MANILA, Philippines — A bill giving more teeth to the Safe Spaces Act by imposing stiffer fines sought in the Senate Wednesday following the case of Sandro Muhlach.
Senator Robin Padilla, who has made viral over his comments on matters involving consent, filed Senate Bill 2810 which increases the prescriptive period for filing a complaint from five years to 10 years.
He said that recent public hearings by the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media have shown that sexual harassment in the workplace is still widespread and ongoing.
In his new bill, Padilla proposed tougher penalties of up to P300,000 to update the Safe Spaces Act of 2019.
“It was further observed that employers, particularly large corporations, could easily evade compliance with their obligations under the Safe Spaces Act given the grossly small amount of applicable fines,” Padilla’s explanatory note read.
According to the senator, employers who fail to address gender-based sexual harassment or don’t set up a proper internal committee could face fines between P100,000 and P300,000, up from the current fine of P5,000 to P10,000.
He also said that employers who ignore sexual harassment complaints might be fined P300,000 to P500,000, a significant increase from the current penalty of P10,000 to P15,000.
Padilla also said that he wants the 2019 law to automatically award P300,000 in exemplary damages if someone is convicted.
Muhlach’s alleged abusers have refuted the accusations made against them. Despite this, Muhlach maintains that he was raped by GMA independent contractors Jojo Nones and Richard Cruz. During a recent hearing, Muhlach also alleged that Nones and Cruz drugged him.
