Davao City Councilor Avegayle Dalodo-Ortiz in a press conference at the City Hall on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. Ortiz, chair of the council’s Committee on Women, Children and Family Relations, said rape cases in the city is still alarming despite the decrease on the number of cases compared last year. (Kath M. Cortez/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The head of the Committee on Women here wants to intensify the current anti-rape campaign through massive sex education among youth and children in communities and schools.
Councilor Avegayle Dalodo-Ortiz said in a press conference on Tuesday that the statistics presented by authorities on the cases of rape in the city is very alarming.
This follows after a data presented by the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) showed that there were 95 rape cases recorded in the past six months compared to 120 cases in the first six months of 2017.
The data also revealed that 33 offenders have no relation to the victim, two were strangers, seven were fathers, seven were stepfathers, four grandfathers, 10 uncles, four were boyfriends, six cousins, six friends, two were brothers, one co-worker, and 13 neighbors or acquaintances.
In addition, the police also noted that majority of the victims are children, for the first half of 2018.
The most number of rape cases occurred in the area of operations of the Talomo Police Station, which covers areas from Catalunan Pequeño to Maa. This followed by the areas covered by the Toril Police Station.
Another data from the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management of the Philippine National Police noted that the city places first in the ranking of most recorded rape cases among major cities in the country from April to June this year.
Davao City posted the highest number of rape cases with 42 during the period followed by Quezon City with 41, Manila with 32, Cagayan de Oro with 24 and Zamboanga City with 21.
Though it’s relatively low by 20 percent compared to last year’s rape cases, Ortiz said it is ‘still very alarming to know that rape cases are still happening in the city’.
She said her committee is now planning to implement a more serious campaign on rape to further explain to the public and empower them on their rights.
On Saturday, Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio said the city’s social services and development office initiated measures in communities, conducting research and implementing programs to curb the rising number of incest cases.
The city mayor then shared the actions they implemented to help decrease the rising number of rape cases in Davao city.
She said that the Children and Women Protection Desk is doing something about the cases as well as the Integrated Gender and Development Office and the City Social Services and Development Office to help the abused women.
“They have done lots of mechanisms. Very recently, during my term, we have put up the Kean Gabriel hotline which is the hotline to report anonymously because people are hesitant to report because they don’t want to be thought of as intruding into their neighbor’s affairs,” she said. (davaotoday.com)
