Safe Streets and Public Spaces Act
Also known as: Safe Spaces Act · Bawal Bastos Law · Republic Act No. 11313
Definition
The Safe Streets and Public Spaces Act (Republic Act No. 11313), popularly called the Bawal Bastos Law, is a Philippine statute signed on 17 April 2019 that penalizes gender-based sexual harassment in streets, public spaces, online, in the workplace, and in educational institutions. It fills a gap left by older anti-sexual-harassment rules that covered only superior-subordinate settings. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Safe Spaces Act |
| Wikidata | Q136756420 |
| DBpedia | N/A |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | Sexual harassment — Philippines |
| MeSH | N/A |
| Google Scholar | Republic Act 11313 Safe Spaces Act gender-based harassment Philippines |
| ConceptNet | harassment |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Safe Spaces Act
- Bawal Bastos Law
- Republic Act No. 11313
Examples and Analogies
- Street-Level Coverage: Where the 1995 anti-sexual-harassment act reached only bosses and teachers, RA 11313 reaches the stranger who catcalls on a jeepney — the way traffic rules target the driver, not just the fleet owner.
- Peeping and Stalking: Unauthorized recording, flashing, and repeated unwanted following are now distinct offenses rather than mere nuisances.
Usage Scenarios
1. Street and Transit Enforcement
Catcalling, wolf-whistling, and lewd comments directed at persons in streets, terminals, and public utility vehicles are arrested offenses.
2. Online Accountability
Gender-based online harassment — threats, slurs, and sexual messages — is punishable, with platforms directed to cooperate.
3. Duty Bearer Duties
Employers, schools, and local governments must adopt anti-GBSH codes, complaint mechanisms, and information campaigns.
Strategies
- Localize enforcement: train barangay tanods and transit personnel to document and refer street harassment incidents.
- Require workplaces and schools to prevent retaliation against complainants.
- Run public awareness campaigns that frame courtesy in public spaces as a shared civic norm.
Security and Safety Measures
- Penalties range from fines and community service to imprisonment for grave offenses such as stalking and transmission of sexual images.
- The law tasks the Philippine National Police and local officers to act on complaints, while protecting complainants from countercharges meant to intimidate.
Historical Context
For decades, public catcalling and street harassment in the Philippines carried no clear penalty, and the 1995 law on sexual harassment applied only to hierarchies in work and school. Women’s groups campaigned for years for a “bawal bastos” measure; President Rodrigo Duterte signed RA 11313 in April 2019, extending protection to streets, online spaces, workplaces, and schools. (Wikipedia)
Challenges and Controversies
Enforcement Skepticism
Critics question whether sparse street-level policing can catch fleeting harassment, urging camera evidence and citizen-reporting protocols.
Free-Expression Concerns
Some commentators worried the online provisions could chill speech, a debate that accompanied the drafting of the implementing rules.
Related Topic
Commission on Human Rights