Code of Conduct

Overview

We want our communities to be a venue for freethinkers to exchange ideas, challenge their beliefs, and foster a sense of community. As freethinkers, we highly value the freedom of expression but we’re also working towards building a community where reasoned discourse and respectful interaction is the norm.

These guidelines are not absolute; the Coordinating Council (CC) reserves the right to arbitrate on a case by case basis. As we face new challenges to the community, we reserve the right to modify these guidelines and also welcome discussion about it. But this is our promise: we’ll always aim to keep the guidelines to a minimum.

Code of Conduct

Since the safety and security of FF members is of utmost importance, we will not compel complainants to confront their offenders. The CC will act as mediators and negotiators in this process. As a general principle regarding offenses, pertinent details and sensitive information will be kept as private as possible.

Violations

Not paying for one’s personal bill – Post-meetup gatherings usually involve eating and drinking at a restaurant. Most of these establishments lump bills together for payment once the party is over. Unfortunately, this sometimes ends up in someone having to pay for someone else’s bill. Here are some possible tips on preventing this from happening:

  • Know how much your order costs, including additional charges like the 12% VAT and service charge (usually around 10%).
  • Try to pay immediately after every order.
  • Ask the attendants to provide each person with a separate bill.

Liquor consumption among minors – Persons under 18 years of age are strongly discouraged from consuming alcoholic beverages in any FF event, whether formal or informal. This violation covers both:

  • minors who consume alcohol and
  • those who encourage minors to do so

Harassment / Invasion of personal space – Harassment is defined as any physical or verbal abuse of a person and includes any conduct that satisfies any of the conditions below:

  • induces a person to be uncomfortable, offended, intimidated, oppressed, or fearful
  • violates or invades personal space or personal distance which is defined the “the variable and subjective distance at which one person feels comfortable talking to another.”
  • is unwelcome
  • includes taking advantage of someone perceived as weaker, more vulnerable, welcoming, and or open to such advances
  • promoting a hostile environment

Harassment includes both verbal or non-verbal forms, physical, and or overt sexual forms including teasing, name calling, rude gestures, unwanted displays of affection, deliberate and persistent annoyances, threats and/or intimidation, manipulation, and demands and or compulsions or coercion in all forms of human interaction.

Sexual Harassment

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that tends to create a hostile or offensive environment.

We all want Filipino Freethinkers meetups to be safe environments for freethinkers of all sorts, and harassment of any nature, including sexual, will not be tolerated. And we do mean that: any credible reports of sexual harassment will be resolved by banning the harasser from any future meetups, and in extreme cases, making the acts of harassment (and the culprit) known to the FF community.

If you feel you are being subjected to sexual harassment by any Filipino Freethinker meetup attendee or community member, do let us know immediately so we can act on it posthaste:

It’s incumbent on all of us to know where the line stands between passionate debate and active harassment of fellow FF members, and we plead with you not to cross it.

Enforcement

Violations will be handled accordingly:

    1. The first offense will warrant a verbal warning from a member of the CC.
    2. The second offense will warrant a written reprimand.
    3. The third and consecutive offenses will warrant an intervention and possible banning from future FF events.