Tuesday, April 8, 2014

How Do Barangays Handle Cases of Violence Against Women



Sunstar Davao recently reported that every other day, a woman would seek for a barangay protection order in Davao City to protect them from abusive husbands. 

This is happening in just one barangay alone in this city of more than 180 barangays. 

What about in scores of other barangays, way up from Batanes down to Tawi-Tawi?

In the barangay where I served as a member of its Lupon Tagapamayapa, I handled and mediated such cases too with regularity, though our village is relatively small.

In these cases, I’ve encountered several instances of women asking for protection orders from their husbands for maltreatment.

What is a protection order?  How can it help women from further abuse by their husbands? 

Image Credit: Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia
According to the UP-based Family and Community Healing Center, a Barangay Protection Order is an order issued for the purpose of preventing further acts of violence against a woman or her child such as physical, sexual, and psychological violence, as well as economic abuse as specified by R.A. 9262.  

Its purpose is to safeguard the victim from further harm, minimize any disruption in the victim’s daily life, help the victim to independently regain control over her life.

The site is one valuable source of information for abused women to learn from and to protect them from cruel and abusive husbands.  It’ll guide them every step of the way on what to do in case they encounter such a situation, including how and where to file for a protection order. 

When mediating, I was not supposed to get involved personally and should always maintain a very objective attitude when settling family disputes.  However, in many instances, I can’t help from being biased in favor of the abused wife and their children.

It’s good that there’s a law for these women and children and we have the barangay government as the first line of defense to protect them.

It is a must for all barangay councils in the country to abide by the Magna Carta for Women and put up a desk dedicated to handling cases of violence against women. These councils are supposed to set aside a budget for the purpose.

The desk is tasked to give assistance and psycho-social support to women and to draft plans on women protection.

Most of the cases filed in the barangays are psychological abuse by partners, extramarital affairs of husbands, and physical abuse.  There are also cases of prostituting women and minors, inhumane condition for domestic helpers, and forced organ donation.

To minimize the incidents of women being victims of violence, the barangays need to have a program for empowering these women through community discussions and lectures on how to deal with abusive husbands.  They should also be taught on how to fend for themselves so that they’re not totally dependent on the income of their spouses and partners.

Otherwise, the barangay halls will always be full of abused women and children and the scarce resources of the barangays stretched to the limits.

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