AUGUST 29, 2011

NR # 2510B

Lawmaker denounces sexual harassment of women prisoners

A lawmaker today sought an inquiry into the alleged sexual harassment of women detainees and their visitors by jail guards at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig. Rep. Emmi de Jesus (Party-list, Gabriela) raised the matter during the House Appropriations Committee hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for 2012. Citing reports, De Jesus said women inmates at the Philippine National Police Headquarters Custodial Center Camp Bagong Diwa are being taken out of their cells at night and forced to sit with jail officers during their drinking sprees. Even under the purported daang matuwid slogan of the administration, we continue to receive reports of violence against women detainees in the form of sexual harassments committed by jail personnel, De Jesus said. De Jesus asked Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Director Rosendo Dial to look into the complaints of the women detainees and investigate the jail guards involved in such lewd acts. This runs counter to the requisite provided by Republic Act 9263 that Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) personnel must be of good moral character and sound mind, de Jesus said. De Jesus said the reported cases of sexual harassment against women inmates inside the police detention cells are very alarming and Congress has the duty to investigate it. De Jesus also expressed concern over the equally harassing procedures like the stripsearching of women jail visitors at Camp Bagong Diwa. De Jesus said the BJMP should look into the cultural implications of the procedure, especially with reports that this procedure is also being imposed on Muslim women, which makes it particularly disturbing. We all know that Muslim womens clothes are a body covering as part of their culture. There is a dehumanizing element in this procedure even if the officer conducting the body search is also a woman, the Gabriela solon said. De Jesus said the Gabriela party-list group and other groups concerned will organize factfinding missions to monitor the situation of women inmates and ensure that their rights and welfare are being upheld. (30) mmr