Philippines · Manila · See the Philippines profile · See the Manila profile
Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 43% 74/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
Signed in 2019, building on a 2015 Quezon City ordinance, the Philippines' 'Bawal Bastos' law bans catcalling, stalking and online gender-based harassment nationwide; PCW records show 1,031 case filings 2016–2023, even as rights bodies push to close enforcement gaps.
The Safe Spaces Act (RA 11313), signed 17 April 2019 and in force from August 2019, is the Philippines' first national law defining and penalising gender-based sexual harassment across streets and public spaces, workplaces, schools and online platforms. It built directly on a 2015 Quezon City ordinance developed with UN Women's Safe Cities programme.
Under the law's implementing rules, every local government unit must pass an enabling ordinance within 60 days, post penalty information in public places, run prevention training in schools and workplaces, and set up an anti-sexual-harassment hotline; the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group handles online complaints.
The Philippine Commission on Women's official monitoring recorded 1,031 violence-against-women case filings specifically under the Safe Spaces Act between 2016 and 2023.
Enforcement remains uneven: many local government units have been slow to pass required ordinances, and in March 2025 the Commission on Human Rights publicly backed a Senate bill to widen and strengthen the Act after identifying coverage and enforcement gaps, particularly for online harassment.
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