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CEBU CITY, Philippines –In this day and age, many women continue to suffer from abuses, but the good thing is that many are now becoming more aware of their rights, according to Leslie Marie Zuasula, a statistician of the Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA-7).
Zuasola said there are those who already found the courage to report abuses to the authorities.
“Kay sauna man gud kung kulatahon ta sa atoang bana, itago ra man na nato. Wala tay storyahan. Karon kay open na man ang mga tawo, labi na ang mga babaye nga kanang gi abuse sila,” said Leslie Marie Zuasula,
(In the past battered women would opt to keep their silence. They do not talk about it. At present, people, especially the women, are already open to talk about the abuses that they experience.)
According to PSA the most common are physical and emotional abuses.
Zuasula said that the reporting of cases of abuses was one of the reasons for the increase in the number of abuses that were logged in surveys conducted in 2013 and 2017 respectively.
Another factor, according to Erah May Quiñones of the PSA-7, is the increase in population. Statistically, the country now has a younger population, which also increases the number of those who are susceptible to abuses.
In celebration of the National Women’s Month this March, Zuasula is urging women to be more outspoken and to always seek assistance when they suffer from abuses.
“Ang among ma estorya for women is to stand up for themselves, because naa silay mga anak, igsoon, nga kita sad ang mag serve as role model,” Quiñones said.
(We always advise women to stand up for themselves because they also have children, siblings who look up at them as role models.)
Using data from the agency’s National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), that is conducted every five years, Zuasula said, over 1,000 women in Central Visayas, who are aged 15 to 49 years old, reported that they experience violence in various forms.
The United Nations (UN) defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
Survey data from 2017 show that at least 1, 189 women reported that they suffered abuses.
Physical abuses increased from nine percent in 2013 to 13 percent in 2017. Emotional abuses was at 27 percent in 2013 and 34 percent in 2027.
Zuasula said 85.9 percent of women, who reported experiencing abuse, have sough the help of local authorities like the barangay officials.
But Zuansula said they hope to see a drop in the number of abuses based on the 2022 NDHS data, the official report of which will be released by their head office in June 2023.
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