BY MATÉ ESPINA
PRECILLA Mediona, 50, spent four years away from her family to work in Manila in order to provide food on their table.
Last December, she finally returned home to be with her loved ones in a mountainous village in Cauayan town, southern Negros Occidental.
However, that homecoming ended in tragedy a month later after her husband, Eduardo slashed her to death right in front of their three children following a verbal tussle.
According to the police’s investigation, since Precilla’s return, she and her husband had been constantly quarrelling after she found out that the money she sent in the past four years for their home improvement was never invested in such. Instead she came home finding their home looking the way it was when she left to work for Manila.
Eduardo immediately fled the crime scene but was captured the following day after residents reported his whereabouts. He was seen hiding in the forested area of their barangay and is now behind bars while a parricide case is being prepared against him.
Precilla’s story is no stranger to us. We’ve heard this often enough. It’s a classic case of finding greener pastures to help their families escape poverty. Many of these women end up working as domestic helpers in urban areas or abroad.
Thus, it was understandable that Precilla made a big issue of where her money went. Money she worked hard for. Money in exchange for missing out in your children’s growth. Money that could have been invested properly by the partner left behind.
It’s not just the women though. Men too, encounter the same problems when the partner left behind feels entitled to waste away remittances sent. These situations lead to break-ups and worse, in Precilla’s case – death.
This story highlights the social issues of poverty and violence against women. In a recent talk I gave in celebration of VAW-C, I culled figures from the regional police claiming that violence cases against women have dropped.
However, stories from the ground says, it ain’t so. And coincidentally, as Precilla’s story unfolds, the provincial government of Negros Occidental increased its Gender and Development budget by over P16 million, which includes addressing violence against women and children among its programs.
At the culmination of the two-day Negros Occidental GAD Stakeholders Conference, Gov. Bong Lacson announced that this year’s GAD budget is P223.6 million from last year’s P206.8 million. This will cover and prioritize health programs but also includes prioritization of five Women and Children Protection Units in hospitals and the HIV-AIDS control program.
At the end of the conference, the provincial government awarded 75 “Champions and Companions of the 2020 Provincial Gender Journey” that included members of the media who have been instrumental in disseminating gender related advocacies of the province to the public.
“It is undeniable that COVID-19 made women more vulnerable and magnified gender based concerns,” Lacson said, as he thanks the “champions” for taking the necessary steps to protect women and children and further empower these sectors.
Meanwhile, the province also reported that loss brought about by the recent flooding has reached almost P55 million, the bulk of which was from the agricultural sector at P34.2 million and has affected over a thousand farmers, particularly in the rice industry.
The cities of Talisay, Silay, Victorias and the Municipality of E.B. Magalona, all in the third district that suffered the most during the two flooding, just a week apart from each other, declared a state of calamity as they now face the recovery period.
In relation to that, the provincial council’s Committee on Environment also called for a meeting and will conduct an aerial survey to check water catch basins in the mountains, if these had been damaged and caused the flooding.
Board Member Andrew Montelibano, chair of the committee said they will also conduct an ocular inspection of some 200 mountain and river quarry in the district to check if these operators are compliant with environmental laws.
There are reports that quarry operations may have caused the flooding as well which has affected over 140,000 people.
In another news, the request of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo to have the borders opened in the island was denied by Gov. Lacson after a meeting with local chief executives.
Lacson pointed out that at the rate things are going, the Oriental side has more active cases of COVID-19 and it is more prudent to continue with the border closure despite the appeal from business groups in the other side of the island.
But while the provincial government of Negros Oriental is pushing for the reopening of borders, the Dumaguete City government is against such as it has more cases than Occidental’s capital city, Bacolod.
This case of the capital city not concurring with the provincial government is not surprising as it has happened here during the pandemic when the City Hall issues a different protocol than that of the Capitol./PN
