Police discuss with the residents of Mandaue City who attended the event, what are gender-based violence is during the closing ceremony of the 29th National Crime Prevention Week at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex on Wednesday, September 6. CDN Digital photo | Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu—Gender-related crimes were one of the topics focused on the discussion of the officers of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) during the closing ceremony of the 29th National Crime Prevention Week at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex on Wednesday, September. 6, 2023.
Police discussed with the residents of Mandaue City who attended the event, what are gender-based violence, their rights, and how they can ask for assistance from authorities among others.
Gender-related crimes can be sexual, physical, verbal, and psychological, from verbal violence to rape or murder.
Atty. Risty Sibay, OIC Assistant Regional Director of the National Police Commission in Central Visayas (NAPOLCOM-7), said that 361 rape cases were recorded in the region from January to August this year, based from the Crime Incident Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS) of the Philippine National Police.
Rape cases: Personal or drug related?
Sibay said that this is higher than the number recorded last year.
He said that they are now analyzing the crimes, and identifying the reasons why the crime happened, whether it is just personal motives or related to drug use.
“We are also required to submit our monthly crime assessment report and part of that is to identify the possible reason why these crimes happened and why this person is being victimized. We do not have yet enough data to say that it is because of drug use,” said Sibay.
Moreover, Sibay said that there are possibilities that more individuals were raped but were not able to report it to the police
Sibay said they are coordinating with law enforcement agencies to help prevent this from happening.
Information dissemination
Aside from gender-related crimes, police also discussed organized crimes, cyber crimes, among others.
Information dissemination regarding various issues are regularly conducted through the various police stations, said Sibay.
“We always include activities that are in line towards raising awareness, and consciousness towards these types of offenses because somehow, if we do not strengthen our community there is possibility nga mahimo ni sila nga victims, part na sa atoang kuan (program) to target possible targets sa kani’ng mga offenses,” said Sibay.
/bmjo
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