Women’s group files 109 VAWC cases in NegOr in 2019

DUMAGUETE CITY – The Gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation (GWAVE), a women’s advocacy group in Negros Oriental, on Friday reported filing 109 cases concerning violence against women and children (VAWC) in 2019.

GWAVE executive director Katheleen del Socorro said this during the Kapihan sa PIA Forum at a local hotel here in celebration of National Women’s Month.

She said most of the cases filed were on sexual abuse and domestic violence.

Of the number, 90 percent prospered at the city fiscal’s level and are ongoing, she added.

Del Socorro said GWAVE attends to 300 or more clients per year.

However, not all clients are keen on filing cases for a number of reasons.

“It’s a sad thing and it’s trending that most of those who file cases end up withdrawing the same while halfway through the process,” she said.

“As service providers, it is frustrating but we should not be disheartened as we also have to understand the reasons behind the withdrawal of these cases,” she added in the dialect.

Many abused women tend to give in to “pressure” from children who ask them not to file cases against their husbands, or that these women are dependent economically on their husbands, she said.

Meanwhile, Fiscal May Flor Duka of the Dumaguete City Prosecutor’s Office, in the same forum, said the use of drugs and other vices by the husbands may contribute to domestic abuse of women but these are not necessarily the main causes.

Duka rather said it is the patriarchal characteristic tendency where men believe that women are of the weaker sex, leading to abuse.

But she said if a man truly loved the woman, even if he was drunk, he would not lay a hand on her.

Duka also said a “decreasing moral fiber” is the "bottom line" and “biggest contributor” to women abuse and perhaps this could also be attributed to social media.

She is recommending undertaking social reformation on values especially in today’s world of gadgets and the internet. (PNA)