Personal Statement for the Senate Committees Hearing on Senate Bills for Electronic Violence Against Women and Gender Based Electronic Violence

I was invited to sit as a resource person during the Senate Committee hearing on Gender Based Electronic Violence (GBEV) and Electronic Violence Against Women (E-VAW) last 23 August 2017. For the event, I was asked to prepare a personal statement as well as a position paper the Philippine Society of SRH Nurses Inc. I opted read the position paper we prepared so I am sharing with you herevmy personal statement regarding gender based violence online:

"Honorable Senators, Secretaries and staff of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, and the Committee on Science and Technology, fellow advocates, and most especially survivors, good morning. I am Janina Gillian O. Santos, a registered nurse and a member of the Philippine Society of SRH Nurses, Inc. Let me tell you a story of a girl who began a sexual relationship with a boy. Like the familiar tale, the girl fell in love and guy did not. She did her best to make him happy anyway. It is one of the oldest stories in the book. He was a budding photographer, a teacher in a small school for rich children in the South, a volunteer of organizations promoting rational thinking especially among young people. He is currently married to a beautiful, accomplished woman. He was, in other words, not the kind of person one would expect to exhibit blatant disrespect and cruelty. On Valentines Day in 2015, this man leaked photos of the girl performing intimate acts on him. Part of her face was visible, despite the low lighting. His was not.  The photos were taken with her consent and trust that it will be for his eyes only.  This man posted her photos in his fake Facebook account, and it stayed up for three hours despite the girl’s constant plea for him to take it down. After three hours, several desperate calls and messages, comments about “valentines sex”, the man finally took the photos down. He apologized, saying that what happened was an accident.

It may indeed be an accident, or it may have been something more malicious. Nevertheless, the girl suffered significant psychological damage, going through a period of depression, suicidal ideation, and self harm. This is a story which I know to be true, which I have personal and intimate knowledge of. The effect of sexual violence on a victim is the same, regardless of what platform the sexual violence was committed.

The incidents of Gender Based Electronic Violence may not be perfectly recorded, but one only has to look in pages dubbed as “Hokage” to know that it is happening. Women’s photos being shared without consent has become a norm, has become normalized, that Facebook community pages were created for the sole purpose of men sexualizing photos posted without the consent of the owner.

Beyond the effect on the victim, Gender Based Electronic Violence has a chilling effect on Freedom of Speech online. Dissenting opinions are met, not with rational arguments, but with threats of rape and murder, either towards person whose opinions are different or towards this person’s loved ones. GBV has always been a tool for dominance, but when done online, the effect is compounded, because people with similar tendencies – to threaten someone with sexual violence to suppress them – feel free to act on it. I have experienced this, in my interactions online, when I question people’s victim blaming behaviour towards rape and sexual harassment victims, I am slut-shamed, with my morals as a woman questioned very publicly. I have seen others treated worse, those whose political opinions vary from the popular are promised rape and murder.

Stopping Gender Based Electronic Violence is a daunting task, because it has been normalized. It has cloaked itself with the mask of Free Speech without responsibility. The only way out for the victim is to disconnect, but with 30 million Filipinos online, can a victim really get away from the lasting effects of online violence?

As a woman, an advocate for women’s sexual health and rights, and as someone who has, time and again, been subjected to threats and misogynistic comments thrown without remorse nor consideration, I am grateful that we are now talking about protecting women and our LGBT brothers and sisters from this pervasive problem."

Janina Gillian O. Santos RN, SRHN, FPSORHN 

Incorporator 

Philippine Society of SRH Nurses, Inc.

Position Paper on the Two Pending Senate Bills on Electronic Violence Against Women

Senate Committees on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality; and Science and Technology

August 23, 2017

The Philippine Society for SRH Nurses, Inc. (PSORHN) respectfully submits to the Senate Committees on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality; and Science and Technology this position paper which outlines the rationale for the support of the Society for the pending bills intended for penalizing violence against women and the LGBTQ online.

PSORHN recognizes the following:

1. Violence Againt Women and the LGBTQ online is an issue of health, due to the mental anguish experienced by victims. Several months ago, a woman in a casual sexual relationship consulted the Society. Her partner uploaded some of her photos in intimate positions on the man’s fake Facebook account. Her face was shrouded in darkness, but discerible to those who know her. Despite begging through text, call, and Messenger, the said photos were only taken down after three hours. Within that time, the photo had already gained views and comments. The man apologized. The woman reported experiencing depression and suicidal ideation. She also indulged in self harm. These symptoms are parallel to the psychological symptoms experieced by victims of sexual violence outside cyberspace.

