DAVAO CITY – The wife of Davao City Police Chief Vicente Danao filed a case against him before the Department of Justice 930am today, said Gabriela partylist Representative Luzviminda Ilagan.
In a telephone interview,Ilagan said the Gabriela Women’s Party accompanied Susie Danao in filing her affidavit “which details several instances where she had been physically violated and verbally abused by the Davao Police Chief from 2002 up until 2013.”
The acts, according to Ilagan, violates Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children (VAWC) Act.
Ilagan said Susie filed the case before the DOJ because “in her perception, the respondent, is the police chief who have the influence. Also, she cannot easily go home to Davao.”
“We have to put a distance between the nagdemanda ug gidemanda. We also have to consider the position of the respondent that may have caused Susie to be insecure and threatened,” she said.
Ilagan also said that Susie had already filed administrative cases before the video of her and Police Chief Danao went viral and stirred the issue.
“Susie in fact attended the RIAS (Regional Internal Affairs Service) hearings last Monday and yesterday. Danao filed a motion to dismiss but it was quashes so that administrative case will continue; the one filed with the DOJ is a criminal case,” said Ilagan.
Ilagan said that VACW victims “fear their husbands and it will take time for them to process and in Susie’s case, she has to make sure that her children are secured.”
“This complaint underscores the need to bring the issue of violence against women to a public realm. It is not just a domestic issue or an administrative issue. Violence is a crime,” said Ilagan.
Ilagan said that it is “doubly alarming that the perpetrator is one who is supposedly expected to uphold the law.”
“How can he be expected to perform his functions in protecting women and children from violence when he himself is a perpetrator and insists on reducing cases of violence as trivial domestic concerns?” asked Ilagan.
Ilagan said that “perpetrators among men in uniform are put to justice and made to account for their violations.”
“This failure to bring perpetrators to justice strengthens the culture of impunity where abusive men in uniform are shielded from the law,” she said.
“PSSupt Danao must be held accountable,” Ilagan added.(davaotoday.com)
