SC asked: stop sexual harassment, slut-shaming

Senator Leila De Lima INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Sen. Leila de Lima has asked the Supreme Court to immediately act on her petition for writ of habeas data so as to stop the continued acts of slut-shaming, sexual harassment and psychological violence committed against her by President Duterte and his men.

De Lima filed a Memorandum ex abundanti cautela (out of an abundance of caution) in the habeas data case she filed at the SC last Friday or a day after the House justice committee reopened its hearing on the alleged proliferation of the illegal drugs at New Bilibid Prison to listen to her former bodyguard and boyfriend Ronnie Dayan testify against her.

Dayan, who was arrested after he went into hiding to avoid the House inquiry, alleged he received money from confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa on the instruction of De Lima.

In her memorandum to the high court, De Lima cited several grounds by which the high court should issue a writ of habeas data against Mr. Duterte and his men.

“President Duterte is not immune from being sued in habeas data for collecting and publicizing information about her private life and alleged private affairs because his acts constitute slut-shaming, sexual harassment and psychological violence,” her memorandum said. —CHRISTINE O. AVENDANO