DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – The Gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation (GWAVE), a non-government organization advocating the protection of women and children in Negros Oriental, have been filing an average of 40 to 70 sexual abuse cases every year.
Latest figures from January to July this year show that GWAVE has already attended to more than 100 clients. Last year, a total of 282 cases of gender-based violence were handled by the group, but not all of them reached the prosecution level, said GWAVE executive director Sheena Alesna Augusto.
Augusto said GWAVE has been focusing not on the number of cases filed in court but on prevention, intervention and mediation.
In many instances, GWAVE offers moral and legal support to sustain their clients when they go to court, she said although she lamented over the delay in prosecution of sex abuse cases that eventually dampen the spirit of clients who later lose interest in pursuing their complaints.
The most common gender-based violence in Negros Oriental is domestic abuse with rape/sexual abuse coming in second, Augusto said.
Among married couples, live-in partners or boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, financial abuse tops the list of complaints, said Augusto, but this matter is hard to prosecute in court especially if the parties involved do not have a regular source of income, prompting GWAVE to offer mediation instead.
Augusto meanwhile said the recent establishment of the Child Protection Unit or The Pink Room in this city provided an ideal setting for child-victims of sexual abuse and for an efficient handling of sensitive cases involving women and children.
The Pink Room is a joint project of the Dumaguete LGU and the Consuelo Foundation under the city’s Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention Network (CAPIN), of which GWAVE is a member. (FREEMAN)