Stay-at-home incidents

HOW DO you find peace at home when home is a dangerous place?

Long before the pandemic, gender-based violence and abuse was already an alarming issue. But women and children became more vulnerable during the lockdown.

For the past nine months, I have handled three Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) cases. This is a glaring proof that a lot of stay-at-home incidents are happening during the lockdown.

They are trapped inside their homes with their abusers. Sadly, they have nowhere to go because they can’t leave their homes and seek help from authorities.

Let us face the fact that it is difficult to get hold of these incidents. I have read reports how the government forged partnerships with different agencies and organizations in fighting VAWC.

Recently, the Philippine Commission on Women, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Commission on Human Rights, United Nations Population Fund, Oxfam, and PLAN International organized a “data roundtable”. The purpose was to collect data from agencies. This is going to be analyzed on how survivors utilize VAWC services and how the government could improve in helping victims.

It is good to know that the government and other agencies are initiating additional services to address the needs of women and children. But these past few months were a little bit more crucial than ever. Most of women and children were not able to seek help because they could not go out of their houses and fear being caught by their abusers. This situation will only aggravate the violence and abuse. This situation is literally a matter of life and death.

The government must invest more in prevention and response. There is a need for more manpower (reads: more social workers) for delegated tasks because these women and children victims are better visited in their homes. There should be additional workforce to create a strong foundation against these kinds of incidents.

Previously, barangays handled these cases and were able to release protection orders on time (or within 24 hours). They could easily visit homes and check the situation of women and children.

However, this is not the case in other places because some municipalities have only one social worker. Thus, social services are disrupted.

Women and children are encouraged to report incidents of abuse. But how could they do so when they are being locked in?

The key to safeguard and guarantee protection against VAWC is to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. This does not only mean creating or organizing programs and projects on VAWC awareness but bringing whatever social services nearest to the homes and accessible to many.

If possible, with a strong manpower, let the social workers do house-to-house visits, especially to those who already reported incidents. There should be mobility. This is to make sure that all channels are open and available.

Women and children are priorities. According to an article I read online, they (women and children) have “great impact on how we live, how we work, and how we love later on.”

Let’s make homes safer for all./PN