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Sunday, November 28, 2004
P6B spent for sex abuse victims
MANILA -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Saturday the government is spending around P6 billion every year for women who became victims of sexual abuses and other forms of violence.
DSWD Undersecretary Lourdes Balanon said the amount covers only the medical and psychological and crisis management interventions given to survivors and it does not include the cost of productivity that women lost when subjected to any form of violence.
"For every five years that a woman suffers from domestic violence, she loses one year of health life," she noted.
The DSWD and the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) launched last Thursday a 16-day campaign to eliminate violence against women (VAW) in the country.
Balanon claimed the program is simultaneously being implemented worldwide from Nov. 25 to Dec. 10 to drum up programs for the protection of women's rights.
"This program is intended to raise public awareness on the issue of violence against women and to strengthen implementation of laws on violence against women," she added.
The program will culminate on Dec. 10 in time for the global "Human Rights Day" celebration.
During the first half of the year, the DSWD had recorded that a total of 1,807 women became victims of violence and abuses.
Of these, 1,233 were victims of battery; 322 of sexual abuse; 136 of illegal recruitment; 73 of involuntary prostitution and 43 of trafficking.
With theme "I vow to stop VAW," the DSWD and the NCRFW have coordinated with various government offices and private organizations to hold dialogs with their stakeholders about women's rights.
Under the program, the DSWD would spearhead intensive training and seminars of social workers on the management of victims of violence and abuses in the country.
DSWD records show that "domestic violence" accounts for the highest number of VAW cases reported to the DSWD.
The factors that usually lead to VAW are economic or when "women's work is seen as having little value, laws that discriminate women and cultural beliefs or those that view women as inferior to men.
She claimed that VAW contributes to the draining of the country's resources of the funds spent for medical care due to injuries and complications, mental health therapies, establishments and maintenance of shelters for victims and legal services to prosecute perpetrators. (With reports from PNA)
(November 28, 2004 issue)
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