WOMEN’S rights activists in the Philippines have welcomed new anti-sexual harassment laws which they say could be used against President Rodrigo Duterte.

Mr Duterte signed the Safe Streets and Public Spaces Act in April but officials only released details of the law to the public late on Monday.

The new legislation introduces heavy fines for “any unwanted and uninvited sexual actions or remarks against any person” in public, such as catcalling, wolf-whistling, offensive sexual jokes and any unwanted physical behaviour. 

Mr Duterte has a history of sexist and misogynistic actions. During a speech earlier this year the president spoke of the time he sneaked into a maid’s room and molested her while he was at university. 

He said: “I lifted the blanket … I tried to touch what was inside the panty … I was touching [it]” until “she woke up so I left the room.” 

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific executive director Jean Enriquez pointed out the irony of Mr Duterte signing such a law “because he is the primary purveyor of misogyny and catcalling.”