From your doorstep, Avon steps into the heart of the home

Who doesn’t know the Avon lady (or hasn’t met one)? She appears at your doorstep bearing a bagful of beauty products and wearing a beatific smile. Through the years, Avon has made women around the world look beautiful — inside out.

And now, Avon goes beyond beauty — from the doorstep, she steps right into the heart of the home to find out what goes on behind the closed door. She takes up the cudgels for countless, nameless Filipino women who are victims of domestic violence and tells them to speak out and tell their stories.

Domestic violence spares no one — rich or poor, ordinary folk or celebrities. Everybody knows the story of actress/beauty queen Ruffa Gutierrez, which may well have leaped out of a tear-jerking soap opera. “My husband doesn’t know that what he did was wrong. To this day, he blames me,” remarks the outspoken Ruffa off-the-cuff at the launch of Avon’s Speak Out Against Domestic Violence campaign, which drew women from all professions who packed the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati to the brim.

Ruffa is the spokesperson for Avon’s Speak Out Against Domestic Violence campaign. Hers was just one of the many stories we were to hear that afternoon. For instance, there was Rose Rigos’.

“He would bang my head on the wall and hit me with anything he’d get hold of,” Rose, 28, sighs as she recalls her bruising battles with her husband. “I can’t count the times he was violent with me. He would throw a tantrum and just throw anything at me, enough to give me hematoma, or he would kick me. He was a very controlling husband and would get mad at the most petty things. He was my first boyfriend, we were neighbors.”

Rose suffered in silence; not even her mother knew what was happening. “I never told my family and friends anything, and they all thought my husband was a good husband,” she relates.

But one day, she woke up and decided it was time to seek help — and speak out. She confesses, “I knew I needed help because I no longer felt safe in a place I called home. I didn’t know where to sleep.”

Rose knew for certain she had had enough and had to move out — out of this hell of a house and out of this sham of a marriage.

“He actually tried to win me back, but I was steadfast with my decision,” Rose is happy to tell us. “Slowly, I got my self-esteem back.”

She is quick to add, “I strongly believed in the sanctity of marriage and family values, I still do. But I also believe that a relationship where somebody suffers so much is no longer a relationship from God.”

Bearing nary a scar of the battles she’s been through, Rose, now an Avon sales leader and physical therapist, is happy to share her story again and again and again. “If I can’t be a wife anymore, I can be a woman, I can be somebody,” she proudly proclaims.

With her head up high, Rose gives this advice to women who are victims of domestic violence: “You need to speak out because nobody will do that for you. Stand on your own two feet and have a fresh beginning.”

Taking time out of her busy sked as a lawmaker, mom, and homemaker, Senator Pia Cayetano shares the grim statistics and gruesome tales: “One out of three women is a victim of some form of violence, according to worldwide statistics. As for the Philippine statistics, the incidence has gone down, but this is not reliable like a lot of our statistics because there are still a lot of unreported cases (somewhere out are women silently suffering the battered wife syndrome). And there’s still the taboo of talking about it in public.”

While there’s a basic law in place, according to Sen. Cayetano, there’s a need to increase awareness and educate women about it.

FYI, Republic Act No. 9262 (Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004) punishes acts of violence committed against women and Their children, and allows any citizen who has personal knowledge of the incident to file and pursue the case if the victim refuses or is unable to do so. The punishable acts include:

1) Physical violence — acts that include bodily or physical harm;

2) Sexual violence — acts which are sexual in nature;

3) Psychological violence — commission or omission of acts which cause the mental or emotional suffering of the victim;

4) Economic abuse — acts that make a woman financially dependent on the offender.

“I’m very much aware of domestic violence because of my work,” says Pia who’s been sponsoring seminars on domestic violence all over the country with different groups, such as the Philippine General Hospital’s women’s desk. “Also, because I have friends who have been victims.”

Under Republic Act No. 9262, women and children who are victims of violence have the right to avail themselves of legal assistance from the Public Assistance Office or any public legal assistance office. They are entitled to support services from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Local Government Units (LGUs). They are entitled to all legal remedies and support under the Family Code.

“On my own, I advise them to move out of the situation immediately,” Pia tells us. “But I’ve seen it with my own eyes na bumabalik sila (they return to their husbands). They really need professional counselling to strengthen themselves. It’s really a tough situation.”

Victims can file any or all of the following: Protection Orders (Barangay Protection Order, Temporary and Permanent Protection Orders); Independent Civil Action for Damages; Criminal Action for Violation of the Anti-VAWC Act.

On the other hand, if it’s the male spouse/partner who complains about abuses committed by his wife/partner (yes, it can and does happen), he may file a complaint or case under the Revised Penal Code. But that will have to be tackled in another forum because for this monumental launch, the women outnumber and outtalk the few good men in the room.

If found guilty of the crime, the offender may be imprisoned (the duration depends on the gravity of the crime) and will be obliged to pay P100,000 to P300,000 in damages.

A global company that faithfully looks out for women, Avon is a staunch believer in the importance of empowering women. The largest corporate supporter of the breast cancer crusade, it proved to be women’s breast friend when it launched its Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer campaign, which raised over $525 million for breast cancer education and awareness, screening and diagnosis, and scientific research.

This year, Avon takes a giant step further with the launch of its Speak Out Against Domestic Violence advocacy.

“I am very pleased with the reception to the campaign,” says Bob Briddon, Avon Philippines president and general manager. “We have the right people here. We got the message out. And we’ll be using the Avon medium to talk to women about speaking out. So this is really just the beginning.”

To all women out there, the message is loud and clear: Speak now or forever hold your peace.

* * *

We’d love to hear from you. E-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com.