TV host faces sexual harassment raps

A 20-year-old dancer filed sexual harassment charges against TV host Willie Revillame before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday, accusing him of making several sexual advances while working together in a noontime show.

Euanne Bautista, a resident of Tandang Sora in Quezon City and former member of the dance group The Bump, which appears daily on the ABS-CBN noontime show Wowowee, was accompanied by her mother Fatima and lawyer Carlo Bonifacio Alentajan in filing the complaint before Quezon City assistant prosecutor Dindo Venturanza.

"Gusto kong makulong siya. Gusto kong pagbayaran niya ang ginawa niya," Bautista told reporters after filing the six-page complaint.

Revillame is accused of violating Republic Act 7877, otherwise know as An Act Declaring Sexual Harassment Unlawful in the Employment, Education or Training Environment."

The complaint is the second criminal charge filed against the comedian. Salve Asis, entertainment editor of the Ang Pilipino Star Ngayon and PM tabloids also filed lasciviousness charges against Revilla.

The case is still being deliberated by the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.

In her complaint, Bautista claimed that some time in the third week of February, Revillame pushed her into one of the Studio 3 dressing rooms of the old ABS-CBN building and started embracing her.

She alleged that after the incident in the dressing room, Revilla continued his sexual advances whenever they bumped into each other at the studio.

In one incident, she claimed Revillame started kissing her cross pendant and attempted to bury his nose between her breast.

The last incident, Bautista said, took place last Feb. 18 inside an ABS-CBN bus bound for Real, Quezon where a remote telecast for a show was to be held.

While the bus was in motion, Bautista claimed Revillame sat on the aisle seat next to her and covered himself with a quilted blanket. He then covered Bautista’s legs with the same blanket.

"At this juncture, I began to feel his hand creeping slowly to my shorts," she said. " I pushed his hand away and took a fetal position to protect my body. He then left me alone."

Bautista said after the trip in Quezon, she was suspended for a week from the noontime show then returned until the Holy Week.

However, upon the prodding of her mother, she resigned from the show.