|
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Vice guv: Stop beating women
By Victor L. Camion
NEGROS Oriental Vice Governor Jose Petit Baldado challenged men to end all forms of violence against women, saying they were not meant to be harmed but to be loved.
"Let us use our God-given gifts of strength, power, wisdom, and privilege to put an end now to violence against women!" Baldado told his audience of mostly women and his co-all-male panelist at the recent forum to mark International Women's Day at Bethel Guest House.
The forum focused on violence against women (VAW).
"Let us all be protectors of women's welfare and human rights instead of being violators," said Baldado, who represented the government sector at the forum.
Baldado said that one of five women is subjected to violence everyday quoting the world situation.
Quoting a Cebu-based non-government organization report, he said, six out of 10 women are abused everyday in the Philippines.
In Negros Oriental, quoting a Philippine National Police (PNP) women's desk report, 118 cases of abuse against women were reported last year.
The effects filter down into the minds of children, Baldado said.
"Studies show that children who experienced violence in their homes have difficulties in school, including problems in concentration, poor academic performance, and difficulty with peer interactions, and more absences from school," he said.
Baldado is confident the passage of the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2003, would help end all kinds of abuses against women and children.
He said the gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation (GWAVE) must be lauded for holding the forum focusing on men's reaction to VAW.
GWAVE is a non-government organization in the province that promotes the welfare of both genders especially abused women through legal help.
Baldado assured to help promote gender responsive governance.
He said VAW has always been associated with men as the abusers and women as the victims.
"But we should not be blinded to the fact that there are also men who are abused, but the incidence is very minimal and not so alarming," he added.
VAW is a universal problem occurring in every culture and social groups, not only among the poor but also the influential, prominent, and rich sectors of society like the movie actresses, Baldado said.
He believed that men beat their female partners due to the internalization of traditional male role, low self-esteem, and feelings of insecurity, extreme jealousy and possessiveness.
Dr. Noel Yasi, a psychologist at Negros Oriental State University and one of the five male panelists of the forum, echoed the vice governor's perceptions.
Yasi added that economic problem is one of the factors that trigger VAW.
Another panelist Professor Cobbie Palm of Silliman University and a human rights activist said Biblical verses place a woman as subject to man and other verses encourage men to love and care of women.
Palm, however, stressed that men should have to widen his interpretation of the Bible verses to be consistent with teachings on treating women.
(March 16, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
