PRIB: Bill seeking to expand gender-based harassment to include AI, emerging technologies okayed

PHILIPPINES, January 14 - Press Release
January 14, 2025

Bill seeking to expand gender-based harassment to include AI, emerging technologies okayed

The Senate on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, approved a bill seeking to amend Republic Act (RA) No. 11313, otherwise known as the Safe Spaces Act, to address gender-based online sexual harassment arising from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.

Senate Bill No. 2897 seeks to expand gender-based harassment to include AI and other emerging technologies in virtual spaces. The bill is in substitution of Senate Bill Nos. 2232 and 2810, authored by Sens. Cynthia Villar and Robinhood Padilla respectively and sponsored by Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

"This bill responds to the urgent calls by our constituents, particularly young women in schools, to reform the law in order to better address their lived realities. When we made the current law (RA 11313), no one knew what AI was. Today, deep fakes are chronic. And pornography is being created with the use of these emerging technologies," Hontiveros said.

The proposed legislation also seeks to expand the definition of public spaces to include streets and alleys in rural areas, fields, farms, coastal areas and multi-purpose halls.

It defines grooming as a predatory conduct, act or pattern of acts of establishing a relationship of trust, or emotional connection by another with a child or someone who is believed to be a child and/or family guardian, and/or caregivers, whether in person or via electronic and other similar devices, for the purpose of perpetrating sexual abuse or exploitation.

Under the measure, internet intermediaries shall immediately block access to, remove or take down the internet address, uniform resource locator (URL), websites of any content containing material constitution violations of the act within 24 hours from receipt of notice from a competent authority. They shall preserve within six (6) months or during pendency of the case, all subscriber's or registration information and traffic data in its control and possession. In case of content data, the same shall be preserved for a year, and upon notice by the competent authority, the preservation shall be extended for another six months.

Any person found violating the provisions of gender-based sexual harassment in the workplace shall face imprisonment of not less than one (1) month nor more than six (6) months or a fine not less than P10,000 but not more than P100,000 or both, at the discretion of the court.

"We also need to respond to the multiple cases of teacher-predators. This bill seeks to respond to this by ensuring that adults working in close proximity to children have no history of predatory behavior," Hontiveros added.

Sen. Loren Legarda, co-sponsor of the bill, said the proposed amendments would breathe new strength into the Safe Spaces Act, addressing the evolving nature of harm and exploitation.

She said the introduction of definition for grooming is a critical step forward. The senator said schools and training institutions should be sanctuaries of learning and growth.

"Grooming is a deceptive betrayal of trust-a calculated manipulation that preys upon the innocent, especially our children. With this amendment, we draw a definition line: predators, whether lurking in physical proximity or hiding behind digital veils, will not escape the vigilance of the law," Legarda said.

The Safe Spaces Act, originally enacted in 2019, aims to ensure that all spaces, both physical and virtual, are free from gender-based harassment.