
 Acts that use information and communications
technology in terrorizing and intimidating victims
through physical, psychological, and emotional threats,
unwanted sexual misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic
and sexist remarks and comments online whether
publicly or through direct and private messages,
 Invasion of victim’s privacy through cyberstalking and
incessant messaging,
 Uploading and sharing without consent of the victim, any
form of media that contains photos, voice, or video with
sexual content,
 Any unauthorized recording and sharing of any
of the victim’s photos, videos, or any information
online,
 Impersonating identities of victims online,
 Posting lies about victims to harm their
reputation, or
 Filing false abuse reports to online platforms to
silence victims
 PENALTIES
 imprisonment: prision correccional in its medium period,
with a fine ranging from P100,000 to P500,000.
 In case the perpetrator is a juridical person, such as a
corporation, its franchise shall be automatically revoked
and the individuals liable shall be the officers, including
the editor or reporter in case of print media and the
station manager, editor and broadcaster in case of
broadcast media.
 Moreover, aliens shall be subjected to deportation
proceedings after service of sentence and payment of
fines.
 Any record in violation of the provision on online
sexual harassment shall be inadmissible in
evidence in any judicial, quasi-judicial,
legislative or administrative hearing or
investigation.
 Qualified Gender-Based Streets, Public
Spaces and Online Sexual Harassment
 Qualifying Circumstances:
1. violations in a common carrier or a PUV where
the offender was the driver and the victim was a
passenger;
2. where the offended party is a minor, a senior
citizen or a person with disability, or a
breastfeeding mother nursing her child;
3. where the offended party is diagnosed with a
mental problem tending to impair consent;
4. where the offender is a member of the uniformed
services and the violation was committed while the
offender was in uniform; and
5. where it was committed by a government
employee in the premises of a government agency
offering frontline services to the public.
 EFFECT:
Heavier penalty is imposed on the offender
 Duties of Local Government Units
and Other Government Agencies
 LGUs bear the primary responsibility in enforcing the provisions on
gender-based streets and public spaces sexual harassment. LGUs have the
duty to:
(a) Pass an ordinance that shall implement the Safe Spaces Act;
(b) Disseminate or post in conspicuous places a copy of the law and the
corresponding ordinance;
c) Provide measures to prevent gender-based sexual harassment in
educational institutions, such as information campaigns and anti-sexual
harassment seminars;
(d) Discourage and impose fines on acts of gender-based sexual harassment;
(e) Create an anti-sexual harassment hotline; and
(f) Coordinate with the Department of Local Government (DILG) for the
implementation of the law.
 ROLE OF THE DILG
 DILG shall ensure the full implementation of the Act by
1. inspecting LGUs if they have disseminated or posted in
conspicuous places a copy of the Act and the
corresponding ordinance,
2. conducting and disseminating surveys and studies on best
practices of LGUs in implementing the Act, and
3. providing capacity-building and training activities to build
the capability of local government officials to implement
the Act in coordination with the Philippine Commission on
Women (PCW), the Local Government Academy (LGA),
and the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP).
 Role of the PNP
(Anti-Cybercrime Group)
 Under the law, the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group
is tasked to receive complaints and to develop
online mechanisms for real-time reporting of
gender-based online sexual harassment.
 The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating
Center of the DICT is also made to coordinate
with the PNP to prepare appropriate and effective
measures to monitor and penalize gender-based
online sexual harassment.