In early 2022, the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment (OASH) and Gender and Development Office, thru their OASH head, Atty. Archill Capistrano, requested me to create two course modules for their first Anti-Sexual Harassment (ASH) Training program. I developed the modules based on my experience and practice as an advocate of the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ peoples, and as a lawyer and litigator with particular emphasis on using electronic evidence and strategies for keeping victims and survivors of physical and e-violence safe.
The gist of the first module can be found here;
Philippine Lawbytes 213: The First Responders' and Survivor's Training in Electronic Evidence on Online Sexual Harassment and Violence in the UP Cebu System
The second module's thrust and summary are noted here:
Philippine Lawbytes 216: The Terrains of Sexual and Gender Based Violence Against Women and LGBTQIA+ (or the Vast Unacknowledged Sexual and Gender Variants)
What is gratifying is that I was informed by Atty. Capistrano that these two modules I created for them got a commendation from the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and NAPC last October 2022.
UP Cebu PCW NAPC Special Citation October 2022
As part of the ongoing training by the UP Cebu OASH and GAD Office for its students and ASH trainees, I was again invited by Atty. Archill to conduct a third training module session on the World Girls ICT Day. Instead of conducting it in Zoom like the previous two, I suggested to do it live in May, because I was invited by the University of Cebu Law School (UCLS) to conduct two MCLE lectures there and two separate lectures for UC students from May 4-6. As the sponsor for my plane fare, I asked the University of Cebu Law School (UCLS) MCLE Committee headed by Atty. Josh Carol Ventura, and Atty. Lorenil Archival, if I could fly earlier to Cebu to conduct the training session with the UP Cebu students, with UP Cebu answering for my accommodations, and they agreed. I am so grateful to them for that.
UP Cebu Certificate of Recognition to Dr. Atty. Noel Ramiscal May 3, 2023, which recognized his two prior lectures as integral to UP Cebu's Ist Responders' Drill on Anti-Sexual Harassment in 2022 which led to UP Cebu's special citation from the NAPC and PCW
UP Cebu is truly a must site for its historic importance and for three particular places: their Lobby (clustered with so many paintings), the Joya Museum (filled with provocative art installations) and the famous FabLab, which is part of its business hub that offers 3D printing services for businesses and interested parties in that area.
Dr. Atty. Noel G. Ramiscal at the UP Cebu FabLab 3D Printing Area, May 3, 2023, with his self-designed jacket that is an homage to the late great designer Vivienne Westwood, who was an LGBTQIA+ ally
We did a quick tour of these facilities and I had a chat with the manager of the FabLab, Mr. Fidel Ricafranca, regarding the safety protocols concerning the open printing of the 3D printers with common plastic filaments that emit ultra fine particles that could be a health hazard for those who inhale them.
Dr. Atty. Noel G. Ramiscal at the UP Cebu Joya Museum, May 3, 2023
Next up were my almost 4 hour lectures. I planned to give two, then I decided to concentrate on the SOGIE based violence lecture, and interweave the relevant technologies in the age of A.I. that are used to facilitate this type of violence.
Atty. Archill Capistrano giving the rationale for the #ASH Drill and Dr. Atty. Ramiscal's Lectures
To continue the two course modules I delivered last year, I went deeper into the social, political, religious and cultural literatures and contexts embedded in different societies which, despite all the laws that we have right now, appear to condone, justify, mitigate, minimize or make invisible the actual physical and inner violence inflicted on vulnerable peoples within families, tribes and communities on a global scale due to their sexual orientation, gender identities, expression and characteristics.
Dr. Atty. Noel G. Ramiscal with the Brave representation of his UP Cebu lectures, May 3, 2023
I cited specific passages, rites and beliefs in various religions and cultures that demonize women, and target the LGBTQIA+ peoples for their perceived weaknesses, and perversity all rooted in baseless prejudices, written and interpreted (almost, if not always) by men, through various millennia and passed off as eternal truths. All these forms of harmful beliefs manifest, and escalate into actual violence at the intersections where women and the LGBTQIA+ peoples meet and share the spectrum of genders and sexualities.
