NOTES ON ANTI-SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACT:
RA 7877, approved on February 14, 1995 and became effective on March 5, 1995
Reason why the law was enacted:
Before the passage of Republic Act (RA) 7877, also known as the Anti-Sexual
Harassment Act of 1995, Philippine laws, including the Labor Code, were silent on
sexual harassment. Women subjected to unwanted sexual advances in the workplace,
though, had recourse to legal relief by citing other offenses such as “acts of
lasciviousness” and “slander by deed. ”
Definition of Work, Education or Training-related Sexual Harassment. (section 3)
Work, education or training-related sexual harassment is committed by an employer,
employee, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher, instructor,
professor, coach, trainor, or any other person who, having authority, influence or
moral ascendancy over another in a work or training or education environment,
demands, requests or otherwise requires any sexual favor from the other,
regardless of whether the demand, request or requirement for submission is accepted
by the object of said act.
Forms of Sexual Harassment:
1. Physical
Malicious touching
Overt sexual advances
Gestures and lewd insinuations
2. Verbal, such as, but not limited to, requests or demands for sexual favors and
lurid remarks
3. Use of objects, pictures or graphics, letters, written notes, texts via cellular
phones with sexual underpinnings
4. Other forms analogous to the foregoing.
WHERE CAN SEXUAL HARASSMENT BE COMMITTED?
Sexual harassment may take place:
1. in the premises of the workplace or office or of the school or training institution;
2. in any place where the parties were found, as a result of work or education or
training responsibilities or relations;
3. at work or education- or training-related social functions;
4. while on official business outside the office or school or training institution or
during work or school or training-related travel;
1
5. at official conferences, fora, symposia or training sessions; or
6. by telephone, cellular phone, fax machine or electronic mail.
Elements constituting the offense of sexual harassment:
Aquino vs Acosta[A.M. No. CTA-01-1. April 2, 2002.]
1. The employer, employee, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher,
instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person has authority, influence
or moral ascendancy over another.
2. The authority, influence or moral ascendancy exists in a working environment (or
education or training environment).
3. The employer, employee, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher,
instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person has authority, influence
or moral ascendancy makes a demand, request or requirement of a sexual favor.
The gravamen of the offense is not the violation of the victim’s sexuality but the
abuse of power of the offender.
1. The behavior is unwanted;
2. The behavior is sexual or related to the gender of the person;
3. The behavior occurs in a context of relationship where one person has more
formal or informal power than the other
In a work-related or employment environment, sexual harassment is committed in
these instances:
1. The sexual favor is made as a condition in the hiring or in the employment, re-
employment or continued employment of said individual, or in granting said
individual favorable compensation, terms, conditions, promotions, or privileges;
or the refusal to grant the sexual favor results in limiting, segregating or
classifying the employee which in any way would discriminate, deprive or
diminish employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect said employee;
2. The demand, request or requirement for sexual favor would impair the
employee's rights or privileges under existing labor laws; or
3. The demand, request or requirement for sexual favor would result in an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment for the employee.
4. The demand, request or requirement for sexual favor is made against one whose
training is entrusted to the offender
In an education or training environment, sexual harassment is committed:
2
Victims:
1. Against one who is under the care, custody or supervision of the offender;
2. Against one whose education, training, apprenticeship or tutorship is entrusted to
the offender;
Instances:
1. When the sexual favor is made a condition to the giving of a passing grade, or
the granting of honors and scholarships or the payment of a stipend, allowance
or other benefits, privileges, or considerations; or
2. When the sexual advances result in an intimidating, hostile or offensive
environment for the student, trainee or apprentice.
Penalties.
Any person who violates the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be
penalized by
a. imprisonment of not less than one (1) month nor more than six (6) months,
or
b. a fine of not less than Ten thousand pesos (P10,000) nor more than
Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000),
c. or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court.
Prescription:
Any action arising from the violation of the provisions of this Act shall prescribe in
three (3) years.
Liability of the Employer, Head of Office, Educational or Training Institution:
The employer or head of office, educational or training institution shall be solidarily
liable for damages arising from the acts of sexual harassment committed in the
employment, education or training environment if the employer or head of office,
educational or training institution is informed of such acts by the offended party
and no immediate action is taken.
Independent Action for Damages
Nothing in this Act shall preclude the victim of work, education or training-related sexual
harassment from instituting a separate and independent action for damages and
other affirmative relief.
