Women’s Club, College of Science interns engage in GAD’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Orientation
StudentsAs they prepare for their
upcoming off-campus internship, students of Catanduanes State University
(CatSU) from the College of Science (COS) and Women’s Club undertook a Gender
and Development orientation seminar on Anti-Sexual Harassment, held at the
Little Theater on January 24, 2024.
A total of 195 incoming OJT
students from COS attended the orientation, as per requirements and preparation
to the students who will take an On-the-Job training program outside the
campus.
Present in the orientation
seminar are the College of Science faculty, Prof. Maribel Ralla (GAD College
Coordinator), Prof. Ma. Luz Floralde (Chairperson, Natural Science Department),
Prof. Cecille Arcilla, and the invited resource speaker, Atty. Rene John M.
Velasco.
Atty. Velasco delivered an
informative talk on the Republic Act 7877, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of
1995, focusing on its provisions declaring sexual harassment as unlawful in
employment, education, or training environments.
Through his talk, he gave
insights about the law, and gave advice on how the interns should act and
respond when they encounter incidents in their internship that are related to
this law such as unwanted touching, receiving gifts, private messages, and
hearing malicious words and catcalls from the employer to his/her employee.
“The purpose of having this
discussion is to protect you and make you aware, especially since you will be
deployed to various companies and may encounter different types of harassment,”
Atty. Velasco said.
During the open forum, Atty.
Velasco clarified that the law deems gifts as problematic if they are
"unwanted, unwarranted, uninvited, and unwelcome," cautioning against
assuming dark motives without discerning the context.
Atty. Velasco also discussed the
Safe Spaces Act, or the Bawal Bastos Law, as an updated version of RA 7877,
underscoring the need for awareness of potential harassment scenarios in future
professional experiences.
