Republic Act No. 11313, the Bawal Bastos Law or Safe Spaces Act signed in April 2019, penalizes wolf-whistling, catcalling, lewd gestures and sexist slurs – including misogynist, homophobic and transphobic insults – made in public spaces, workplaces, schools and online.
Penalties under the implementing rules and regulations include imprisonment of two to four years, fines ranging from P100,000 to P500,000 or both penalties.
The tough provisions were controversial, but proponents believed this was needed because of the pervasiveness of sexual and gender-based harassment in the country.
As often happens, unfortunately, there’s a yawning gap between enactment of a law and its enforcement. And some lawmakers may not even be aware of the law.
This Women’s Month, a congressman has drawn the ire of women for making lewd remarks about actress Anne Curtis, as he became the lone opposing vote in finding two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte sufficient in substance.
Quezon City Rep. Bong Suntay said Duterte’s remark about appointing herself the “designated survivor” – which she said was “not a joke” – during President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address in July 2024 was based on an imaginary scenario. Suntay likened this to himself fantasizing about what he would want to do with Anne Curtis upon seeing the actress.
As of yesterday, Suntay had apologized to Curtis and to those who might have been offended by his remark, which his House colleagues had ordered stricken from the record. But he said there was no malice intended and he was standing by his analogy, stressing that “desires and imagination are not criminal offenses.”
Actually, his public expression of an imagined encounter with Anne Curtis could be a criminal offense under RA 11313. And if it’s not, it should be, especially if uttered by a lawmaker during a public hearing at the House of Representatives.
Doubling down on his inability to grasp the concept of objectification of women, Suntay said he regretted that there were people who were offended, “but I don’t regret making that analogy.”
This regrettable episode in a chamber already reeling from a corruption scandal of an unprecedented scale will be repeated if sanctions are not imposed.
Public officials are supposed to set an example in abiding by the law and promoting respect for women, many of whom continue to be subjected to various forms of harassment despite the passage of tough laws promoting women’s welfare.
Now we’re seeing that women aren’t safe from objectification, even in Congress. If the Safe Spaces Act is to be taken seriously, violators must be prosecuted and penalized accordingly.