Zonta International District II president Myrna Cruz-Tan (extreme right) turns over the primers on the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004 to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and other barangay officials.
(Contributed)
PRIMERS on the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Act of 2004 translated into the Cebuano dialect are now available in Cebu City’s 80 barangays to help women better understand the law.
Dr. Consuelo Malaga, of the pink room of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, worked on the translation of salient provisions of the law.
“We have been talking about VAWC but what does it really mean? Unless you understand and dissect, the law will not be implemented,” she said.
Malaga told reporters in an interview that she worked on the translation of the salient features of Republic Act 9262 to help women from depressed communities understand their rights better.
“With the handbook there is no more reason that the law cannot be understood,” she said.
The Zonta International District II, led by its president Myrna Cruz-Tan, distributed the primers to the Gender and Development (GAD) focal persons of the city’s 80 barangays in a forum held at the city hall legislative building last Tuesday.
Tan said Zonta spent around P100,000 for the printing of primers costing close to P1,000 each in their effort “to help advance the status of women worldwide.”
“We want the primers kept at the barangays so these can be turned over to the next GAD focal persons,” said Tan.
The distribution of the VAWC primers is part of the activities for Cebu City’s month-long celebration of the women’s month.
Other activities include humba cooking contest and a beauty pageant wherein candidates from the city’s 60 barangays wear clothes made from recycled materials. The question and answer portion will focus on upholding women’s rights.