I cited statistics of how the effects of SOGIE based violence, real, or inflicted online, and discrimination can impact a country's macroeconomic and microeconomic status to a significant degree. The World Bank for example, had estimated that 1 to 5 years of life are lost in women ages 15 to 44 through death or disability resulting from domestic violence. In Australia, violence against women and children costs an estimated $11.38 billion per year. Domestic violence alone costs approximately $32.9 billion in England and Wales.
Research indicates that the cost of violence against women, including those in the LGBTQIA+ community could amount to around 2 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). In 2023, this is equivalent to US$11 trillion (https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/by-gdp, accessed May 29, 2023)! As advocates for these peoples, I told the audience that we should be strategic with our information and figures, particularly in dealing with legislators who may not be able to see beyond their prejudices, but can appreciate monetary figures and their implications.
Dr. Atty. Noel G. Ramiscal at the UP Cebu AVR for his lectures, May 3, 2023
As an essential addition to my lecture, I gave the attendees the gender and sexual myths about rape and sexual assault, and discussed a 2022 Supreme Court decision that calibrated the physical penetration of the penis into a vagina in order for a rape to be considered consummated. In doing so, I also discussed the reprehensible gender stereotyping and discrimination against women and LGBTQIA+ peoples by judges in different jurisdictions, including the Philippines, that unfortunately exist even at this time.
To cap off my lecture, I expounded on the many forms of technology facilitated violence, including recent examples of virtual sexual assault and rape in online worlds, and how the virtual safeguards in these worlds, including Meta's MetaQuest have failed to protect women and minors. I gave my recommendations and suggestions on what metaverse, virtual games and app creators need to do more, in terms of built in security and safety features, developmental philosophy and ethical codes for creators and programmers to follow. They should not be allowed to hide behind the A.I. source codes and questionable or absent legal frameworks. It is up to us, the advocates to actually be vigilant and knowledgeable in the technologies and the possible legal implications to educate our clients and stakeholders of the risks that lurk in the new Meta frontiers of human and A.I. interactions.
Dr. Atty. Noel G. Ramiscal receiving his Certificate of Recognition from Atty. Archill Capistrano and the students who attended his lectures, May 3, 2023
The open forum followed with very interesting questions that showed the participants' lively and knowledgeable interests in the matters I discussed. One matter that cropped up was the issue of surrogacy, and I remember discussing this at length in one of my MCLE lectures about 8 years ago on online human, organ and womb trafficking. When I was very young and full of untested philosophical theories, I thought I knew exactly the absolute answer or stand to take on issues like these. But when I got older, and had clients whose experiences challenged the very foundations of what I believed in, I can no longer look at this as a general, philosophical and clinical legal issue that can be answered easily. These "gestational carriers" (the euphemism coined to reduce these women to objects), are individuals who have undergone so much, to the extent that many of them have condemned themselves. So, in response to the question, I said I would not take any stand that does the same. As an advocate, I am here for them, and I know well enough to look past academic theories and unrealistic principles, to uphold their humanity, and defend them if necessary.
I trust that with events like these, and the dissemination of life altering information that challenge hateful beliefs, the recipients of such information can find the grace and will to survive and end the cycles of SOGIE based violence in their lives.
Group shot with some of the joyous audience members in Dr. Ramiscal's UP Cebu lectures, May 3, 2023
Shout out to Atty. Archill Capistrano for being an indefatigable and brilliant educator and human rights activist in her sphere, and her husband, Prof. Nilo Capistrano from the University of San Carlos, who gave us an afternoon tour of some of the important sights in Cebu City. To Atty. Archill's very promising and engaging students (including Sandrine Mariñas & Gelyn Puracan who assisted us at the FabLab, the student hosts, reactors, and the one who created the "Brave" slide); those who attended my lecture, including former PCW Chair, Dr. Rhodora Buyco, and former UP Cebu VCA, Dr. Weena Jade Gera; to UP Cebu Chancellor Atty. Leo Malagar, who approved of the event; and to the FabLab people, including their coordinator, Mr. Fidel Ricafranca, who 3D printed an Oblation statue for me, my most heartwarming Thank Yous! God Bless!
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