MANILA, Philippines — Gabriela Women’s Party condemned the harassment of a woman perpetrated by a law enforcement personnel at a quarantine checkpoint in Makati as it called on the government to investigate the abuses allegedly committed by the military and the police.
Gabriela made the statement Friday after Interkasyon reported the account of a woman who was harassed in a checkpoint during the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine.
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The woman said she gave her driver’s license and quarantine pass to a law enforcement officer when she passed through the checkpoint. But when she got her license back, she discovered that the military personnel inserted his number.
The woman also said that when she refused to remove her helmet and face mask, the officer replied: “O bakit? Pulis ako!” (Why? I am a cop!)
When her tweet went viral, similar stories of alleged harassment also surfaced on social media.
“Since when did giving your personal phone number to an AFP-PNP personnel become a quarantine pass just so you could proceed through a checkpoint? Women are already at heightened risk of violence and abuse amid the intensifying containment measures and the AFP-PNP are making the situation even worse than it already is,” Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Party-list) said.
Brosas said the incident illustrates that the Philippines “has the worst case of police and military abuses perpetrated at the height of a virus outbreak.”
“It also speaks of how Duterte’s brand of brazen misogyny is being imbibed and exercised by the police and military forces,” she added.
Safe Spaces Act
It is illegal to force anyone to disclose their personal details such as “name, contact and social media details or destination” under the Republic Act 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act.
It is also prohibited for someone to make any kind of advance—whether physical or verbal—that is deemed “unwanted” and has “threatened one’s sense of personal space and physical safety.”
Those found to violate the law can be penalized for up to P10,000 and face imprisonment for up to 30 days.
“May I remind the police and military forces that the law is not suspended and those who man checkpoints are not immune to it,” Brosas said.