Republic Act No. 11313, the Safe Spaces Act (Bawal Bastos Law), penalises gender-based sexual harassment in streets, public spaces, online, and workplaces — with obligations on employers and barangay-level complaints.
Republic Act No. 11313, known as the Safe Spaces Act or Bawal Bastos Law, expanded the legal protection against sexual harassment beyond the workplace to cover: streets and public spaces (catcalling, wolf-whistling, lewd comments, stalking, intimidating conduct based on gender), online spaces (unsolicited sexual messages, uploading photos or videos without consent for sexual purposes, cyberstalking), workplaces (gender-based sexual harassment by a co-worker, superior, or third party), and educational and training institutions. In the workplace, employers are required to: disseminate the law and its implementing rules; formulate a code of conduct on gender-based sexual harassment; designate an officer to receive and act on complaints; provide a grievance mechanism; and impose administrative sanctions on perpetrators. Failure of an employer to act on a complaint makes the employer solidarily liable with the perpetrator. For street and public space harassment, complaints can be filed with the barangay where the incident occurred. The barangay Punong Barangay or the DICT/LGU can impose fines and community service. For workplace harassment, complaints go to the company's grievance mechanism or DOLE. Online harassment complaints can be filed with the Cybercrime Division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) or the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG).
A female employee is repeatedly sent unsolicited sexual messages by a male colleague over company chat. She files a complaint with her company's designated officer under the Safe Spaces Act. The company is required to act on the complaint within 10 days. If the company fails to act, both the perpetrator and the employer can be held liable.
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