RAPE cases in Davao City in the first half of the year dropped by 51 percent to 39 from 80 in the same period in 2018.
In an interview, Davao City Police Office (DCPO) crime registrar Police Staff Sergeant (PSSg) Edilyn Presscy Mandi Morillo said this can be attributed to the police's awareness campaign to sectors of the society that are vulnerable to being raped, like minors.
DCPO has been intensifying their Kinder Cops program, which was launched in 2017. The program seeks to push for advocacies at schools in terms of the awareness of the young students on "good touch" and "bad touch". The target audiences are kinder to high school students.
“Sa Women and Children Protection Desks (WCPD), naa silay mga programs nga mag visitation sila or maghatag leaflets or pulong-pulong para ma-aware (ang public) or PCR (Police Community Relations) (The WCPD conducts visitations and hands out leaflets to the public as part of our program),” Morillo said.
With this program, Morillo said children have become more aware of the possible threats and know how to act on it.
Based on their data, most cases of reported rape were registered in Buhangin Police Station (PS) with six cases; five in Bunawan PS and Tugbok PS; four in Talomo PS, Toril PS, and Sasa PS; three in Calinan PS and Marilog PS; two in Sta. Ana PS and San Pedro PS; and one in Paquibato PS.
Morillo added that most of the suspects of the rape cases were direct relatives of the victims. In common cases, it happens inside their dwelling where policemen have no control of.
In previous years, DCPO logged a total of 125 rape cases in 2015, 129 in 2016, and 108 in 2017.
Oplan Sagop Kabataan is also being carried out by authorities to rescue minors seen in public places from 10 p.m. onwards. This program aims to prevent minors from being involved in crime incidents.