NOTING that the present law on sexual harassment did not deter the commission of that crime, legislators representing the women sector are seeking to add more teeth to the law by amending it and providing for stiffer penalties.

Party-list Reps. Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela said that while the antisexual harassment law, or Republic Act (RA) 7877, has been in existence for more than 10 years now, sexual harassment cases remain rampant and that prosecutions under the said law are just a few.

In filing House Bill 3704, the legislators sought the amendment of Section 3 of RA 7877 on the Definition of Work, Education or Training-related Sexual Harassment to provide that sexual harassment is committed as follows:

• in the place of employment, training or education by any person who engages in any unwanted or unwelcome sexual advance, request or demand for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature against an employee, employer, trainee, trainor, student, instructor, teacher or professor; and

• outside the place of employment, training or education by an employer, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher, instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person, who, having authority, influence or moral ascendancy over another’s work, training or education, makes any unwanted or unwelcome sexual advance, request or demand for sexual favor or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

The bill also seeks to amend Section 4 on the Duty of the Employer or Head of Office in a Work-related, Education or Training Environment so that the employer, head of office in a work-related, education or training environment or institution shall hereby be mandated to adopt a comprehensive, detailed, written policy on sexual harassment and so that there shall be a 48-hour deadline within which to act on complaints against sexual harassment in these places.

Likewise, the employer or head of the office is prima facie presumed to have knowledge of sexual harassment act or acts if: the management failed to comply with the preceding section; a complaint was made before the committee or authority designated to receive complaints or investigate cases as provided in the rules and regulations; and the harassment is openly practiced or well-known among employees, students or trainees.

They also proposed that Section 7 on penalties be also amended so that violators shall face imprisonment of one month to six months, or pay a fine of P50,000 to P200,000, or penalized with both. The maximum penalties shall be imposed if the perpetrator is the employer, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher, instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person who has authority, influence or moral ascendancy over another’s work, training or education.

Administration’s flair for secrecy hit

Other than its reported penchant for corruption, there is another trait that distinguishes the Arroyo administration from previous administrations—its flair for secrecy, which is denying the people of their right to information and to be appraised of issues that directly affect them.

NUEVA ECIJA—Panic buying of cheap National Food  Authority (NFA) rice continues in high gear amost everywhere, and in Metro Manila, mayors are now asking the Department of Agriculture to put up more rolling stores and rice-distribution centers in their jurisdictions.

INTERIOR Secretary Ronaldo Puno on Monday ordered an investigation into the alleged link between unidentified officials and employees of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and their possible involvement in carjacking.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Zamboanga City police has come out with the artist’s sketch of one of the three persons, believed to be Abu Sayyaf bandits, responsible for the two explosions that rocked this city on Sunday morning.

NOTING that the present law on sexual harassment did not deter the commission of that crime, legislators representing the women sector are seeking to add more teeth to the law by amending it and providing for stiffer penalties.

THE nine junior officers who were convicted by a Makati court on coup charges should accept their fate that they could no longer rejoin the military even if President Arroyo grants them executive clemency, defense and military officials said on Monday.

THE heads of the National Police and the military on Monday expressed no objections to the country’s ratification of the 1998 Rome statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), but maintained that local courts are capable of handling cases of human-rights abuses, particularly extrajudicial killings.

THE Court of Appeals (CA) has dismissed the petitions filed by former Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino and Col. Eduardo Año, seeking to quash the subpoenas issued against them by the appellate court requiring their appearance in the ongoing hearing on the petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo in connection with the disappearance of Jonas Burgos.