Magastos mambastos sa Quezon City (It’s costly to misbehave in Quezon City).
A garbage collector learned this the hard way after he was fired by the hauling contractor who hired him for harassing a female student who was waiting for a ride in Barangay Bagumbuhay in Project 4.
According to the Quezon City Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, the garbage collector or “palero” was initially reprimanded and later terminated by the management of OMNI Hauling Services Inc.
The hauling contractor likewise issued a stern warning to its garbage collection teams to be aware of Quezon City’s anti-catcalling ordinance (City Ordinance 2501-2016), which penalizes sexual harassment in public places, and Republic Act 9170, the Magna Carta for Women.
“The company wants to remind all concerned that you should control your paleros because you hire them directly,” the OMNI memo read.
The case stemmed from a complaint by a certain “Sandy” coursed through the social media page of the Quezon City Public Affairs Department or PAISO.
“Sany” said she was standing at the corner of Kalantiyaw Street, waiting for a ride, when a yellow garbage truck with body number 15 passed by. The palero was on board and told her: “Idol, you’re beautiful. I love you.”
“I turned to him and said ‘bastos’ (rude), but he even smiled. I was offended. I hope this person can be identified and reprimanded at least,” Sandy’s message to QC-PAISO read.
PAISO then advised Sandy to file a complaint before the Violence against Women and Children Desk of Barangay Bagumbuhay, to enable the local authorities to initiate legal proceedings. At the same time, it forwarded the concern to EPWMD, which together with OMNI conducted a joint investigation and managed to identify the perpetrator.
Pleased with the city government’s prompt action, the victim said: “Thank you very much for your immediate attention regarding my complaint, even if I failed to file the same with our barangay. May you continuously uphold and protect the rights of women and all citizens in our city. Thank you so much.”
Quezon City is the only partner-city of the United Nations Women in Safe Cities Programme to have successfully enacted a law penalizing harassment of women in public spaces.
Following the Quezon City benchmark, UN Women is working with other cities and municipalities in Metro Manila and suburbs to also enact a similar law.
Section 9 of City Ordinance 2501-2016 defines sexual harassment of women in public spaces.
Light violations include: cursing, wolf-whistling, catcalling, repeatedly asking for the number or for dates, or calling a woman in public with words having dirty connotations or implications which tend to ridicule, humiliate, or embarrass the woman such as but not limited to persistent telling of offensive jokes (taunting a person with constant talk about sex, sexual innuendos, green jokes or other analogous statements) to someone who finds them offensive, demeaning, threatening or humiliating.
Violators may suffer an imprisonment of one day to 30 days or a fine from P1,000 to P5,000 for light and medium offenses.
Severe violations include touching, pinching, or brushing up against the body of a person unnecessarily or deliberately; either directly or through clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks; the introduction of any object into the genitalia, anus or mouth, of any person, whether of the same or opposite sex; public masturbation, lasciviousness, exhibition of genitals or pubic area of a person, or other analogous acts of lasciviousness directed at a woman for a sexual gratification of the perpetrator or with the intention to demean, sexually harass, intimidate, or threaten a woman.
Violators for these offenses may suffer an imprisonment of one month to one year or a fine ranging from P1,000 to P5,000.