Manila: A lawmaker is urging colleagues in the senate to investigate an incident during a beauty pageant where one of the sponsors allegedly sexually harassed three contestants.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality; said Philippine society must show the world that it will not tolerate any form of sexual harassment against women by holding accountable the alleged sponsor of the Miss Earth beauty pageant who allegedly harassed three contestants.

She filed Senate Resolution No. 932 calling for an inquiry into the incidents.

“Sexual harassment has no place anywhere, especially in a pageant that claims to uphold the value and power of women. At a time when women and girls are battered by rape jokes, sexual violence, and sex-for-freedom cases, it is imperative that sexual harassment of any kind, shape or form be brought out into the open,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros’ statement came less than a week after Miss Earth 2018 candidates, Jaimie Yvonne Vandenberg of Canada, Abbey-Anne Gyles-Brown of England, and Emma Mae Sheedy took to social media to expose their experiences of sexual harassment involving Amado Cruz, one of the pageant’s sponsors.

Vandenberg eventually withdrew from the competition after her bad experience but not without exposing an incident where Cruz took her mobile number without her consent and badgered her into revealing her hotel and room number.

“He (Cruz) showed up to almost all of my events telling me he could take care of my needs and asked for sexual favours in exchange to get me further in the pageant,” Vandenberg lamented.

Gyles-Brown narrated that while she enjoyed her trip to the Philippines, the experience “was overshadowed by feeling exploited, vulnerable, unnerved and sexually harassed as I was approached by a sponsor on many occasions who asked for sexual favours in exchange for the crown.”

Sheedy on her part, said she was pulled aside multiple times by Cruz to be invited to Boracay. “Amado S. Cruz grabbed my bare back at the National Costume Competition where I was able to push him away, but he consistently told me not to tell anyone about any of the instances,” she said.

Hontiveros said given the number of similar events that take place everywhere it is important that the contestant’s rights are safeguarded by the organisers.

“Responsibility for this incident falls squarely on the shoulders of both the harasser and the organisers of the event,” she said.

Cruz, for his part, said he was “at a loss” over the allegations against him by the three contestants.

The Gabriela Women’s Party said such events are a form of exploitation against women.

“We have always said that pageants are sites of objectification and abuse of women. This latest revelation only affirms our stance,” it said.