2. Violence Againt Women and the LGBTQ online is an impediment to gender equality, as violence is used to silence women and the LGBTQ by blocking their access to ICT use and freedom of expression. People’s full use of freedom of expression online has become a standard in cyberspace. With the rapid progress of ICT, people’s voices online have become catalysts for broader social movements. The powers to mobilize and bring about change through social media have been proven time and again. Violence Against Women and the LGBTQ is a means to silence the voice the marginalized. Because of threats of sexual violence and physical harm, harassment, misogyny, and homophobia, these marginalized sectors have no other recourse but retreat from the social media sphere, losing a powerful platform of expression. Violence Against Women and the LGBTQ is an impediment not simply to freedom of expression, but the right of women and the LGBTQ to participate in discourse that may set in motion significant positive social change.

3. Violence Against Women and the LGBTQ normalizes violence against women and LGBTQ, as cyberspace becomes a safe space for people to harass, sexualize, and threaten people with very little repercussion due to the identified policy gaps of the proponents of the bills penalizing online violence. Should such law be passed, it will not only extend judicial protection over victims, but act as a deterrent to future perpetrators.

            Given such truths, PSORHN supports the crafting and passage of a law penalizing Violence Againt Women and the LGBTQ and respectfully recommends the body adopts the term “Gender Based Electronic Violence” (GBEV) as opposed to Electronic Violence Against Women (E-VAW). GBEV, as defined in Senate Bill 1251, includes LGBTQ along with women as end users of the legislation. On the other hand, it is observed that Senate Bill 180 expands the Anti VAWC Law to cyberspace, the bill limits protection to women who has had sexual or dating relationships with their abusers, and the children of these women.  As LGBTQ is often at the receiving end of harassment, threats, and homophobia online, the same legal protection must be extended to them.

Janina Gillian O. Santos, RN, SRHN, FPSORHN

Incorporator

Philippine Society of SRH Nurses, Inc.

Your Sexual Rights Online: Legislation for Safe Online Space

Brave Women. Invigorated to continue fighting for safety and security of women online and offline by the presence of these two courageous ladies - Jessica, a fellow resource person for the Senate Committee Hearing for Gender Based Electronic Violence, and Senator Risa Hontiveros, staunch advocate for women's rights.

Even before I perused the United Nations Human Rights document on Rights to Privacy online,  I've already heard of the phrase,  "our rights offline is our rights online" from friends in the Information Communication Technology advocacy, particularly from Democracy.net.ph. This is true especially in the discourse of gender based violence - we are supposed to be protected online as well as offline. Ideally.

The incidents related to the Facebook pages called "Hokage" and "Pastor", popularized and further exposed by the page Catcalled in the Philippines,  tell us otherwise.  The experience of the young girls who spoke against the Marcos burial only to be met by threats of rape and murder is evidence against this ideal.  The vitriol the LGBT community receives online when there are talks of same sex marriage or gender affirming interventions, such as in the case of Jake Zyrus,  is a manifestation of homophobia. My own experience as a woman and an advocate against rape culture have also exposed me to some traumatizing experiences online,  the mildest of which were comments on my alleged propensity to go out with whichever guy happens to be in the area, just because I insisted that consent to go somewhere (even if it is a motel) is not consent for sex.

Our rights offline are our rights online,  perhaps because the violation of our rights online has severe consequences beyond cyberspace. Sexual violence offline causes significant psychological trauma to people.  Depression,  self harm, nightmares, and suicide are just some of the symptoms experienced by victims. The same mental anguish can be observed in victims of online sexual harassment. One of the victims reported feeling depressed, having suicidal thoughts, and engaging in self harm. Her intimate photos on Facebook may have already been deleted, but not the scar on her left wrist. The violation, whether done offline and online, has the same effect of mental, emotional, and psychological anguish for victims. 

It was these recent events and out personal experiences that led me and two other fierce, intelligent, and beautiful women to start speaking out against sexual violence online, and when the opportunity to do more impact by telling our stories in aid of legislation, Doc Tess Termulo and Ate Christene dela Cruz made sure that out voices will be heard. This was only a prelude. "Something wicked this way comes," but that is another story for another day. 

