In keeping with the GAD Program and Initiatives of the National Government, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau Regional Office No. XIII conducted the Forum on Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 on May 8, 2018 at the MGB RXIII Training Center in Surigao City.
The MGB RXIII Gender and Development Focal Point System organized the said in-house forum which was attended by the employees.
Ms. Florian T. Trinidad, Provincial GAD Focal Person and Officer-in-Charge of Provincial Center for Women’s Training and Development of Surigao del Norte, took part in the forum as the Resource Speaker. She gave a comprehensive presentation on the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995.
Ms. Trinidad has been in government service for 20 years. After having obtained intensive trainings and gained expertise from the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) from 2012-2016 during the strengthening of the PCW-AECID (Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo) Project on the Magna Carta of Women, Ms. Trinidad has conducted and facilitated numerous trainings and seminars on Gender and Development particularly on Gender Sensitivity, GAD Planning and Budgeting, Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines, Gender Analysis, and Gender Mainstreaming and its tools. Similarly, she has attended a considerable number of fora, seminars, and trainings on Culture of Peace, Cooperatives, Women Empowerment, Anti-Violence Against Women and Children and Women Peace Table.
Republic Act 7877 or the “Anti-Sexual Harassment Act” was enacted in 1995. It upholds the State policy to value the dignity of every human individual; to guarantee full respect for human rights; and to preserve the dignity of students, trainees, workers, employees and those seeking employment. Apart from declaring that all forms of sexual harassment in the employment environment as well as in the education or training environment are unlawful, RA 7877 basically provides for the duty of the employer and head of the education environment to prevent or deter commission of acts of sexual harassment and promulgate rules and administrative sanctions.
“A victim remains as such only until she lets justice be served but becomes an eternal fool if she denies herself of it,” quoted Ms. Trinidad with emphasis towards the end of her presentation. In the same vein, she facilitated the engaging discussion that followed.
The activity instilled in the employees a renewed sense of courage and accountability to work for moral transformation in order to put an end to all forms of violence especially against women and children.
