MANILA, Philippines — A few days before Women’s Day, a training institution for women raised the alarm as recent data on violence against women and children (VAWC) showed that at least one woman or child is abused every 10 minutes in the country.
The Center for Women’s Resources reported through its Ulat Lila 2020 – the bi-annual report on the situation of Filipino women presented at the University of the Philippines in Diliman – said that violence against women continues to be among the issues that haunt women and children.
Data of the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) on nationwide violence against women and children also showed 9,935 reported cases from April to June 2019.
Of these, 6,315 women and 6,054 children were reported as victims, which means one woman or one child experiencing violence every 10 minutes.
“It is saddening that while the Philippines is one of the countries that has the most number of laws that supposedly address violence against women, many women and girls are still abused every day,” said CWR executive director Jojo Guan. “The intensifying socioeconomic and political crisis, coupled with a regressive feudal patriarchal mindset of leaders in the country, increased the vulnerability of women to gender-based abuses.”
But while the figure is alarming, she noted that the PNP data do not paint the complete picture of VAW in the country as, according to the 2017 National Health and Demographic Survey, only six percent of women victims sought help from authorities.
Further, CWR also shared the observation that authorities refrain from releasing VAW-related data, including rape cases, after the controversy about state-perpetrated violence in 2018.
Based on the most recent monitoring of CWR, at least 63 police officers have been involved in cases of violence against women, including rape, from July 2016 until December 2019.
“As the International Day of Working Women nears on March 8, we need to join forces – both women and men – to show resistance to the culture of misogyny and impunity that is rampant under the present administration,” Guan stressed.