Anti-Sexual Harassment for the Securities and Exchange Commission

The UP College of Law (UP Law) – Gender Law and Policy Program (GLPP) held an Anti-Sexual Harassment Seminar for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from December 2 to 3, 2024. The two-day seminar was held at the Commons Law, UP Malcolm Hall. The seminar was dedicated to and attended by the members of the SEC’s Committee on Decorum and Investigation (CODI) on sexual harassment and their extension offices. The event was organized by the GLPP in partnership with the SEC as part of the latter’s promotional and educational activities on Anti-Violence Against Women.

SEC Director III Rachel Esther Gumtang-Remalante’s welcoming remarks started off the seminar’s first day. Dir. Rachel emphasized the importance of progressively capacitating CODIs and Gender and Development (GAD) programs. Afterwards, Prof. Nathalie Africa-Verceles, former director of the UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies and the current chair of Bayi, Inc., delivered her lecture on the Principles of Gender and Development. Prof. Verceles extensively discussed the different approaches and concepts underlying Women in Development (WID) and GAD.

Atty. Ruby Rosselle “Ross” Tugade, UP Law senior lecturer, then presented the salient features of the Safe Spaces Act (SSA). Atty. Tugade also delved into the legislative history of the said law and emphasized that it is a law geared towards giving life to the constitutionally integrated concept of social justice. The Anti-Sexual Harassment (ASH) Act was then discussed by Atty. Neil Anthony Borja, UP Law lecturer. Atty. Borja differentiated ASH from the SSA and engaged the participants with various cases and practical applications of the said law. Atty. Borja also emphasized on the different remedies for gender-based offenses available under other related laws. Ending day one was GLPP Senior Legal Associate, Atty, Aubrey Meija, discussion on Gender Fair Language with reference to Supreme Court’s Guidelines on the Use of Gender-Fair Language in the Judiciary and Gender-Fair Courtroom Etiquette (A.M.No. 21-11-25-SC).

For the last day of the program, GLPP’s Program Director, Prof. E. “Leo” D. Battad, delivered a lecture on Gender and the Law followed by an extensive discussion of Administrative Remedies for Gender Related Offenses delivered by Dir. Cesar R. Garduque, Jr. from the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Dir. Garduque expertly discussed the administrative process as well as current CSC guidelines on the subject matter. Emphasis was given on the duty of CODIs to investigate sexual harassment incident/s. Finally, Janine Del Mundo of the Lunas Collective gave a workshop on Psychological First Aid in Response to Sexual Harassment.

All topics aim to empower the participants from the SEC with a gender-aware reading of the said laws and remedies with the view of further capacitating public servants with the necessary knowledge in responding to gender-related and sexual harassment offenses.