For this year’s 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women (VAW), the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) focuses on the need to intensify awareness on the core provisions of Republic Act No. 11313, otherwise known as the “Safe Spaces Act,” including its penalties, and the mechanisms in place aimed at preventing gender-based sexual harassment in public spaces, schools, workplaces, and cyberspace.

In line with this campaign, the Senate Electoral Tribunal, through its Gender and Development (GAD) Focal Point System, GAD Technical Working Group, and GAD Secretariat, conducted a two-day orientation workshop on the Safe Spaces Act on November 29 and December 1, 2021 at the Philippine International Convention Center for the on-site participants and via Zoom for the online attendees.

The resource speaker, Atty. Maria Cleofe Gettie Catapang-Sandoval, provided a comprehensible and thorough explanation of the law’s salient provisions, as well as its foundational and contextual support. Her informative lecture, followed by relevant discussions about the law, amplified the participants’ knowledge and understanding of gender-based sexual harassment and its concomitant consequences and penalties.  Applying their learnings on the Safe Spaces Act, the attendees unleashed their talents through creative and impactful presentations.

Aside from the orientation-workshop on the Safe Spaces Act, the Tribunal adopts the color orange in its website for the entire campaign duration in support of the PCW’s “Orange Your Icon Advocacy Initiative.”  In addition, Tribunal employees are encouraged to wear anything orange during the same period.