TAGBILARAN CITY, December 8 (PIA)–Bohol Police Provincial Office reports a 52% dip in violence against women and children (VAWC) from January to November in 2017.
The downtrend is already considered huge accomplishment and records would also show that in 2016, VAWC cases reached 165 cases, according to a report read by Police Senior Inspector Nida Perocho.
Perocho, who came to the Kapihan sa PIA bringing a summative report on the vawc cases in Bohol also clarified that the cases in their records at Camp Dagohoy reflect only those getting into town blotters that prospered into legal suits.
As to the development, authorities continue to urge women and girls who might be victims of physical, sexual, emotional and psychological or economic abuse to come out where help is available.
It would only be when they come out from hiding that they can be helped, emphasizes Inspector Perocho.
And coming out may mean getting these cases known by legal suits.
One thing good about reporting these cases of abuse is that the perpetrators would have something to think about before committing another atrocity as he can really get to jail, added social worker Desiree Faith Lingo, at the radio forum.
By reporting and filing suits however, many women and girls fear they have nowhere to go.
A facility called Bohol Crisis Intervention Center here responds exactly to cases like that, volunteers BCIC’s Donna Belle Mante.
BCIC is designed as a temporary shelter and safe house for women and children who are victims of violence, where victims get to a support group, avail of stress debriefing, medical, legal and other services from the government while their cases are considered inc ourts.
Among the advocacies adopted for the national observance of the 18 day campaign to end violence against women set November 28-December 12 is the Kapihan sa PIA in Bohol.
Topping crimes which were elevated to the courts were physical abuse which reached 20 cases, psychological abuse at 14, economic abuse at 14 and rape at 5.
Acts of lasciviousness cases reached 4, sexual harassment and incestuous rape each had 2 cases while a single case of bigamy and violation of personal protection order reached Camp Dagohoy.
A high case count of rape in the cases filed was affected by a case where there were 19 counts of rape filed to a perpetrator of a single victim, Inspector Perocho detailed.
As to the decrease, BCIC, a temporary shelter for women and children operated by the Provincial Government said that it entails two considerations.
An increase in cases may mean more and more people know that they can report these to authorities, while a decrease can really mean such, social worker Donna Belle Mante said.
Mante, who sits among the key authorities at the BCIC said since their establishment in 2002, their occupancy rate has always been averaging 30 sheltered victims.
BCIC has now been tagged as a safe house for women and girl victims of gender based abuses, Mante said. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