We received an invitation to meet with the staff of Senator Risa Hontiveros, the proponent of the Tres Marias bills which aimed to strengthen the existing rape law, introduce peer-to-peer sexual harassment, and prosecute online violence against women and the LGBT. We were also invited as resource persons during the hearing of the Senate Committees on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality; and Science and Technology for a public hearing on the said bill. I was invited as one of victims of online harassment, as well as incorporator of the Philippine Society of SRH Nurses, Inc. As a resource person, I was tasked to prepare a position paper for the Society, as well as a personal statement. Both of these will be published in subsequent blogpost. 

This engagement opens up a whole new avenue on protecting our sexual rights online, which something every netizen should look forward to.

Two bills concerning online violence are in deliberation. 

Senator Hontiveros's proposed "Gender-based Electronic Violence Act of 2016” is an amalgamation of Senator Binay's expansion of VAW to cyberspace and the reality than the LGBT is also a constant target of online violence. In this bill, gender-based electronic violence (GBEV) is defined as, "an offense refers to any acts or omissions involving the use or exploitation of ephemeral data or any form of information and communications technology (ICT) which causes or is likely to cause mental, emotional, or psychological distress or suffering to the female victim or Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ) victim, and tending to disparage the dignity and personhood of the same on account of his or her gender, including but not limited to: 

In 2013, Senator Nancy Binay filed the proposed Electronic Violence Against Women (E-VAW) Law of 2013, which aimed to expand the coverage of the existing Anti Violence Against Women and Their Children Act (RA9262) to cyberspace. While an excellent proposal due to the proliferation of revenge porn cases - where intimate partners upload, the E-VAW bill still only covers women who were violated by people who they have sexual or dating relationships with. The bill, therefore, does not encompass online violence committed by persons who have no relation to the victim - such as in the case of the girl who protested against Marcos or those men who kept sharing women's photos with lewd comments. 

1. Unauthorized recording, reproduction or distribution of videos showing the victim’s naked or undergarment-clad genitals, public area, buttocks or breasts; 

2. Uploading or sharing without the consent of the victim, any form of media that contain pictures, voice or video of the victim with lewd, indecent, obscene or sexual content: 

3. Harassing or threatening the victim through text messaging, obscene, misogynistic, homophobic or indecent posts in social media sites, or other cyber, electronic or multimedia means; 

4. Cyber-stalking which includes, but is not limited to the hacking of personal accounts on social networking sites, the use of location trackers on cellular devices; and 

5. Unauthorized use of the victim’s picture, video, voice, name or any other aspect of the victim’s identity and distributing the same in any video game, phone application, program and the like, which deliberately exposes the victim to harassment and attack and puts or tends to put the victim in a bad light or injure the victim’s reputation."


The innovations of these bills filed by Senators Binay and Hontiveros serve as responses to the changing times and the dynamic challenge of preventing and persecuting gender based violence. I, for one, am excited to see this landmark bill become law.# 

Youth Solutions Forum: Capacitating Young People for Sustainable Development

It was a rainy morning when I made my way to Ateneo University. It was July 29, the day of the Youth Solutions Forum, an event organized by the United Nations SustainableDevelopment Solutions Network Youth - Philippines. With the encouragement of my colleagues and friends, particularly the always-supportive Kevin of the Forum for FamilyPlanning and Development Inc., I submitted my application and represented the Philippine Society of SRH Nurses, Inc. during the forum.

The event was attended by other youth leaders, perhaps no older than I was when I started in the advocacy. It was so nice to see so many young people gathering together to talk about sustainable development. In 2015, the Philippines committed itself to the realization of the United Nations Sustainable DevelopmentGoals, a conglomeration of 17 interdependent goals geared towards inclusive growth and development. Since then those who have advocated for the Millennium Development Goals have also been working towards the SDG, joined by new blood, bringing with them the tech-savvy and invigorating creativity of Millennials. I only say "new blood", by the way, because I am much older than a lot of the attendees. 

