individuals for mere posts of discontent in facebook. It also conducted an investigation on the arrest of
Marikina 10, which included a volunteer teacher who was arrested for quarantine violations while
conducting a feeding program.86 The arrest of Pride 20 during the Pride March is yet another concerning
event, as members of the LGBQI+ community were arrested during the exercise of freedom of expression.
Reports of red-tagging and raids of offices of human rights defenders were also received by the
Commission’s regional offices during this period of crisis.
The Commission has also noted with alarm and concern the rising misogyny and sexual harassment online.
There is also a marked increase in online exploitation of children. Rampant victim blaming and
misogynistic comments were brought about by a post made by the Philippine National Police (Lucban,
Quezon, Police Station, Region IV) advising women on what to wear to avoid rape. This sparked an uptake
of misogynistic remarks even from known media personalities. In both cases, advisories and statements
were issued by the Commission. Online sexual exploitation of children, including girl children is also on
the rise. With work and education shifting online, and with increased access and time spent online, the
portal has also received uptakes in GBV committed in online spaces. Of the 111 reports, 14 (12.6%)
involved GBV committed in online spaces. These included the case of a deaf woman who has been
subjected to online sexual harassment by a friend and whose case has been referred to the NBI violence
against women’s desk.
Information gap on government assistance and services; Complaints of exclusion from Social
Amelioration Program of the Government;
The Commission’s monitoring also documented complaints and requests for assistance pertaining to
accessing information in relation to government support services, and of complaints as well of exclusion
from government’s services like the social amelioration program (SAP). Reports from the Commission’s
regional offices reveal an uptake on requests for legal assistance in relation to exclusion from SAP benefits.
The results of the Commission’s community based monitoring with women with disabilities showed that
many of the interviewees said that they do not have enough information about COVID-19, and that they
need more information on accessing government support like SAP. Specifically, the Community Based
Monitoring raised the following concerns regarding access to information: absence of sign language
interpreters in the community and local government level, this affect the deaf’s ability to communicate
requests and thier access to important community information; the lack of accessible information materials
for persons with visual impairment on COVID-19, on government assistance and on Inter-agency Task
Force (IATF) Guidelines; the deaf; isolation of deaf women from family members as most cannot
communicate sign language while the wearing of masks also affect the ability to lip read; other disability
groups complained absence of clear information on how to access SAP and the exclusions therefrom.
At the onset of the ECQ and in response to the information gap experienced by the deaf community, a group
of sign language interpreters and deaf leaders, formed the FSL Access Team COVID-19. The group
responded to the clamour of deaf community for access to life saving information regarding the virus and
also of available government support. The group also provided sign language interpreting of news reports
from major channels – making information available for the deaf community and making visible the needs
of persons with disability. The group received no support from government and so early April 2020, the
Commission provided a humble support for the group’s operation. This is in recognition of the gap in the
provision of accessible information to the deaf community and in recognition of the important service
86
Talabong, R.10 Feeding Program Volunteers Arrested in Marikina. Rappler. 1 May 2020.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/feeding-program-volunteers-arrested-marikina-may-2020
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