Eight women and labor groups on Monday filed a complaint in the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) against a regional official of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) who was identified in a Senate inquiry last year as having received in his office a lap dance as a birthday gift.
The complaint seeks to hold PhilHealth Regional Vice President Paolo Johann Perez responsible for violating Republic Act No. 9710, or the Magna Carta of Women.
It was filed in the CHR, in line with the commission’s mandate under that law to assist in cases involving violations of the Magna Carta.
The CHR is also tasked with recommending similar offenses for prosecution to the Office of the President and the Civil Service Commission.
Complainants
The complainants are labor groups Sentro, Partido Manggagawa, Center for Migrant Advocacy and Foundation for Media Alternatives, and feminist groups Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), WomanHealth Philippines, Sarilaya and Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan.
The complaint was filed two days before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, designated on Nov. 25 by the United Nations.
Senate hearing
The complaint stemmed from an Aug. 25 hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee, whose chair, Sen. Richard Gordon, showed a video of a scantily clad woman dancing before Perez to cheers and laughter among his office colleagues.
“The acts cited pertaining to the purchase of a woman by PhilHealth employees and the condonation of such by the PhilHealth official, [is] fundamentally illustrating that women as a group can be bought and used as entertainment for sexual pleasure,” the complainants said.
They said Perez could also be held liable for violating Section 4 of RA 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.
In an interview, CATW-AP executive director Jean Enriquez said public officials were “duty-bound to protect women’s rights and do everything in their power to do so, but the contrary happened here.”
“In this instance, as in many normalized instances of treating women as gifts to men and their portrayal as always sexually available to men, the women’s rights to be treated equally are violated,” she said. INQ