Following reports of faculty members of the Bacoor National High School (BNHS) sexually abusing their students, Gabriela Women’s Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas has called for a review of the Safe Spaces Law.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has launched an investigation into the incident in which six teachers of the BNHS had allegedly sexually abused and made sexual advances toward their students.
"The growing trend of sexual harassment perpetrated by faculty members against young students is alarming. While we have an existing law regarding handling cases of sexual harassment, it is clearly not enough. There is a need to review the Safe Spaces Act and ensure that policies are being implemented properly in schools," Brosas said on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
"Our policy must ensure that teachers guilty of sexually harassing students are stripped of their professional license and barred from getting near schools. Moreover, we are pushing for a national database of convicted sexual predators to ensure that education institutions are well-informed not to hire sex offenders," Brosas said.
Last July 2022, reports detailing the sexual abuse of students in the Philippine High School for Arts (PHSA) surfaced. Brosas also underscored this incident, in her statement.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/15/house-probe-sought-following-reports-of-harassment-abuse-at-phsa/
Brosas also said in her statement that she would file a House resolution seeking an inquiry in aid of legislation into the BNHS incident. She further added that she would seek amendments to the Safe Spaces Law.
Republic Act (RA) 11313, or the Safe Spaces Law, was passed in 2018 and is formally titled “An Act Defining Gender-Based Sexual Harassment in Streets, Public Spaces, Online, Workplaces, and Educational or Training Institutions, Providing Protective Measures and Prescribing Penalties Therefor.”
The measure seeks punishment for sexual harassers, abusers, and predators. Article V of RA 11313 details the enforcement of the law within schools.
“All schools, whether public or private, shall designate an officer-in-charge to receive complaints regarding violations of this Act, and shall, ensure that the victims are provided with a gender-sensitive environment that is both respectful to the victims’ needs and conducive to truth-telling,” RA 11313 Article V, Section 21 says.
“Every school must adopt and publish grievance procedures to facilitate the filing of complaints by students and faculty members. Even if an individual does not want to file a complaint or does not request that the school take any action on behalf of a student or faculty member and school authorities have knowledge or reasonably know about a possible or impending act of gender-based sexual harassment or sexual violence, the school should promptly investigate to determine the veracity of such information or knowledge and the circumstances under which the act of gender-based sexual harassment or sexual violence were committed, and take appropriate steps to resolve the situation. If a school knows or reasonably should know about acts of gender-based sexual harassment or sexual violence being committed that creates a hostile environment, the school must take immediate action to eliminate the same acts, prevent their recurrence, and address their effects,” it reads.