Events
A packed concert floor, a mall activation with a long queue, a launch party with an open bar: crowds are where harassment happens and where it goes unreported. Republic Act 11313, the Safe Spaces Act, covers all of these places, and it gives the venue specific duties that an event has to plan around.
Does the Safe Spaces Act cover events?
Yes, through the places events happen. The Safe Spaces Act defines public spaces to include “buildings, malls, bars, restaurants” and “other recreational spaces such as, but not limited to, cinema halls, theaters and spas”. Section 4 adds that acts of harassment “performed in buildings, schools, churches, restaurants, malls, public washrooms, bars” are covered too.
What it covers is broad: “catcalling, wolf-whistling, unwanted invitations, misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic and sexist slurs, persistent uninvited comments or gestures on a person’s appearance, relentless requests for personal details”, up to groping and flashing.
What does the venue have to do?
Section 5 puts the duties on “Restaurants, bars, cinemas, malls, buildings and other privately-owned places open to the public”:
| What the law requires | What it means for an event |
| Adopt “a zero-tolerance policy against gender-based streets and public spaces sexual harassment” | Ask the venue for its policy and brief your staff on it |
| Coordinate “with local police authorities immediately after gender-based sexual harassment is reported” | Agree with the venue and security who calls the police, and how fast |
| Make “CCTV footage available when ordered by the court” | Know where the cameras are and who holds the footage |
| Install “clearly-visible warning signs against gender-based public spaces sexual harassment, including the anti-sexual harassment hotline number in bold letters” | Signs at entrances, bars and washrooms, not only at the venue’s main door |
| Designate “at least one (1) anti-sexual harassment officer to receive gender-based sexual harassment complaints” | A named person guests can go to during the event |
Security guards in these places “may be deputized to apprehend perpetrators caught in flagrante delicto and are required to immediately coordinate with local authorities.” Our guide to event security covers who may be posted.
What are the penalties?
They rise with the act and with each offense. For catcalling, slurs, persistent comments and the like, “The first offense shall be punished by a fine of One thousand pesos (₱1,000.00) and community service of twelve (12) hours inclusive of attendance to a Gender Sensitivity Seminar”. For acts such as groping and flashing, the first offense is a fine of P10,000 and the same community service; later offenses add jail time.
Online harassment carries more. The law covers “any unauthorized recording and sharing of any of the victim’s photos, videos, or any information online”, with a penalty of prision correccional in its medium period or a fine of P100,000 to P500,000, or both. That matters for the content crew as much as for the crowd.
How do you plan an event around it?
→ Ask the venue for its setup. Its zero-tolerance policy, its anti-sexual harassment officer and where its signs are. If the event uses an outdoor space or a tent, plan your own.
→ Name a contact for the night. One person on the event team guests can report to, briefed on the venue’s officer and on security.
→ Put signs where the crowd is. Entrances, bars, queues and washrooms, with the hotline in bold.
→ Brief every staff member. Hosts, ushers, promodisers and guards know what to do when a guest reports something: listen, move the guest somewhere safe, call the officer.
→ Brief the content crew. No filming of guests in ways they haven’t agreed to, and no posting of crowd clips that single someone out.
The incident plan
Write down, before the event: who receives a report, where the guest waits, who calls the police, and who asks the venue to keep the CCTV footage.
General information from Republic Act No. 11313 (2019). Its implementing rules and local ordinances add detail; check with the venue and the LGU.
Who should plan for it?
The team running the event, with the venue, before doors open. PUNX is an events agency in Makati: 50-plus people, founded 2023, running activations and events for GCash, Sun Life and PRU Life UK.
FAQ
Does the Safe Spaces Act apply to concerts and events?
It applies to public spaces, which the law defines to include buildings, malls, bars, restaurants and recreational spaces such as cinema halls and theaters, which is where most events take place.
What must venues do under the Safe Spaces Act?
Under Section 5, restaurants, bars, cinemas, malls, buildings and other privately-owned places open to the public must adopt a zero-tolerance policy, help victims by coordinating with the police, provide CCTV footage when ordered by a court, put up visible warning signs with the hotline number, and designate at least one anti-sexual harassment officer.
What is the penalty for catcalling under RA 11313?
A first offense is punished by a fine of P1,000 and 12 hours of community service, including a Gender Sensitivity Seminar. Second and third offenses carry arresto menor or higher fines.
Is sharing videos of guests without consent covered?
Gender-based online sexual harassment under RA 11313 includes any unauthorized recording and sharing of a victim’s photos or videos, with a penalty of prision correccional in its medium period or a fine of P100,000 to P500,000, or both.
Related
Event security — the licences to ask for under RA 11917
Accessible events — what the venue and the organiser owe guests with disabilities
Special event permits — what the city and the BFP ask for
Planning a big crowd?
Send us the venue, the date and the expected turnout. We will build the incident plan with the venue before tickets go out.
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