63win Tougher Safe Spaces law gets Senate’s final approval

MANILA63win, Philippines — A bill that would strengthen the law against gender-based sexual harassment in public spaces and online was unanimously approved in the Senate on the third and final reading on Tuesday.

All 23 senators voted to approve Senate Bill No. 2897 that would amend Republic Act No. 11313 known as the “Safe Spaces Act.”

READ: No more catcalling: Duterte signs ‘Bawal Bastos’ law 

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Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros, sponsor of the bill in the upper chamber, thanked her colleagues for passing the measure.

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“Maraming salamat po sa buong Senado sa pagpasa nitong pinalakas nating Safe Spaces law,” Hontiveros said in a brief manifestation after the voting.

(Many thanks to the entire Senate for passing this strengthened version of the Safe Spaces law.)

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Sen. Grace Poe, for her part, congratulated Hontiveros for working hard to pass the bill.

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According to Poe, the measure would “help ensure that sexual harassment does not occur in environments wherein individuals expect respect such as  public spaces, workplaces, educational settings, or online platforms.”

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“And although we know that no amount of penalty may be sufficient to give justice to the victims, we hope that the increased penalties will actually deter more crimes of this nature to happen and that the penalties will be commensurate with the severity of the harm it inflicts on its victims,” said Poe.

The new measure seeks to raise the fine against violators to up to P500,000 from the existing P5,000 to P15,000 only.

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READ: Gabriela wants harsher penalties for sexual harassment in workplace, schools 

Hontiveros, in her sponsorship of the bill last December, also noted that when the existing law was first  crafted, “no one knew what AI (artificial intelligence) was.”

“Ngayon po, talamak na ang deepfakes, and pornography is being created with the use of these emerging technologies,” she said then.

(Nowadays, deepfakes are widespread, and pornography is being created using these emerging technologies.)

“Sa pamamagitan ng bill na ito (Through this bill), victims will have the remedy of asking for the take-down of their digital images that violate this Act,” Hontiveros also said.

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NOTE: The English translations in the article were AI-generated.63win

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