THE Supreme Court (SC) yesterday ordered lawyer and Pasig congressional candidate Christian “Ian” Sia to explain why he should not face disciplinary action over his lewd remark offering to sleep with solo mothers during a recent campaign event.
The SC en banc gave Sia 10 days to respond to the complaint filed by lawyers Allen Liberato-Espino and Michelle Laserna-Adricula filed a complaint against him.
Also yesterday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued a second show cause order (SCO) to Sia, this time over his remarks supposedly body shaming one of his staff.
The Comelec – Task Force SAFE gave Sia a non-extensible three days from receipt of the SCO to explain why he should not be held accountable for committing an election offense
after he supposedly highlighted his assistant’s physical appearance and weight in his speech during campaign event held on April 3.
“Yan ho ang staff ko, Jaja. Ano ba hitsura mo nung nakaraang labinlimang taon? Payat? Ah hindi, nung nakuha ka na ni Eweng, mataba ka na. Nung magkasama pa lang tayo, ito na ang katawan ni Jaja (This is my staff Jaja. What did you look like 15 years ago? Were you slim then? Ah, no, you were already fat when you married Eweng. She was already fat when we started to work together),” Sia reportedly said.
“Ang point ko ho, iyan po ba ang magiging staff ng manyak? Di ho (My point is, will a maniac hire someone who is fat? Of course not),” he also supposedly said.
The Comelec – Task Force SAFE said such actions may be considered as “discrimination against women” and “gender-based harassment”.
“In our view, the foregoing constitutes possible violation of Comelec Resolution No. 11116 or the Anti-Discrimination and Fair Campaigning Guidelines,” it said.
The Comelec has issued a first SCO against Sia in relation to his solo mothers remarks.
As of last Monday, he has yet to respond to the poll body’s order.
The Comelec – Task Force SAFE warned that if he continues to ignore the SCOs, this would be considered as a waiver of his right to be heard and the agency can then initiate the filing of appropriate charges against him.
In its briefer, the SC said: “The SC ordered Atty. Sia to show cause within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice why no disciplinary action should be taken against him” in relation to his remarks involving solo mothers.
Aside from Liberato-Espino and Laserna-Adricula, the women’s group Gabriela has also sent a three-page letter to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo and the rest of the magistrates calling for the conduct of an investigation on the incident and the imposition of sanctions against Sia.
Sia has already apologized for the incident and blamed the uploader of the video for allegedly blowing the issue out of proportion.
Sia is running against reelectionist Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo under the party of businesswoman Sarah Discaya, who is challenging incumbent city mayor Vico Sotto in the mayoralty race.
Discaya has earlier announced that Sia has been barred from joining their campaign activities for three days.
Meanwhile, in light of growing reports on alleged gender discrimination and harassment acts during the campaign period, the Comelec declared all election-related venues and events as being “safe spaces” as it amended Resolution No. 11127.
A safe space is defined as a place or environment wherein a person or category of people can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, and harassment.
Under the amended resolution, the Comelec en banc said it is no longer acceptable for anyone to make discriminatory statements during campaign sorties as well as in polling places.
“All election-related activities and platforms, including but not limited to campaign rallies, caucuses, polling places, precincts, canvassing centers, and online election-related platforms, including social media, are hereby declared as safe spaces,” the poll body said.
In an interview, Comelec chairman George Garcia said they reinforced their guidelines against discrimination amid the successive acts of local bets.
“This is in response to recent acts of vulgarity and use of unnecessary language, especially those directed towards certain sectors,” Garcia said.
He stressed that even cyberspace is now deemed as a safe space for election-related matters.
“Let us use social media not to degrade others, but rather to protect the rights of everybody,” he said.
Aside from Sia, the Comelec has also issued SCOs to reelectionist Misamis Oriental Gov. Peter Unabia and Batangas gubernatorial bet and Mataas Na Kahoy vice mayor Jay Ilagan
Unabia has beenquoted as saying that the province’s nursing scholarship is exclusive for female nursing students who are good-looking; while Ilagan stirred controversy after saying that he is not afraid of his political rival, former Batangas governor Vilma Santos-Recto, as she is no longer a popular actress.