Civil Service Commission Resolution No. 01-0940
Administrative Disciplinary Rules on Sexual Harassment Cases
SEXUAL HARASSMENT is an act, or series of acts, involving any unwelcome sexual
advance, request or demand for a sexual favor, or other verbal or physical behavior of a
3
sexual nature, committed by a government employee or official in a work-related,
training education related environment of the person complained of.
CLASSIFICATION OF ACTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT:
GRAVE OFFENSES:
Unwanted touching of private parts of the body
Sexual assault
Malicious touching
Sexual advances in exchange for employment, promotion…
Other analogous cases
PENALTY FOR GRAVE OFFENSES:
DISMISSAL
LESS GRAVE OFFENSES
Unwanted touching or brushing against a victim’s body.
Pinching not falling under grave offenses.
Derogatory or degrading remarks or innuendos directed toward the
members of one’s sex or sexual orientation or used to described a
person.
Verbal abuse or threats with sexual overtones/inference.
PENALTIES:
1ST OFFENSE: Fine or suspension not less than 30 days & not
exceeding 6 months.
2nd OFFENSE: Dismissal
LIGHT OFFENSES
Surreptitiously looking or stealing a look at a person’s private part
or worn undergarments.
Telling sexist/smutty jokes or sending this thru text or any means,
causing embarrassment or offense & carried out after the offender
has been advised that they are offensive or embarrassing.
Malicious leering or ogling
Display of sexually offensive pictures or materials..
Unwelcome inquiries or comments about a person’s sex life.
Unwelcome sexual flirtation, advances & propositions.
Making offensive hand or body gestures at an employee.
PENALTIES:
1ST OFFENSE: Reprimand
2nd OFFENSE: Fine or suspension not exceeding 30 days.
3rd OFFENSE: Dismissal.
Cases:
4
AQUINO vs ACOSTA
A.M. No. CTA-01-1. April 2, 2002.
A mere casual buss on the cheek is not a sexual conduct or favor and does not fall
within the purview of sexual harassment under R.A. No. 7877. Complainant failed to
show by convincing evidence that the acts of the respondent judge in greeting her with
a kiss on the cheek, in a 'beso-beso' fashion, were carried out with lustful and lascivious
desires or were motivated by malice or ill motive.
What the Court perceived to have been committed by respondent judge were casual
gestures of friendship and camaraderie, nothing more, nothing less. Complainant
misunderstood respondent judge's actuations and construed them as work related
sexual harassment under R.A. 7877. However, from the records on hand, there was no
showing that the respondent judge demanded, requested or required any sexual
favor from complainant in exchange for "favorable compensation, terms,
conditions, promotion or privileges" specified under Section 3 of R.A. 7877.
PAISTE v. APRONIANO V. MAMENTA Jr.
A.M. No. P-03-1697. October 1, 2003
Sexual harassment in the workplace is not about a man taking advantage of a
woman by reason of sexual desire — it is about power being exercised by a
superior over his women subordinates. That power emanates from the fact that
he can remove them if they refuse his amorous advances.
The respondent is guilty of sexual harassment. His severely outrageous acts, which are
an affront to women, constitute sexual harassment because they necessarily result in
an intimidating, hostile, and offensive working environment for his female subordinates.
He abused the power and authority he exercises over them, which is the
gravamen of the offense in sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in the
workplace is not about a man taking advantage of a woman by reason of sexual
desire — it is about power being exercised by a superior over his women
subordinates. That power emanates from the fact that he can remove them if they
refuse his amorous advances.
DOMINGO vs RABAYA
GR no. 155831, Feb. 18, 2008
SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS AN IMPOSITION OF MISPLACED “SUPERIORITY”
WHICH IS ENOUGH TO DAMPEN AN EMPLOYEE’S SPIRIT AND HER CAPACITY
FOR ADVANCEMENT. IT AFFECTS HER SENSE OF JUDGMENT; IT CHANGES HER
LIFE.
It is not necessary that the demand, request or requirement of a sexual favor be
articulated in a categorical oral or written statement. It may be discerned, with equal
certitude, from the acts of the offender. Holding and squeezing Domingo’s
5
shoulders, running his fingers across her neck and tickling her ear, having
inappropriate conversations with her, giving her money allegedly for school
expenses with a promise of future privileges, and making statements with
unmistakable sexual overtones – all these acts of Rayala resound with deafening
clarity the unspoken request for a sexual favor.
