Councilor Mylen Yaranon has proposed an ordinance institutionalizing the use of hotlines to report gender-based violence.
She proposed the numbers 661-1483, 0930-006-7779, and 0930-1893-595 shall be the hotlines dedicated for reporting gender-based violence.
Wynona Tugade, statistician at the Women and Children Protection Desk, said 34 cases have been referred to their office from January to March of this year. Of the number, 19 are related to the Violence against Women and Children Act.
Aside from institutionalizing hotline numbers, the proposed ordinance also introduces the definitions of “gender-based violence” (GBV) and “violence against women (VAW): GBV refers to violence targeted towards a particular person because of their gender; while VAW refers to a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is not his wife, former wife, against a woman with whom the person has no sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has no common child (legitimate or illegitimate), which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, or, psychological harm/suffering.
The proposed ordinance aims to amend Ordinance 120 s. 2018, which requires all barangays in the city to establish a VAWC desk.
The ordinance defines VAWC as an act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, or against a woman with whom the person has or has a sexual dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including threats such as acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
Once enacted, the new ordinance shall categorically encompass all cases of VAWC, VAW, and GBV.
The proposed ordinance was referred to the committee on social services, women, and urban poor. – Jordan G. Habbiling
