THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is continuing to cascade its program against rape to more barangays, an official from their office said.
“Ang aim man jud ana kay makalaunch ta sa whole barangays sa dakbayan sa Davao. I think this week naa tay malaunch na duha ka barangay... para jud na makapakusgan nato ang atoang campaign against kaning rape (The aim of this initiative is to launch the campaign against rape in all barangays of Davao City. As far as I know, we will be launching in two barangays this week to strengthen our efforts against rape),” DCPO spokesperson PMaj. Catherine Dela Rey said in an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio.
The cascading of the Oplan Kilos program is part of the DCPO’s campaign to “intensify police and community efforts in the strategic measures in combating rape and other sexual abuse against women and children”.
The campaign which is also dubbed as “Kababainhan/Kabatan-onan/Kalalakin-an Igiya Laban sa Pagpanglugos,” aims to address and decrease rape cases in the city.
Dela Rey said that based on DCPO’s data, there is a decrease in the number of recorded rape cases in Davao City from January to April 2023 compared to the same period last year.
In 2022, there were 57 reported cases of rape from January to April 2022 while this year saw a reduction with only 31 recorded cases for the same period.
The spokesperson also said their advocacy against rape must “not just lower rape cases, but also increase unreported cases as well.”
“Kay naa pud baya tay mga cases, kasagaran pud sa atong mga rape cases kay katung mga late reporting (We also have instances, mostly in rape incidents, that they report to us late),” Dela Rey said.
Dela Rey identified late reported cases are those cases that are being filed to their police stations, years after it happened to the victim.
Most of these victims counted as “late cases” are also victims of fear and threats against their perpetrators.
“Hinuon duha pud atoang bantayan ani.. Tungod sa advocacy, need pud dapat mugamay ang bag-ong mga nahitabo na rape cases, unya mutaas pud tong kato gani mga wala pa gani nareport (For our advocacy, we need to keep an eye on two things - rape cases must be lowered, and late reported cases will get higher),” Dela Rey said.
With this, she said not just the police will give support to reporting victims, but also the social workers from City Social Work and Development Office (CSWDO), the City Government of Davao, and other local government agencies.
“So ang partnership naa dinha, dili lang ang police. Naa pud ang social worker (CSWDO) and other stakeholders na gusto mutabang (The partnership is there for the victims - the police, CSWDO and other stakeholders who want to give help),” Dela Rey said. ICE