A PEOPLE’S organization has urged candidates of national elective positions to include in their agenda measures that will address the increasing number of violence against women and children.
The Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women (Amihan) issued this call to the candidates, coinciding the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (Idevaw).
The group also called on aspiring officials to stand against human rights abuses involving peasant women.
It said the government’s counter-insurgency policies target women farmers, leaders and community organizers associated with groups asserting rights to land, food and justice.
The peasant women group said the prolonged lockdowns and the worsening economic crisis resulted in an increase in abuse and violence experienced by women at home and at the hands of state forces, citing data from the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR).
PCW noted that before the pandemic, one in three women experienced physical or sexual abuse mostly by an intimate partner while CWR recorded at least seven reported cases of state-perpetrated violence against women since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 to 2021.
CWR also noted that there have been 56 police officers who have been involved in 33 cases of abuse against women, including 16 cases of rape from July 2016 to March 2018.
The group said there have been 45 peasant women victims of extra-judicial killings, while 65 out of 82 peasant women political prisoners, including Amihan leader Genalyn Avelino and Amihan-Cagayan organizer Amanda Echanis, were imprisoned.
Amihan leaders, organizers and members including Leonisa Taray of Bohol, Julie Marcos, Jacqueline Ratin of Cagayan, Nenita Apricio, Gladys Ganado and Cita Managuelod of Isabela, are allegedly victims of series of harassment and vilification of state forces.
“Billions of funds should not be wasted on NTF-Elcac. Sinusuportahan namin ang ginawang pagbawas ng pondo ng Senado sa ahensiyang ito,” Amihan national chair Zenaida Soriano said.
“Political candidates who have track record on human rights abuses and violence against women, including those who remained silent on these issues do not deserve the Filipino people’s vote. We should be inspired by the Mirabal sisters who resisted the Trujillo dictatorship and fought for democratic rights,” Soriano ended.