This early, neophyte Senator Nancy Binay, who had been bullied by media and in cyberspace during the campaign as unqualified for legislative work and being just a personal assistant to her Vice President father, Jejomar, has outlined 15 priority bills she is filing and fighting for in 2013, many of them in keeping with her campaign promises.
For starters, she filed the Electronic Violence Against Women (E-VAW) Law of 2013 to regulate the exploitative and irresponsible use of social media, that she said has become “a mode of disseminating scandals involving both television personalities and private individuals.”
She is very strong on this because she suffered too much shame and ridicule from both television and the internet users, but kept her decent composure during the campaign.
The cyber-bullying just made her look the underdog, which Filipino voters love to help. As a result, she landed 5th in the May 13 elections with over 16 million votes.
Her proposed measure intends to expand the provisions of Republic Act 9262 or the Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004 by defining “electronic violence as any act involving the exploitation of data to cause or likely to cause mental, emotional and psychological distress or suffering to the victim.”
Such acts include: a) the unauthorized recording, reproduction or distribution of videos showing the victim’s private areas; b)uploading or sharing any form of media with sensitive and indecent content without the victim’s consent; c) harassment through text messaging, electronic or any other multimedia means; d) cyber stalking, including the hacking of personal accounts on social networking sites and the use of location trackers on cellular devices and e) the unauthorized use of the victim’s identity (pictures, video, voice, name) for distribution that can harm the victim’s reputation.
Binay said most of the cases of online bullying, cyberstalking and other forms of digital harassment can be perpetrated by people close to the victims.
“Being bullied or harassed by a known perpetrator, or someone close to you, has a serious emotional and psychological impact than being hassled by a stranger. Mas masakit sa mga biktima kung kakilala nila ang gumagawa ng mga panliligalig sa kanila,” the neophyte senator said.
Offenders can be penalized up to P300,000 to P500,000, depending on the gravity of distress caused on the victim. The proposed law also provides a protection order to prevent further harm and distress to any woman and her child.
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Her other priority measures for 2013 are: the Employers Child Care Centers Act; Parents in Jail Act; Special Education Act; Women’s and Children’s Resource Development and Crisis Assistance Act; The Indigent Children Free Medical and Dental Service Act; Firecracker Safety Law; Women and Gender Education Act; the Anti-Corporal Punishment Act; the E-Vaw Law; Rest Period for Women Employees; Sex Offenders School Access Prohibition Act; Philippine Arbitration Commission Act; Petroleum Exploration and Development Act; Sugar Cane Industry Development Act and the Food Fortification Act.
She averred that the early filing of bills is crucial to “advancing” the priorities of the Senates as she expressed hopes of the passage of all the measures she is filing.
"This is the time I start working on the promises I made during the campaign. This is part of my advocacy and UNA’s legislative agenda that I promised to pursue.” She also said she wants to review laws on adoption of orphans.
As far as possible, she said, she wants all her proposed laws to be “realistic, doable and beneficial to every Filipino family, especially to women and children.”
She said she is aware that it takes a lot of skill to manage and defend the bills but that she is ready to discuss and negotiate with her colleagues in the Senate in order to reach the desired consensus.
This neophyte took a crash course on legislative work at the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance.