The event kicked off with an inspiring presentation by Usec Philip Dy of the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines. He delivered a presentation on behalf of VP Leni Robredo, the “Laylayan” Economy. Taking the tagline of the SDG, “Leave No One Behind”, the Office of the VP has partnered with various sectors to bring much needed help to the Geographically Isolated and Depressed Areas (GIDAs). “We cannot talk about sustainable development without youth involvement,” the Vice President emphasized, highlighting the importance of young people in the movement towards inclusive prosperity. The VP was explicit on the responsibility of young leaders: “Great leaders are all powerful advocates, fighting for things bigger than themselves”. She also shares an important concept in helping people effectively: “Listen with empathy… Empathy makes you ask powerful questions… A little empathy can go a long way to help those in the margins” – a simple first step for any young person who wants to help in the movement towards sustainable development, and a reminder for any seasoned advocate to always go back to why they are fighting for what they are fighting for.

Plenary session 2.1 was a briefer on what sustainable development actually is. Dr. Rosario Ofreneo of the UP Social Work and Development gave a simple definition of SD: “We who came ahead should be able to leave behind a world you can live in.” This is consistent with the Bruntland Report definition: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” Dr. Ofreneo also shared the United Nation’s 5 dimensions of sustainable development, which are the basis of the SDG: People, Planet, Prosperity, Partnership, and Peace.  To me, the most important takeaway from Dr. Ofreneo’s presentation was that sustainable development requires institutional and structural changes. This, I think, is heavily linked to the integration of sustainable development goals to the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 and the long term aspiration of Ambisyon Natin 2040. For plenary session 2.2, this was discussed by Ms. Girlie Grace Casimiro of the National Economic Development Authority, the head agency for the Philippines’ commitment to SDG. During the briefing, she showed the strategy framework of the PDP 2017-2022, and how the SDGs were embedded in it. She highlighted that the agency will be pushing to do the same for the subsequent PDPs in order to realize Ambisyon Natin 2040:  “matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay.”

PDP 2017-2022 Framework shown with the SDGs embedded.

The final plenary session was delivered by a familiar face in the sexual and reproductive health advocacy, Commissioner Perci Cendana of the National Youth Commission, who pointed out two of the most pressing health challenges in young people – the rising numbers of HIV and teen pregnancy. Commissioner Cendana reminded young people of the basics of rights-based approach: that the government is the duty bearer while the youth are rights holder. However, he also encouraged young people to be more proactive and take a duty bearer role in their development.

In the afternoon, the participants joined different breakout sessions depending on their interest. Naturally, I gravitated towards health – after a bit of screw-up with my application, that is. Totally my fault, and I’d like to thank the people at SDSN-Youth for letting me join the session which I really wanted!

The first speaker was a familiar face – Dr. Joseph Singh from the UNFPA. He provided a briefer on the various health problems young people face. The trend was repeated: high rates of HIV and teen pregnancy. One of major problems, he mentioned, was the unmet need for family planning. “We cannot solve teen pregnancy with health interventions alone,” Dr. Singh emphasized. This reminded me of a lesson from my online class on women’s health and rights: that biomedical problems are not necessarily solved by just biomedical solutions. “When you are rights-based, you can’t go wrong.” Dr Singh reminded the young audience.

The final speaker for the day was Ms. Chi Vallido, of the Forum for Family Planning and Development, Inc. Her talk is a bit more personal for me, as she relayed the struggles of Reproductive Health Law advocates. It took more than 16 years for the country to have the RH Law, but even now it faces certain challenges, such as budget cuts and the TRO on contraceptives. It was a good lesson for all advocates: the fighting just doesn’t stop and it takes dedication and commitment to continue doing what we can for those who need it most.

The talks were followed by a quick workshop. I was, of course, grouped with other health care professionals. We explored problems related to health and came up with three challenges: the lack of enforcement of existing laws, the lack of focus on primary health care, and the lack of coordination among health care workers. It was an exhilarating mental exercise to be sure. I am also glad that my fellow International Youth Council member, Dexter Galban, was at the event. It was great way to flex the brain and fire up the neurons, to look at these problems from a biomedical perspective, but without disregarding the effects of politics and economy in health care.

The day was long and mentally stimulating (albeit exhausting) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am especially hopeful, after seeing so many young people come together to talk about the future we want – a future where prosperity is enjoyed by all, where race, gender, and economic status aren’t hindrance to justice, and where our children will still be able to enjoy the resources our planet provides.#