The latest data from the Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC) shows an increasing number of Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) victims, rescued victims and survivors being sent to school, according to Governor Hilario Davide III yesterday in his opening remarks during the start of the three-day exploratory conference conducted by the PWC .
“These women and children need our help. We cannot fail them,” Davide added.
The conference highlights the skills, techniques, and strategies needed in providing aftercare and rehabilitative services to the victims and survivors of human trafficking and all forms of violence.
The event, which will run until January 11, is being attended by local providers including organizations and agencies such as the Philippine National Police, Children’s Legal Bureau, International Justice Mission, Law Center Inc., Happy Horizons, and Zonta Club of Cebu as well as US-based service providers from the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital.
“This 3-day conference, together with our friends from the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, and our local service providers, is an opportunity to share ideas and experiences that may enable all of us to learn as much as we can from each other,” Davide said.
Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, who also co-chairs the PWC and the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children, said the conference was conducted as part of their effort to bring back the children and women that they rescued in their advocacy work “to mainstream society and lead normal lives again.”
Magpale admitted that the rehabilitation of these victims is the most difficult part of their work and that any assistance is welcome.
Davide said that the conference is timely as the provincial government has just inaugurated the Cebu Provincial Women and Children Development Center in Lahug last December.
He said the facility is a testimony to the provincial government’s continuing efforts to provide the needs of women and children, especially the abused, the exploited women and children of Cebu.