Duterte asked to ‘set example’ in following anti-sexual harassment’ law
Credit to Author: BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO| Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2019 04:33:57 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte must
“follow to the letter” the Safe Streets and Public Spaces Act or the Bawal Bastos Law that he signed which prohibited gender-based harassment, two lady senators said on Wednesday.
Senators Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros and Leila de Lima posed this challenge to the President on Wednesday adding that Duterte must “set an example not only as a law-abiding citizen but as a leader who respects everyone.”
“Let this also serve as a reminder to President Duterte that no one is above the law, not least a law which he himself has signed,” Hontiveros said.
“He should respect his own signature under a presidential seal affixed in that law,” said De Lima, currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center on drug charges.
Republic Act 11313 prohibits sexual harassment which includes, among others, “cursing, catcalling, wolf-whistling, leering, taunting, misogynistic and sexist slurs, persistent telling of sexual jokes, and use of sexual names” on streets and in public spaces.
Hontiveros said that she found it “odd that after the Bawal Bastos Act lapsed into law last April 19, as confirmed last May by then officer-in-charge Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Malacañang suddenly came up with a copy of the law on Tuesday signed by the President dated April 17.”
“Either this is another case of incompetence on the part of the Duterte government or this is an attempt to rob women and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community of our historic victory, whitewash the President’s unparalleled sexism and misogny and claim the law as their own achievement leading to the 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA),” she said.
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