Tacloban City, November 26 – At the kick-off of the 18 – day Campaign to end Violence Against Women (VAW) held yesterday, some men and women openly expressed their support to this global anti VAW ADVOCACY, as they gathered at the Tacloban City Convention Center after a motorcade round this city.

Representing Regional Director Nestor Ramos of the DSWD Field Office Eight, Assistant Regional Director for Administration, Marlene Kahano, stated in her message that “violence against women limits human development.” She also emphasized that women ought to be loved and not to be abused emotionally, economically, psychologically and physically.

However, the DSWD official said, she is happy that our women are now coming out into the open, while there are men who are actively into advocacy work of eliminating, if not minimizing VAW. She cited the organization of the MOVE DSWD Chapter.as one group of men who are seriously into this kind of action.

MOVE stands for Men Oppose to Violence Everyhere. It is “a movement to end violence against women as well as children by focusing on their role and responsibilities and emphasize that they are part of the solution.”

An empowered woman, Gertrudes Baduya of Barangay 83-B of Tacloban encourages women to go report to authorities if they become victims of abuse or exploitation. “Never allow anyone to step on your rights,” she proudly says, a learning she has gained from being a program beneficiary of DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. She is even a Parent Leader of this conditional cash transfer program which imposes compliance to education, health and nutrition investments for her children. In return, she gets cash incentive for being true to the program’s conditionalities which also include regular attendance to Family Development Sessions (FDS) where effective parenting, roles and responsibilities of parents towards children, rights of children and women, among others, are discussed.

Gertrudes is one of those who attended the launching of the 18-day Campaign to End Violence Against Women yesterday, Nov. 25 at the Tacloban City Convention Center. DSWD chairs the Regional Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking, Violence Against Women and Children, Against Child Pornography (RIACAT-VAWC, ACP), which spearheads the campaign.

Also a victim of VAW came to the front to speak up. She said, “I would rather be a victim of physical abuse rather than of emotional and economic abuse.” She told that her husband was a womanizer and that the latter left their brood of four boys and one girl in year 2002.

The VAW victim pointed out never to give up in the fight as she pursued a case which left her husband powerless. Her husband, being an overseas worker, was later banned from leaving the country as a result of her action.

Her sob story was later turned into a happy ending when she narrated that after twelve years, they were back into each other’s arms after teaching her husband a lesson.#